Smart strength training system Tonal has just launched "Power Progress," a new campaign set in the future of fitness that looks to challenge outdated workouts.
Created in collaboration with the brand's agency of record Quality Experience, the effort announces a significant shift in a new direction for the brand, encompassing:
- Strategy
- Messaging
- Integrated campaign assets
- Brand design system
Aiming to mark the occasion with a powerful cinematic spot, Tonal introduced a two-minute brand film shot in black and white heavily inspired by auteur filmmaking.
The commercial is directed by award-winning French director Aube Perrie of Pulse Films, who has worked on music videos for Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, and BTS leader RM.
"Power Progress" also features a score composed by critically acclaimed musician Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails.
In a press release, Tonal VP of Marketing Meg Douglass explained the campaign's focus on next-gen strength training that's tailored to suit the individual:
"We consistently hear that the experience on Tonal is unlike anything people have felt before. The way we use technology to customize a workout at an individual level means everyone progresses at their optimal pace. That's why 'Power Progress' resonated so deeply — it's exactly what we do."
Additionally, QX Creative Chairman Ari Weiss highlighted sports marketing's long history of creating groundbreaking ads, which inspired the campaign's disruptive nature:
"Like any great idea the insight is dead simple but the execution is unexpected and riveting. Great sports marketing doesn't happen without great sports marketers and the team at Tonal shared our ambition to make the marketing as disruptive as the product."
QX also conceptualized the campaign's tagline, "Stop working out in the past."
More content will follow the film in the coming weeks, while versions ranging from 90 to 15 seconds will run across linear and connected TV, as well as paid social channels.
Tonal's new campaign takes a bold idea and runs with it, crafting an incredibly well-executed spot that stands out from the vast majority of modern sports marketing campaigns.
Its quality underscores the massive importance of video production in creating breakthrough campaigns.
Live and Exercise in the Now
The hero film's 30-second cut opens with a bleak montage of people in the Victorian era doing sets of grueling exercises:
- Riding bikes
- Rowing old boats
- Swinging ropes
- Lifting kettlebells
- Banging anvils
Each shot is masterfully framed, capturing stark faces and pained expressions that add to the drama.
View this post on Instagram
Growing tired of archaic workouts that persist in today's gyms, a woman runs away and enters her home, approaching a mysterious, brightly lit screen.
As the tension reaches its peak, the spot abruptly cuts to color to reveal what the screen is: a cutting-edge Tonal system that symbolizes the future of fitness.
Fitness products and services continue to ramp up their marketing efforts as people become more and more health-conscious.
Back in March, football legend Cristiano Ronaldo caused a stir in the fitness industry with his new fitness app, Erakulis.
