For Salomon, a natural solution

• What was the brief for the campaign?

Already well-regarded among outdoor sports enthusiasts, the brand's objective was to get a new audience outdoors into nature.

To achieve this goal, Salomon has built upon a foundational belief that has driven the brand since the very beginning: a deeper connection to nature and to community enhances our well-being. This belief is now substantiated by numerous scientific studies, including the 'Benefits of Outdoor Sports for Society' report by the European Union.

Salomon’s brief was clear from the start: produce a powerful brand story to share Salomon’s mission, with a human truth and clear call to action: let’s invite everyone back to nature. Because that what humans need right now.

• Authenticity and back to nature: what inspired the creative concept of the campaign?

We live in an era marked by the repercussions of the pandemic and the pervasive influence of technology, where we often feel disconnected from nature. The new campaign aims to capture the profound emotion of rediscovering our own planet after being cut off from it for so long. We wanted the film to make people actually feel something, this urge to go back into nature. Something very simple, clear and universal. But at the same time we had to translate this truth into a striking visual. That’s where the “Welcome back to Earth” message came from. It was a very visual way to express this idea of human alienation from nature. We are almost like astronauts living apart from our own planet since years. We wrote a film that showed this journey back towards Earth, not literally, but rather in a psychological, almost spiritual way.

• Craft plays an important role. How were the locations and production artists chosen? (Why not use the lake at Annecy by the way?)

DDB and Salomon worked in close collaboration to choose the perfect cast and decide what an universal representation of outdoor sports should look like, without falling into the cliches of performance and mountain sports imagery. We looked for directors with strong experience in nature filming but also an ability to capture human emotions. Martin de Thurah (brand film) and Elena Petitti di Roreto (sports films) were the perfect fit to achieve this. The brand film uses very little VFX and is mostly created in-camera. We wanted to create a visual language that would go beyond sports and be able to touch people on a deeper level. To that end, even the VFX had to feel organic and human and we gave Martin de Thurah complete freedom to experiment with real life practical effects, to experiment with during editing. Locations were chosen by Martin and Elena between Slovenia and the dolomites in Italy for the breathtaking landscapes and variety of settings including city scenes in Ljubljana.

• Do you have a behind-the-scenes story to share?

Martin de Thurah and Kasper Tuxen (DOP) experiments included cutting ice blocks, taking cameras through vegetables and creating a real-life zoetrope.

Another BTS story, the day we were shooting at Monte Lagazuoi, the whole landscape was hidden by a heavy fog. We had to come back the following week and this time nature was on our side: we had a perfect weather and could capture amazing mountain vistas.

• Released during the Super Bowl season and before the Paris 2024 Olympics, how will you ensure that this campaign stands out from competing sport brands who will all be advertising during this exceptional year?

The answer resides in the nature of the film itself: it offers a break into nature, a space for breathing in the middle of an oversaturated mediatic landscape. It’s also quite unique within the outdoor and sportswear categories. It’s not about performance, not about tech or equipment. It shows the pure feeling about reconnecting with nature and coming “home” to our own planet. 

DDB Paris

Werbung/Full Service/ Integriert

PARIS, Frankreich

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