Asics creates witty packaging to promote its health benefits

The direct mail delivery is being sent to ambassadors of the brand across the UK and the Netherlands and aims to highlight the link between exercise and mental health

The promotion sees Asics running shoes sealed within giant medicinal blister packs and contained in a box designed to look like painkillers. Created by Neil A Dawson & Company, it marks the launch of Asics’ Movement for Mind programme, which intends to get people moving and help their physical and mental wellbeing.

“Running releases endorphins which promote good mental health,” says Dawson. “To highlight this we created pharmaceutical style packaging for the shoes.”

Music fans might be reminded of Mark Farrow’s packaging for Spiritualized’s seminal album Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space, which was delivered in a similar style. However, for Asics, the health message links to the brand’s inception in 1949, when founder Kihachiro Onitsuka recognised the mental health benefits of exercise for young people in post-war Japan, and coined its tagline Sound Mind, Sound Body.

“It’s a privilege to be working on a brand with a sense of purpose at its core from day one,” continues Dawson. “It feels like the world has finally cottoned on to what Mr Onitsuka recognised all those years ago.”

Credits:
Creative Director: Neil A Dawson
Concept Creator: Paul Hodgkinson
Designer: Mike Watson
Production Company: The Hub London