CITIZEN Better Starts Now [English Ver.] - Ad Analysis

Citizen's 'Better Starts Now' is a masterclass in brand repositioning disguised as a history lesson. Launched in 2014 as the brand's first truly global campaign, its core task was to unify Citizen's image worldwide and imbue it with a sense of forward-looking innovation rather than just quiet reliability. The campaign, led by Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo, succeeds by grounding its aspirational slogan in tangible, historical proof.

The core insight is that for a company dedicated to perpetual improvement, the past is not something to rest on, but a foundation for what comes next. [7] The slogan 'Better Starts Now' is a clever inversion of the typical heritage brand message. Instead of saying 'we've been great for 84 years,' it says 'every day for 84 years, we've started fresh with the goal of being better.' This subtle but powerful reframe shifts the brand from being a historical artifact to being a perpetual innovator.

The execution uses a simple, yet highly effective, narrative structure: a chronological montage. Filmed from a consistent overhead perspective, we see a single workbench evolve through time. Director Johan Kramer's decision to use cameras and film stock from each specific era—a hand-cranked 35mm for the 1920s, saturated video for the 1970s—is the film's defining creative choice. [9] This technique does more than just signal the passage of time; it immerses the viewer in each period, lending an air of authenticity to the story. The setup is the first vignette: the creation of a 1924 pocket watch. The 'turn' isn't a single moment, but the repetition of the 'The End' title card, which is immediately subverted by the start of a new project. This rhythm establishes the core idea that every achievement is merely the starting point for the next challenge. The payoff arrives with the final voiceover: 'What if every ending is a chance to start something better?' This line explicitly states the campaign's thesis, tying nearly a century of innovation directly to the 'Better Starts Now' philosophy.

The debrief for any brand team watching this is clear: if you're going to make a bold claim, prove it. Citizen didn't just invent a catchy slogan; they excavated their own history to give it weight and credibility. [6] The ad demonstrates that brand heritage can be a powerful driver of a future-facing narrative, not just a nostalgic one. It's a lesson in showing, not just telling, and in finding the creative device—in this case, the evolving workbench and era-specific filming techniques—that can turn a corporate history into a compelling piece of storytelling.