As running culture continues to grow in popularity, ASICS’ latest global campaign leans into joy and unexpected lightness, pairing everyday exercise with a classic Beach Boys soundtrack.
Running has rarely felt more culturally loaded, with many people sharing Strava screenshots on Instagram stories and attending running clubs at the weekends. In turn, we’ve seen a massive rise in “soft performance” sportswear and the simple act of moving has become as much about mental clarity as physical fitness.
This shift underpins ASICS’ new global brand campaign, Move Your Body, Move Your Mind, launching this week across digital, social, broadcast, and retail channels worldwide.
Created by independent creative agency AGIT8, the campaign places mood firmly at the centre of performance. While running brands of old might have pushed pace, PBs or elite athleticism, this film’s focus is on how movement can subtly, and sometimes unexpectedly, transform the way the world feels.
The running spot opens in the familiar setting of a woman mid-workday, desk-bound and visibly restless. She steps outside for a run and, as her feet hit the pavement, the world around her begins to hum along to Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys.
Commuters, café customers, a bus driver, and even a billboard join in, singing about her good energy as she moves through the city. Only at the end do we realise the chorus exists entirely in her head and is a byproduct of a mind finally free to wander.
The same emotional logic runs through a sister tennis film, which explores how a match can lift mood and sharpen focus. Some might see movement as a chore or obligation, but this campaign positions it more as a reset button for the brain.
AGIT8 founder and creative director Gerry Human explains how the music choice was key to capturing that feeling. “It’s impossible not to feel good when you hear this classic Beach Boys track, just like the feeling you get when you move in ASICS,” he says.
The campaign is rooted in ASICS’ founding philosophy, as the brand’s name is an acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, or “Sound Mind in a Sound Body”. According to Gary Raucher, global head of marketing at ASICS, Move Your Body, Move Your Mind is about translating that belief into something more experiential and emotionally resonant.
“For over 75 years, ASICS has been committed to helping more people move so they can feel better,” he says. “It’s the reason we were founded and why we’re called ASICS.
“This campaign brings our founding principle to life in a way that inspires everyone to experience the uplifting power of movement, because when you move your body, you move your mind.”
As ASICS points out, there’s science behind the sentiment, too, with research suggesting that even 15 minutes of exercise can positively lift mental state. It just further reinforces the idea that movement doesn’t need to be extreme or time-consuming to have an impact.
In that sense, the campaign feels well-timed. As more people turn to running, tennis and everyday exercise as tools for stress management and mental wellbeing, brands are being challenged to respond with empathy rather than intensity.
Alongside the films, ASICS plans a series of community activations designed to encourage people to experience the mental benefits of movement firsthand. While the landscape of motivational messaging in sportswear is no doubt crowded with ‘push harder’ and ‘feel better’, the tactic with Move Your Body, Move Your Mind is a little softer and much more human (with a little help from the Beach Boys).
