Asics has begun rolling out a multi-channel, multi-phase pan-European campaign to extend its strength in running apparel into other sport segments including rugby and tennis.
Continuing its everyday athlete call-to-arms – ‘Better Your Best’ – the initial wave of work promoting its ‘Muscle Support’ collection is led by a new spot running across TV and VOD channels revolving around a classic ‘boy-meets-girl’ narrative.
This core pan-European launch ad is supported by a more technical, product-specific longer version – adding more functional messaging to the more emotive, story-telling 30-second spot.
‘Muscle Support’ was originally designed for marathon training, with a key aim of improving the wearer’s posture, and includes marathon-specific executions timed to coincide with the spring marathon season (including The London Marathon) and using the tagline ‘Run. And Run’.
This includes a new ‘We Are Marathoners’ TV spot inspired by the attitude, energy, and passion of the ‘select group of runners who are proud to call themselves “Marathoners”.
The pan-European creative comes in multiple market-specific language including French
German
and Italian.
The push includes event-specific initiatives such as its ‘Asics Better the Best Treadmill Challenge’ at the Barcelona Marathon.
This marathon marketing wave is a lead-in to the launch of additional Asics ranges across a target set of niche sports which will appear via a phased launch later in the year and will include Asics first ever non-running TV advertising.
As well as including a set of specific ads for Triathlon and Trail Running, Asics will attempt to engage with Spanish Padel tennis players,
and later in 2014 it will market to rugby players as part of an initiative building up to next year’s Rugby World Cup with a campaign featuring both the Australian and South African national rugby union teams.
While in the tennis segment, Asics has partnered with two new player ambassadors – Wimbledon doubles champion Jonny Marray and Canadian Top 40 player Vasek Pospislil – and will use them to front tennis work within the wider campaign running under the tagline ‘Advantage You’.
The push has been developed in partnership with creative agency 180 Amsterdam and is being delivered across a range of above- and below-the-line platforms, this new year-long campaign includes TV work, print executions, digital brand films, online engagement initiatives, POS work, event-specific activation.
It also links to its evolving online training tool, MY ASICS, which offers an increasingly fully integrated digital engagement platform.
Comment
The work follows last year’s ‘Journey Of Improvement’ campaign – led by its ‘Better Your Best’ TV commercial
which the company claims was its most successful advertising initiative ever (based on brand awareness and sentiment metrics).
The new campaign builds on Asics’ strong running shoe sales figures in 2013 (despite adidas and Nike both stepping up their own running marketing programmes) and is the focal point for the company’s current strategy of investing heavily in generating attention in other sports.
Indeed, 2014 sees the brand commit to a 20% year-on-year increase its pan-European media spend with a focus on pushing its apparel lines deeper into niche categories like tennis and rugby.
The brand plans to maintain its current commitment to the running segment, whilst also expanding out into other sports.
This approach, according to marketing manager Max Keen, is a direct response to Asics consumers’ current purchasing habits.
Already three out of four customers who buy Asics already use the products for non-running sports.
‘Our strategy is about being number one in running. That won’t change but there’s a natural affinity to running and other sports,’ explains Keen. ‘Three out of four people who buy Asics use it for sport. That’s almost double the rate of the market, which is more like four out of 10 because people use them for leisure also.
Links
Asics Muscle Support Website
http://www.asics.co.uk/musclesupport
Asics Website
Asics Campaign On Twitter
#BetterYourBest
