Ad of the Day: Asics

The new Asics campaign from Vitro uses some tried-and-true pitches—our shoes can withstand a jackhammer, can make you fly, etc.—but adopts some convincing innovations to drive the point home a little harder than usual. There's nontraditional music, for example, and no voiceover. And if you don't look too closely, everything here looks completely factual, especially with the sciencey-sounding "test" text that comes up at the beginning and end of the spots.

Looking closely yields other rewards, however. One of my favorite things about the three least probable ads is the series of pithy disclaimers that basically say, "What are you, a moron?" The "Jackhammer" spot warns: "Fictionalization. Do not attempt. Jackhammers are not toys. Except for toy jackhammers, which are." Good to know. And on the "Sink or Sprint" spot: "Fictionalization. Do not attempt. Trust us, it's not a good idea." This is certainly true, given the near-infinite number [1] of [2] epic [3] pool [4]-cover [5] sprint [6] fails [7] chronicled [8] on YouTube thus far.

One thing that has been obviously fictionalized in all the ads is the sound, which more or less carries the "Fountain" spot (the only one of these, incidentally, that makes me go, "Yes, I could do that, too"). The best sound editing is unquestionably in the best overall spot, "Levitation," which gets extra points for not needing a funny disclaimer at the bottom. (In addition to the ones below, you can see five more clips at the new StopAtNever.com.) [9]

The runner pushes himself into the air with every footstep, and the slo-mo effect, especially in HD, is hypnotic. Can these shoes make you fly? No, they cannot. But that guy can run like a boss.











CREDITS
Client: Asics
Agency: Vitro
Creative Chairman: John Vitro
Chief Creative Officers: Jonas Hallberg, Liron Reznik
Creative Director: K.T. Thayer
Copywriters: Schuyler Vanden Bergh, Simone Nobili
Art Directors: Kevin Lukens, Kevin Cimo, Cris Westrell, Dominic Al-Samarraie
Agency Producer: Mickey Strider
Agency Digital Producers: Lina Drott, Christoffer Lorang Dahl
Digital Production: Kokokaka
Video Production: 13 Keys
Video Editing: Dave Friz, 13 Keys
Sound Design: 13 Keys