Gore-Tex ‘Tested for Life’ fall campaign features real extreme athlete stories
WL Gore and Associates, makers of Gore-Tex, have taken viewers inside the real-life stories of extreme athletes with a new ad campaign.
Photographer Jennifer Bin for Gore-Tex
To highlight the resilience of its athletes and products, the ‘Tested for Life’ campaign, by AKQA, shows mountaineer Tamara Lunger and freeride skier Greg Hill being tested to their limits.
The two videos are the first in the campaign, which has enlisted athletes, influencers and brand ambassadors, and the stories take people into the tense moments of the action.
Hill’s video shows him trying to freeski a peak 18,000 feet up in Pakistan. With a mix of body-camera and crewed footage, we see that Hill starts an avalanche, which buries him and injures him. Through his recovery, he overcomes his physical and mental trauma, finally returning to the place and conquering his fears.
Lunger’s video chronicles her trying to climb one of the world’s highest peaks in winter, only to be turned away by the weather 250 feet from the top. She later conquers a Siberian peak, becoming the first woman to do so in winter. Both videos end with the tag: “We test to the limits because life tests to the limits.
Future videos will feature mountaineers Robert Jasper and Hirotaka Takeuchi and world-class runner Daniel Jung, while the city photographer Jennifer Bin – famed for her images of skyscrapers and rooftops – appears to put performance apparel to the test in two urban and lifestyle stories. Throughout each story, viewers follow the athletes through their difficult and sometimes life-threatening pursuits, to show how all Gore-Tex products are designed and engineered to withstand the extremes.
A hero video displays Gore-Tex products being toughly tested in the lab, while footage from the other videos is interspersed, accompanied by the same tag.
The experience continues Gore-Tex’s ‘Tested for Life Tryout’ activation, which began in 2018 and invites regional athletes and influencers to share their own tests of the Gore-Tex Guaranteed to Keep You Dry and Gore-Tex Infinium products.
Gore Fabrics Division global brand leader Achim Ewers zum Rode said: “Tested for Life highlights the importance of the testing that we do across all Gore-Tex products, and how this testing enhances the lives of real people. Just as life tests each of us, we test all Gore-Tex brand products to the limits.”
‘Tested for Life’ was conceived by creative agency AKQA, in partnership with media agency Gravity, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network alongside the physical retail and e-commerce consultancy Geometry. The experience seeks to inspire the next generation of adventurers throughout their multi-faceted lives, to empower influencers and consumers alike. The global online platform gore-tex.com has also been redesigned by AKQA for the fall-winter 2019 launch.
See the videos by clicking on the Creative Works box below.
