Megan Nakazawa had a rather unusual journey in becoming an advertising creative.
“I wandered into it via friends from my surf industry days,” Nakazawa shared with Adweek. “It felt like the right fit coming from the action sports industry, which pushed people to be clever, resourceful and street smart.”
So, what keeps a creative who is accustomed to the fast-paced world of athletics intrigued with advertising?
“I think I’m still interested in advertising because I truly enjoy creative problem solving and also find people and human behavior incredibly fascinating,” she said.
An undoubtedly unique background would prove to be Nakazawa’s superpower when she helped to rebrand The World Surf League, which managed to appeal to core surfers and new fans alike—a tricky line to walk, as the associate creative director notes. But her work isn’t just sequestered to sports: Nakazawa also worked on the Rick and Morty’s “Poop In My Pants” campaign, which she named as on of her proudest works.
“My mom did not brag about me that Christmas,” she joked.
But the campaign Nakazawa found especially challenging was the Crunchyroll “Stay Crunchy” campaign. “We had to be authentic to anime, which itself is full of a huge variety of sub-genres and fandoms. We pulled it off, and it was one of the most difficult yet rewarding projects I’ve worked on yet.”
Pressure makes marketing diamonds
On what makes the “Stay Crunchy” campaign her proudest work: Beyond its inclusive message to fans, the campaign was a love letter to the anime genre itself, which opened the creative team up to serious scrutiny from hardcore fans.
“Each scene was packed with references to beloved titles for fans to discover,” said Nakazawa. “Every detail within the wardrobe and set decoration was highly considered and curated to do our fans justice.”
They also had to work around time and licensing restraints, which let to a herculean collaborative effort from a few legendary Japanese artists, including animator Rapparu, director Taichi Kimura (with help from Kyiv-based production team Radioaktive Film) and Tokyo Ghoul composer Yutaka Yamada.
“Through every roadblock on the journey, we managed to pivot to make a campaign that won the hearts of anime fans around the globe while celebrating them,” she said. “Everybody who was a part of this campaign was solution oriented, resourceful, able to boost morale whenever we hit another hurdle and passionate about making the best work possible for anime fans.”
On her biggest goal for the next year: “Better time management. Always, and forever.”
You can learn more about her work on her website.
To view the entire AAPI Creative Spotlight series for 2022, click here.
