Trail runners keep coming back for the mud, the climbs, and the misery, and ASICS wants to showcase that.
The U.S. counts 16.1 million trail runners in 2024, and ASICS is a road brand trying to prove that it belongs on the terrain.
Independent creative agency AGIT8 has released the brand's latest global trail running push titled "Good Vibrations."
And the film doesn't try to make the sport look easy.
Alistair Foster, ASICS' global marketing director for performance running, said in a press release that the film had to feel true to the trail community.
He also wanted the work to keep a distinctly ASICS point of view.
"Pairing the rawness of the trail with 'Good Vibrations' captures that unexpected joy you find when you push yourself outdoors – and the lift it gives both body and mind," he added.
Gerry Human, founder and creative director at AGIT8, said trail runners chase the hard stuff on purpose, since that's where the fun lives.
Human wanted the work to match that instinct with no gloss and no gimmicks, just strong shoes, tough trails, and the payoff of getting stuck in.
Overall, the film pushes ASICS' "Move Your Mind Move, Your Body" brand messaging.
It does so through a trail-specific lens, seeing discomfort as the route to the feeling the brand is chasing.
When Hardship Is Part of It
The hero spot shows all the uncomfortable parts of a trail run.
This includes grinding through steep climbs, technical descents, mud, and unpredictable terrain.
But while these necessary parts of outdoor activity may be difficult, they're also the most rewarding.
A distorted, gritty rework of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" builds alongside the runners as they push harder.
The song sets up a clash between the on-screen punishment and the high that follows it.
The effort continues an ongoing partnership between ASICS and AGIT8.
The agency has also produced global social, retail, and e-commerce assets tied to the campaign across key markets.
The ads also feature trail runners Tom Evans, Ben Dhiman, and Sara Alonso, all on the ASICS Trail Team.
ASICS signed Evans in January 2025, and he won UTMB Mont Blanc that August with Dhiman second.
These accomplishments are the credibility that the film assumes ASICS already has.
Trail Running's Growth
The Sports & Fitness Industry Association put U.S. trail running participation at 16.1 million in 2024, up by 1.3 million from the year before.
The 8.8% year-over-year climb makes it one of the fastest-growing outdoor activities that SFIA tracks.
UTMB cited Strava data in a September 2025 announcement on athletes uploading trail runs.
The number doubled in the first half of 2025 against the same period three years earlier.
All signs point to the sport's growth not being confined to any one market. And ASICS is using this fact to its advantage.
Here are key lessons to learn from its efforts:
- Match the soundtrack to the point of the story: A warped "Good Vibrations" was effective because it mirrors the exact contrast the campaign is making between suffering and euphoria.
- Let athlete casting do quiet credibility work: Evans, Dhiman, and Alonso give the brand's "trail community" claim something concrete to stand on beyond the film itself.
- Build participation data into the pitch: The SFIA's 8.8% growth figure gives ASICS a market-timing story that a values-only campaign wouldn't have.
Salomon, Hoka, and La Sportiva already hold the shelf space ASICS wants.
This competitive pressure is part of why the emotional angle matters as much as the shoe.
Our Take: Can Discomfort be the Selling Point?
Most running ads treat effort as something to get through on the way to a finish line.
We think that this discomfort sells perfectly well, as long as the brand has the receipts to back the claim.
What keeps the ad upright is that ASICS never claims the trail gets easier, only that the runner gets something out of it.
The gap is that ASICS is still the newcomer here, and Salomon and Hoka spent a decade earning the exact authority this film assumes.
Evans winning UTMB in an ASICS prototype buys more of that authority than any film can.
The next round of advertising now has to show the shoe doing the work, since the feeling is already covered.
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