High Flying HOKA Finds the Emotional Core of Running

Rapidly-growing sportswear and shoe brand HOKA have a job few would envy: making ads which stand out in one of the most competitive sectors in American advertising. But where their big name rivals rely on superstar names and big budget epics, HOKA and agency Anomaly are looking to do something subtly different.

HOKA’s “Together We Fly Higher” campaign builds on their “FLY HUMAN FLY” tagline and makes the emotional authenticity of running its foundation. The exhaustion, the effort, the early mornings, and the moments of triumph they lead to. It’s an ad campaign which also remembers that running is an individual sport that’s also a team effort, giving plenty of airtime to the family and friends who support an athlete and share in their personal victories.

The full “Together We Fly Higher” ad is two minutes long and soundtracked by Bob Dylan’s classic “Shelter From The Storm”. The fifty-year-old song may seem a left-field choice for an up-and-coming Gen Z brand, but it’s a canny pick, full of lyrical moments that conjure up immense strain and effort but a refrain full of warmth and relief. Its simple folk instrumentation also speaks to the aesthetic of the ad, which uses point of view shots and natural lighting to create its sense of authenticity.

We tested a 30-second edit of “Together We Fly Higher” which pulls together one of the several storylines in the ad, about a young runner whose mom makes breakfast for him in the small hours before training begins, and is there to hug him at the finish line. The shared spotlight on the runner and his mother creates a sense of human connection and “between-ness” — one of the qualities that’s most valuable and effective in ads. Together with the melodic music and the emotional peak at the commercial’s end, it’s a recipe for an ad which is grounded and feels emotionally true at the same time as telling a story.

Audiences responded well to “Together We Fly Higher” in our Test Your Ad platform. It scored a good 3.4-Star Rating, well above the US average. For a campaign whose point is brand awareness to introduce HOKA to new audiences, and extend the brand’s existing sales momentum, Star Rating is the most crucial metric, predicting long-term impact. The ad performs less well on Brand Fluency, but this mostly reflects HOKA’s status as a challenger brand, exactly the situation that this campaign will help shift. “Together We Fly Higher” gives HOKA a strong foundation for future ads and executions, as well as showing running in a relevant and different light.