Hasta La Creative!

Back in February, 180 Amsterdam launched a new global campaign for ASICS with the spot “It’s a big world. Go run it.” Now the agency has launched a tennis-themed integrated campaign to follow up, with the spot “It’s a tough game. Go smash it.” (Sensing a pattern here?)

The ad, starring French tennis star Gaël Monfils promotes the ASICS Gel-Resolution 6 tennis shoe and is timed to coincide with start of the European clay court season, during which time it will broadcast on Europsport. In the spot, Monfils finds himself away from the friendly confines of the court, doing battle in what appears to be an abandoned industry building against men launching tennis balls at him with heavy artillery. It’s definitely an unorthodox approach for the brand (and the sport), which 180 Amsterdam and ASICS hopes will make it stand out. The spot will run internationally and is supported by print, outdoor and digital ads.

“Tennis for me has always been about enjoyment,” said Monfils. “So, I’m excited to offer a different perspective on tennis, with the video demonstrating the required skills and intense product demands.”

Credits:

Client: ASICS HQ
Deputy Senior General Manager, Global Marketing Division: Marc Pinsard
Global Advertising Manager: Eva Sutter

Agency: 180 Amsterdam
President and Chief Creative Officer: Al Moseley
Creative Director: Dean Maryon
Copywriter: Joe Craig
Art Director: Tony Bartolucci
Business Affairs: Akvilina Jaskunaite
Account Team: Megan Wooding, Claire Birrell
Producers: Susan Cook, Neil Henry, Phil Smart
Assistant Producer: Davide Janssen
Project Manager: Phil Smart
Strategy Team: Ben Armistead
Editor: Fiona Fuchs
Offline Producer: Claire Ford

Post Production Company: Darlings Amsterdam
Head of SFX: Robert Okker
Producer: Violeta Nikolova
3D: Robert Okker, Rob Wuijster, Alex Doss
Supervisor Compositing: Chaja Koe
Compositors: Randy Roemean, Floris Van der Veen
Grader: Daphne Maierna

Live Action Production Company: Brenninkmeijer & Isaacs Amsterdam
Director: Thor Saevarsson
Executive Producer: Jelani Isaacs
Producer: Sytske Rijkens
Director of Photography: Baldur Eythorrson

Music
Band: Kaleo
Track Name: Rock ‘n’ Roller
Audio Post-Prod. Company: Wave Studios Amsterdam
Sound Design & Mix: Randall Macdonald
Audio Post Production: Ben Tomlin, Mirjam Gevers

Print Production Company
Photographer: Ben Ingham
Producer: Matthew Lawes, Lisa Bennett
Post-Production Company: 180 Amsterdam
Retouching: Loupe

Asics and ad agency Vitro always do something special around the New York City Marathon, whether it’s having people races against a virtual Ryan Hall in the subways or daring you to remain upright on the treadmill from hell.

But this year, they’ve outdone themselves with an awesome campaign that’s both physically and virtually magical.

The running shoe brand always honors runners, and this year it’s doing so in classic style—by making little statues of them. It asked everyone who entered the marathon to send in 2-D front and side head shots. Then it hired a team of artists to turn the 2-D images into printable 3-D files, creating small yet life-like statues for each runner. (It was capped at 500 statues, first come first served.)

That’s cool enough. But on race day this Sunday, it gets cooler.

Vitro photographed each statue in three different landmark locations along the course. Then its digital team linked the photos with each runner’s Facebook account and his or her RFID race timing and tracking chip. So, when the runner passes each landmark in real life, a photo of the mini-marathoner statue passing that same landmark will auto-post to the runner’s Facebook account in real time—providing mid-race updates to family and friends.

But that’s still not all. The 500 statues were booked in less than eight hours, and lots of runners were left out. So, Vitro is also holding a Twitter marathon. Any runner in the real race can enter, and for every tweet on their behalf, Vitro will advance them along a digital marathon course. The first 50 runners to finish will get their statues made as well. You can visit minimarathoner.com to sign up.

It’s great stuff all around from a brand that keeps improving its time every year.

More images, plus credits, below.

 
Mile 8

 
Mile 15

 
Mile 24

CREDITS
Client: Asics
Agency: Vitro
Creative Group Head: KT Thayer
Digital Creative Director: Oliver Duncan
Art Director: Jeremy Stabile
Art Director: Will Roth
Art Director: Ryan Smith
Copywriter:  Bill Wanek
Copywriter: Doug Hyland
Production Director: Michael Berberick
Production Manager: Cristi Perkins
Digital Production Manager: Allison Mellon
Digital Designer: Andres Herrera

Magnifique atmosphère et sourd-design sur cette campagne pour les chaussures Asics. Une direction du spot produite par Amsterdam Worldwide sur une post-production du studio PostPanic. Le film capture un moment inattendu en pleine nature. La vidéo est à découvrir dans la suite.

Previously on Fubiz

• Newport Beach Film Festival
• Four Works Workstation
• Paper War