Women Exercise Less than Men - But New Work from ASICS Hopes to Spark Change

In its latest global campaign, ‘She Breathes’, ASICS reminds us that exercise can help women cope with everyday stresses. The holistic 360 campaign is now live across Europe, the US and Asia in support of the brand’s mission to uplift minds through movement.

Created by WMN, the female-forward studio from CPB London, to mark the launch of ASICS’s new NAGINO Collection, the campaign deploys breath as a metaphorical and literal device to highlight the positive influence that movement has on the body and mind. The work was developed in response to ASICS 2022 State of Mind Index, a study that shows the positive link between movement and mental wellbeing. The research revealed that globally, women exercise on average 40 minutes less a week than men and, as a result, experience a lower state of mind.

Contrasting the shortness of breath in stressed moments with the controlled, rhythmic breaths of a workout, the hero spot opens with a montage of various women quietly battling through everyday situations - juggling the school run, finishing an exhausting work shift or comforting a tearful child. A crescendo of accompanying sighs builds and then gradually morphs into the steady ‘In / Out’ breath of a female runner, the powerful gasp of a tennis player as she smashes the ball, and the gentle exhale of a woman practicing yoga. As the scene closes, the viewer is left with a sense of quiet calm and an understanding that nothing feels better than moving for your mind.

Helen James, CEO for Europe at Crispin Porter Bogusky and founder of WMN, commented, “Amazingly, just over 15 minutes of exercise has been proven to lift your mood - but how many women feel able to set aside those 15 minutes from their busy days? We wanted to highlight that there’s a virtuous circle to be uncovered here: when you carve out time for yourself and exercise, when you breathe deeply and calmly, the weight of your seemingly endless To Do list lessens, and your stress levels fall." 

Gary Raucher, executive vice president at ASICS EMEA added: “ASICS was founded on the belief that movement can transform the mind. It’s why we’re called ASICS. It’s an acronym from the Latin phrase Anima Sana In Corpore Sano or a Sound Mind in a Sound Body. And we believe our founding purpose is more relevant today than ever before. We know that stress and anxiety levels continue to rise, but we also know exercise can help. Yet our own research shows that women don’t exercise as a much as men and that negatively impact their State of Mind scores. We need to change that.”

Which is why ASICS is launching its mission to move every mind to tackle exercise inequality and support everyone to feel the positive mental health benefits of movement. As a first step to move every mind, ASICS is launching a global live study to understand better the environmental and societal barriers preventing women from exercising and what needs to be done to help them to move freely.

The campaign was created by an all-female line-up at CPB London, from the creative team through to production, account management and design, as well as being creatively led by Director Amy Becker Burnett and Photographer Wendy Huynh.