Tick tock, ever felt against the clock? American watchmaker and luxury-lifestyle brand Shinola’s first-ever brand campaign subverts a typical date night into a psychological study of modern anxiety about time, as the brand shifts the conversation beyond manufacturing to the role its products play in people’s lives.
Marking Succession star Nicholas Braun’s directorial debut, “The Restaurant” explores how people experience time and how to reclaim it. It opens as the actor expresses sincerely to an unseen entity, “You make me feel anxious. And stressed, like I’m always in a rush. Or I’m not doing enough.”
A ticking clock speeds up the visual rhythm, creating tension as scenes of the restaurant race across the screen. The pacing accelerates until he seizes the situation and stands up to his oppressor: his Runwell watch, Shinola’s 2011 inaugural timepiece.
London-based agency GentleForces created the campaign, which also includes a series of still images shot by Brian Karlsson that capture Braun in a restaurant setting and mirror the film’s suspense. GentleForces will act as Shinola’s first brand partner after being invited to pitch a campaign.
First campaign in 15 years
Founded in Detroit in 2011, Shinola waited 15 years to launch its first marketing campaign, which marks the first major creative work under creative director Jonathan Bailey.
Director of marketing Dana Mosa-Basha explained the campaign signals a new era for Shinola.
“From the beginning, we’ve told stories about Detroit, manufacturing, optimism, and the value of making things well. What makes this moment different is that we’re bringing those beliefs together under a different creative vehicle for the first time,” Mosa-Basha said. “It felt like the right moment to reintroduce Shinola through the watch that started it all — the Runwell — and use it as a vehicle to express a broader idea about time, intention, and how we choose to live.”
Mosa-Basha added that the brand wanted to play a larger role in culture as a modern American design brand.
“This campaign isn’t centered around product features, a deep dive into craftsmanship, or our manufacturing process — it’s centered around a feeling,” Mosa-Basha said.
Owning time
Wary of falling into the typical advertising tropes whereby watch brands talk about luxury or utility, GentleForces creative practice lead Quba Tuakli told ADWEEK that society’s everyday relationship with time was a far more powerful psychological hook.
“We all know the mundane horror of stacked commitments or the joyless reality of optimized schedules. We’ve all experienced the freedom of time being the furthest thing from your mind. These are the feelings we wanted to trigger,” Tuakli said. “The premise of a date was how we disarmed the earnestness and grounded the commentary in a humorous, real-life situation we can all relate to.”
While originally booked to star in the ad, Braun wasn’t interested in simply appearing in the campaign.
“He had a genuine curiosity about the story we were trying to tell and strong instincts about how it should come to life on screen… it became clear that his perspective as a filmmaker and storyteller could add something unique to the project,” Tuakli said.
Brand partners
For U.K.-based GentleForces, the campaign represents a major client win and a statement of intent in the U.S. market.
“This is a real honor and shows the benefit of an outside-in perspective, bringing in GentleForces as a partner based in London to land an American icon out in the world,” said founder and CEO Danni Mohammed.
GentleForces is tasked with strategically and creatively defining the brand over the next year and determining how Shinola can contribute to culture. The next chapter of the campaign will follow in the fall, “in a similar vein but with a more playful spirit,” Mohammed added.
