PRESENCE Studios is a young and innovative creative studio that was founded in Berlin and New York as a spin-off of David+Martin – with the proclaimed goal of fusing pop culture and advertising. Particular focus of the studio is on disciplines such as art and music – ensuring utmost authenticity and relevance of its endeavors in these areas.
Here on GoSee, PRESENCE Studios presents you its brand-new short film for the relaunch of basketball brand K1X along with new imagery for streetwear brand KARL KANI, plus the ‘Unofficial Discipline’ campaign for OTTOBOCK and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
K1X: The aesthetic of the 1990s can be see across various areas of pop culture at the moment, including fashion, film, music, and advertising. After winning the pitch for K1X, PRESENCE Studios staged the iconic basketball brand as part of the new ‘Outta This World’ brand campaign in a love letter to the decade. For which, the K1X slogan ‘Play Hard’ was taken quite seriously: after all, they did come up with an alien basketball game – that is nothing short of otherworldly.
The campaign is centered around a short film in which a basketball from outer space comes crashing down to Earth like a fireball – kicking off an otherworldly game: alien-esque players battle it out in an apocalyptic game of basketball. As a matter of fact, everything about this campaign is truly ‘Outta This World’. “It was especially the complete creative freedom we were given by K1X that drove us to take this project to the limits and beyond with the right partners,” says Lucas Schneider, CD of PRESENCE and creative lead of the campaign.
Particular attention was paid to the level of craft that went into this beast of a production: Especially outstanding are the CGI parts of the film created by young Ukrainian Director Shapxo and his team of artists. The film production company responsible was BWGTBLD. Besides the film, the ‘Outta This World’ campaign, launched on 23 August 2024, consists of further assets for the K1X website, social media and partner websites.
Alongside basketball brand K1X, streetwear brand KARL KANI is also part of the SNIPES universe. Since 2024, PRESENCE Studios has also been working for this brand that is at home in the world of rap and hip hop – with a cult status since back in the 1990s.
As part of the new Fall/Winter 2024 collection, a new aesthetic and imagery have been developed to set the tone style-wise for all future campaigns and collections. Staged in film and photos by Henrik Alm, the Karl Kani brand is staying true to its roots – while combining its 90s heritage with the zeitgeist of today for the world of contemporary target groups.
KARL KANI is a streetwear label and among the very first to have taken hip hop styles from street to mainstream. The brand was founded by designer Carl Williams in Brooklyn in the early 1990s, and the label quickly became popular and known for its striking urban designs – inspired by strong influences from hip hop culture. It was the first to introduce the concept of baggy jeans and the first urban design company with an all-Black sales force. Williams was the first designer to host a fashion show at the White House during President Bill Clinton’s term.
Today, the KARL KANI brand is represented in 25 countries throughout Europe and has 13 flagship stores in Japan alone. A strong passion for quality, design and craftsmanship is the reason Kani continues to honor the brand’s roots and still produces a large part of the clothing in the US.
