A Salaryman Escapes the Daily Grind in Booking.com's First Campaign for Japan

Booking.com's first campaign for the Japanese market isn't quite as quirky as the Dutch brand's U.S. and European work, but it's nicely done and conveys the same sense of joyous escapism. Created by Wieden & Kennedy Tokyo (W&K Amsterdam is responsible for the global work), it's a good example of an agency adapting its work for a different audience in a way that doesn't change its essence.

The spot, directed by Matthew Swanson at Need, centers on three scenarios involving characters who are much in need of a vacation: a traditional, hard-working salaryman, a couple exhausted by their small kids and a bunch of girls fed up with their tedious workday routine. All of them dream of, and find, a different form of escape. For the parents, it's a hotel with a kids' club to entertain their offspring while they relax, for the girls, it's a traditional gassho-zukuri house in a secluded mountain valley and for the salaryman, it's a tropical retreat that inspires him to beam from ear to ear.