Sports brand ASICS was founded more

than 70 years ago, with the belief that

sport can benefit not just the body, but

also the mind. It’s why ASICS is called

ASICS. It’s an acronym for the Latin

“Anima Sana in Corpore Sano” or

“A Sound Mind in a Sound Body”.

In a UK market dominated by big

sports brands, ASICS was failing to

stand out. Very few consumers knew

or understood what made the ASICS

brand unique.

Brief:

To gain market share in the UK by

making consumers aware of ASICS’

unique and highly differentiated

brand positioning – that movement

uplifts the mind.

Campaign objectives:

• Demonstrate how movement

with ASICS can measurably uplift

people’s mood

• Drive awareness of ASICS’

Sound Mind, Sound Body brand

philosophy to the UK audience

• Increase ASICS’ UK market share

closer to the average European

market share of 31%

We partnered with Retford’s Council

to turn Retford into Upliftford,

literally transforming the town into a

movement-inspiring gym.

Using fun signage and graphic images,

we turned Lamp Posts into ‘Goal Posts’,

Benches into ‘Bench Presses’ and Bus

Stops into ‘Bus Steps’. We renamed

the River Idle, ‘River Lively’, places

to sit became places to do ‘Sit Ups’

and the park Amphitheatre turned into

the ‘Uplifttheatre’. A dreary alley wall

was converted into a tennis wall, and

renamed ’Ball Wall’.

Using a combination of facial-mapping

technology and self-reported data, we

could accurately measure the impact of

moving with ASICS on individuals and

the whole town.

Over six months, the creativity, passion

and ambition poured into this campaign

meant that we were able to achieve each

of our objectives and play a vital role in

achieving a key business objective to

increase ASICS’ market share in the UK.

The truth is that ASICS has always had

a compelling purpose in relation to its

competitors (who have mostly focused

on winning at all cost). We wanted to

tell that story in a unique, standout way.

During the spring of 2021, ASICS

research revealed that three-quarters

(76%) of adults nationwide needed a

mental ‘uplift’. As we emerged from

another lockdown, the nation was

calling out for a boost to its collective

mood. The research provided the

perfect springboard for ASICS to

demonstrate its brand purpose.

We needed to prove that moving

with ASICS has an incredibly positive

impact, not just on physical health, but

also on mental wellbeing. And to make

sure people noticed, we needed to

demonstrate this at scale.

We knew movement uplifts individual

minds, but could we prove it by lifting

the mood of an entire town?

Phase 1 (May 2021):

To identify a location in need of a mental

uplift, we utilised the ASICS “State-of-

Mind Index”. Developed in partnership

with Dr. Brendon Stubbs, a leading expert

in mental health and movement, and UK

mental health charity, Mind, the study

involved over 8,000 people nationwide.

Using a set of 10 questions relating to

different cognitive and emotional traits

including confidence, stress and focus,

the research enabled us to generate

average ‘mood scores’ by location.

Phase 2 (September 2021):

We created the ASICS Uplift

Route, before inviting

residents to move and measure the

impact on the mood of the entire town.

We utilised the

ASICS ‘Mind Uplifter’ – a scientifically

developed application to measure

the impact of exercise. We measured

residents’ moods before and after

exercise. Using

cognitive and emotional questions and

advanced facial-mapping technology,

we accurately determined the

impact of movement on individuals

and the town.

Phase 3 (October 2021):

For one sweaty day, Retforders moved

to lift the mood of their town – and the

results were:

Using Mind Uplifter data captured

from hundreds of residents, we saw a 27% Mind Uplift, with the

town’s mood score increasing from 56

to 71 out of 100. Moving Retford from

the lowest, to the highest mood

score nationwide.

In partnership with Mind, we announced

the results alongside video content of

the experiment, ahead of World Mental

Health Day, via earned, owned and paid media.

The activation generated a 27% Mind

Uplift for the residents of Retford,

demonstrating that

movement has the power to uplift

the mood of a whole town.

Purchase intent for ASICS running

shoes increasing 79% after being

exposed to the campaign in the UK.

It dramatically increased ASICS’

market share in the UK from

20% to 25% for YTD Q3 2021