TAG Heuer Aquaracer Goes 'Beyond the Edge' for Performance Led Spot

To mark the launch of the new Aquaracer Professional 300 collection, which was unveiled at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2021, TAG Heuer chose DDB Paris to create an unprecedented advertising campaign. The collaboration between the luxury brand and the French agency gave birth to a powerful and never seen before 360° campaign which presents the new Aquaracer range and territory. 

The campaign is a strong narrative about resilience, performance and mental strength. The communication is based on a central concept: the flow, which represents that unique mental state athletes aim to reach. In psychology, the flow state, or being 'in the zone', is defined as the ultimate accomplishment, a state of extreme focus. It’s a unique feeling of being present in the moment. 

Three athletes moved beyond their limits to achieve the very best version of themselves, a performance captured in the film directed by promising young Swiss talent Jonas Hegi. The American waterman Kai Lenny, a long-standing TAG Heuer ambassador, the freediving champion, videographer and Friend of the Brand Julie Gautier and the cliff diver Robin George were given the opportunity to explore their own limits. The film, now visible all over the world on TV and DOOH, was built around the three-phase journey (preparation, action and flow state) that makes a performance being one, reaching its acme while we discover the edge.

We first follow the stages of preparation and concentration. They focus, visualizing what they aim to achieve. We feel how intense is the preparation before achieving a new feat. On the crest of a giant wave, in the blue depths of the ocean, and flying through the air, our three athletes reach the flow. An artistic interpretation of high performance, an explosion of saturated colours offering a never seen before aesthetic in the watchmaking industry.

“The decision to go with visually heightened images, using highly saturated colours and an abstract aesthetic bordering on science fiction breaks with the normal clichés associated with surfing and ocean images. We are instantly transported to another dimension, deep into the imagination. It’s about sport and luxury, high precision and artistic vision, yin and yang you might say – a marriage of the extremes that are unique to TAG Heuer” says Alexander Kalchev, chief creative officer at DDB Paris. 

 The campaign is completed with a series of three prints, dedicated to each of the ambassadors reaching their edge. A tryptic story putting the emphasis on the athlete, preparing for the moment of truth, a powerful moment of intense concentration. Starring in the middle of the action, the watch, with its new features (dial design, crown), the perfect tool for those looking to go beyond their limits, ending with athlete in the moment of truth, an incredible sports performance.

Besides the film shoot and prints, Ben Thouard, one of the leading photographers based in French Polynesia who received an education in close connection with nature and especially the sea, recognized for his ocean’s images expertise, had the opportunity to follow our athletes in their intimate sphere, during the preparation of their performance. Those moments gave us 70 exceptional authentic photos, offering us behind the scenes from the several shoot locations (Nice and Hawaii) of this advertising campaign.

The campaign is diffused worldwide, and the film has reached more that 3,5M views on social media. It has been broadcasted worldwide on TV and reached millions of viewers by being displayed on exceptional DOOH such as Times Square in New York, Piccadilly Circus in London or in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.