Seriously sporty

Global – Sportswear brand Asics is targeting a new audience in its latest campaign, which pits fitness goals against the trappings of youth.

• Made with agency 180 Amsterdam, Want It More is aimed at 25–35-year olds, as Asics makes a strategic move into the broader training market
• The short film, directed by Henry Alex Rubin, gets ‘inside the ropes’ with amateur and professional athletes with a raw look and feel

Asics is taking a hard line on partygoers and sweet treat indulgers in Want It More, a campaign that says ‘serious athletes only please’. The sportswear brand is going after a younger, dedicated demographic, the type who watch the sun rise on their morning run and forgo dessert with tomorrow’s workout in mind.

The campaign represents a maturity in attitude towards fitness, one that goes beyond mere emulation and focuses on the individual as an athlete. ‘It’s not about taking sports stars and putting them on a pedestal,’ Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer at 180 Amsterdam, tells LS:N Global. ‘The message is much more democratic than that. It’s an open letter to those who are serious about sport.’

For the campaign, 180 Amsterdam also shot 15 short instructional videos from which, says Moseley, Instagram followers will be able to build their own workout routines. ‘Social media and YouTube have become the new personal trainers,’ he says.