Mameshiba is a cute personified bean or nut that comes to life. In these short, Japanese animated blips, he offers unsolicited trivia to the nearest person, seemingly unaware that his strange knowledge puts people off.

We chose to use Mameshiba for a short video as a spokesperson for Uniqlo socks. Our idea was to have a businessman put on an old sock with a hole in it. His big toe sticks out of the hole and becomes Mameshiba who exclaims, “Did you know… your feet are very stinky. Uniqlo’s Heat-Tech will keep your toes cozier and stink-free.”

This is a fun way to interact with their audience, which is very much what Uniqlo consistently does. It also brings a Japanese character into American culture. We love the way Uniqlo takes chances on advertising and we wanted our short video to reflect that.