DETROIT — Shinola launched its first-ever brand campaign. The campaign film, titled "The Restaurant," was directed by Nicholas Braun and created in partnership with London-based agency GentleForces.

The film marks Braun’s directorial debut. Originally booked to star in the advertisement, Braun also appears in the campaign expressing anxiety about time and stands up to his Runwell watch—a moment that anchors the narrative around personal reflection and temporal pressure. The Runwell is Shinola’s inaugural timepiece, released in 2011, the same year the Detroit-based company was founded. The campaign film features scenes in a restaurant setting and includes a prominent ticking clock.

Still images from the campaign were shot by Brian Karlsson and depict Braun in the same restaurant environment. GentleForces created the campaign after being invited to pitch for Shinola, becoming the brand’s first official brand partner. The agency is now tasked with strategically and creatively defining the Shinola brand over the next year and determining how the company can contribute to culture.

This campaign is the first major creative work under Shinola creative director Jonathan Bailey. According to Shinola’s director of marketing, Dana Mosa-Basha, previous company narratives emphasized Detroit, manufacturing, optimism, and the value of making things well. In contrast, she said the new campaign reintroduces Shinola through the Runwell watch to express broader ideas about time, intention, and how people choose to live. She added that the campaign centers on a feeling rather than product features, craftsmanship, or the manufacturing process, as the brand seeks to play a larger role in culture as a modern American design brand.

Quba Tuakli, creative practice lead at GentleForces, said society’s everyday relationship with time served as a powerful psychological hook for the campaign. He explained that the team aimed to trigger feelings tied to stacked commitments, optimized schedules, and the elusive freedom of having unstructured time. To ground this commentary, they used the premise of a date in a humorous, real-life situation. Tuakli also noted that Braun demonstrated genuine curiosity about the story and strong instincts about its execution, adding that his perspective as a filmmaker and storyteller brought a unique quality to the project.

Danni Mohammed, founder and CEO of GentleForces, called it an honor to partner with Shinola as a London-based agency working with what he described as an American icon. He said the next chapter of the campaign will follow in the fall and will carry a similar vein but with a more playful spirit.

Shinola waited 15 years to launch its first marketing campaign, signaling a strategic shift from product- and place-based storytelling to a more conceptual, emotionally driven brand narrative. The choice of a London agency to redefine a brand rooted in Detroit reflects a cross-cultural creative approach as Shinola positions itself not just as a manufacturer but as a participant in broader cultural conversations about time and intentionality.