Sharpie Creative Markers "Anthem"

"Anthem" is a brand film for Sharpie's Creative Marker line, and it argues a position rather than demonstrating a product.

The position is one Sharpie has earned over decades and that Wayne has returned to across several films for the brand: the marker has always belonged to people who make things. Athletes signing autographs. Artists working on canvas. Kids drawing on lunch bags. The Creative Marker line extends that identity into a tool built specifically for the making rather than the marking, and "Anthem" is the piece that states the case at full volume. It is a vibrant celebration of creativity and self-expression, and it is unembarrassed about being one.

Anthem films are difficult in a specific way. They have no narrative spine to hold them up, so they live or die on rhythm, casting and the confidence of the cut. There is no protagonist to follow and no problem to solve. What holds the audience is momentum, and momentum in a film like this is an editorial property that has to be designed at the shot list stage. Wayne has said that when he calls a shot he can already see the finished cut, and that every setup is a decision about how the dots connect rather than whether they get covered. An anthem is that principle under maximum load.

The film sits inside the most productive stretch of Wayne's relationship with Sharpie. 2024 was the year the Creative Marker line launched publicly, with a Mindy Kaling social series called "Creative Corner" that Wayne directed and that was unveiled at SXSW alongside a panel he hosted with Kaling in Austin. It was also the year the Rookie of the Year platform began. Sharpie is the client Wayne has returned to more than any other, and the reason is visible in the work: a brand with a real cultural position, and a director interested in defending it rather than decorating it.

The film runs 0:53.