Description
Just how much endurance does a sprinter need? The answer is: a lot more than you think. A new campaign by Swiss sportswear company, On, aims to reframe sport’s single-minded focus on winning - by highlighting perseverance as an equally essential quality for athletes. The campaign is led by a 171 second film, The Infinite Sprint, which paints an intimate portrait of German sprinter Alexandra Burghardt (29) and her 22-year-long journey to becoming a national champion - and is released just as the athlete celebrates another winning performance in the 200m race at the 2023 German Athletics Championships in Kassel.
Centred on the surprising message (for a sports brand) that winning isn’t everything, the film is a powerful reminder that mental strength and a resilient attitude are just as important as crossing the finish line first - whether you’re a professional, aspiring runner or running as a hobby or way of keeping fit.
Filmed in Burghardt’s hometown of Altötting, Germany, and featuring original archive moments from the very beginning of her career, the film portrays Burghardt’s journey with both a sense of childlike wonder and unwavering willpower. It juxtaposes vignettes of Burghardt’s gruelling training schedule with fictional scenes of a young girl of a similar age to Burghardt when she first set out to pursue her dream of becoming a professional sprinter and making it to the Olympics. The evocative visuals are overlaid by Burghardt narrating the challenges of her 22-year-long journey to become a champion - concluding with her powerful realisation that ‘The distance between dream and reality is perseverance - and with every day, this distance gets a little shorter, until the two meet.’
This professional campaign titled 'The Infinite Sprint' was published in Switzerland in July, 2023. It was created for the brand: On, by ad agency: Gold For Cash Inc. This Integrated medium campaign is related to the Sports and Sportswear industries and contains 1 media asset. It was submitted over 1 year ago.
Credits
Client: ON AG
Sports Marketing Lead: Gessica Giulini
Project Manager Athlete Strategy & Partnerships: Jacob Wessel
Agency: Gold For Cash Inc.
Creative Director: Oliver DeVitre fka Frank
Director: Mischa Meyer
DoP: Louis Lustermann
Production: AKKURAT Studios
Producer: Nian Tang
Production Assistant: Sophie Werche
Executive Producer: Rocco Kopecny
Music: Rwdy Music
Edit House: Cabin
Editor: Nathan Rodgers
Colorist: Mikey Pehanich
Postproduction / Online: SLGH Hamburg
Special Thanks to: Kasia März, Familie Burghardt, Dominic Bilic & Crossfit Altötting TV Altötting, SV Wacker
Burghausen, Freiwillige Feuerwehr Altötting, Horst Strömer