Oura, the fast-growing smart ring brand, is pitching wellness as more than performance.
Its new ad, “Wear Your Best Life,” follows hands through a miniature city to show the ring’s role in everyday life. The campaign features hands “running” through a park, waiting for the subway, and lounging by the pool.
The 11-year-old Finnish brand—which can track over 50 health and wellness metrics, from sleep to women’s health—wanted to diverge from traditional health-tech marketing, focusing less on performance and more on attuning to the body’s holistic needs.
“Most health tech talks to people as if there’s one finish line. Our members don’t live that way,” said Doug Sweeny, Oura’s chief marketing officer. “Some are chasing a personal best, some are just trying to sleep through the night, and some are managing chronic health conditions.”
To make the film, Oura worked with creative agency Nice&Frank and a team of modelmakers to build a one-tenth-scale city by hand, sized to fit the hands. Oura also brought in a choreographer to stage the hands’ movements. The brand aimed to stand apart with a handmade approach at a time when more ads are being created with AI.
“We chose to tell that story through hands because they’re so personal. Hands are how people work, create, care for others, and move through their day. Taking faces out of the picture meant the film could belong to a lot of different people, and it pushed us to rely on gesture, humor, and small moments to build the emotion,” Sweeny said.
Oura released 30- and 60-second versions of the ad, along with out-of-home executions, on Oct. 8. The film will run across the brand’s social platforms.
“Wear Your Best Life” builds on last year’s “Give Us the Finger” campaign, which centered on the index finger and emphasized finding joy in activities while aging. That campaign also showed the ring being used for pursuits beyond exercise tracking, such as playing the piano or a game of chess.
Oura has grown quickly in the wellness space. Just three years ago, 95% of Americans had not heard of it, per the brand, but it’s since been worn by everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Prince Harry.
In May, it released the Oura 5, which it says is the smartest ring on the market. Updates added features including an AI-powered glucose monitor and live exercise tracking, expanding the ring beyond its original purpose of sleep tracking.
Last week, the company said it was pausing its plan for an initial public offering (IPO) due to market uncertainty.
