Turning everyday lag into a visual joke to launch the OnePlus 12R to gamers in two films by Alice Kunisue
12R: Smooth Beyond Belief
2023 marked OnePlus's tenth anniversary, a decade built on Never Settle, and the brand needed the 12R launch to carry that weight. The phone itself was built for mobile gamers, seamless switching between intense gaming sessions and everyday tasks. The brief was blunt: move the conversation away from specs and jargon into something that actually connects with gamers across North America, Europe, and India.
Today's gamers are hyper-connected, constantly jumping between games and everything else, and their real annoyance isn't performance, it's the glitch, the lag, the reload the second they switch. Life gives you plenty of friction already. The 12R's whole promise was refusing to add to it.
So we made friction the joke. Two films built around a style we called witty-exaggeration, ordinary moments, walking the dog, strolling down the street, hit with visual metaphors for lag: slow motion, stalled downloads, the world glitching for a second. Then the 12R makes it disappear. Shot by French-Japanese director Alice Kunisue, the films turn a spec sheet into a feeling, landing on the line: Smooth Beyond Belief.
"It's always a dream to create work with partners that can truly exemplify the benefits of new technology in funny, relatable and captivating stories. And although it's strange to call your friends Ugly, working with them and director Alice was an absolute pleasure."
Alexei Golob, Global Head of Creative, OnePlus
The campaign rolled out globally starting January 2024 across North America, India, and Europe, and has since crossed 8 million views on YouTube.
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