True, bold and elegant

Fila's latest campaign supports the Italian sports brand's commitment to "l'arte nello sport," or "the art of sport," through images that capture "special moments in time that happen in sport but that you don't necessarily see," says Mark Westerman, Fila's vice president of global marketing communication. "They might be more visual, some more emotional."

Manchester, Mass.-based shooter John Huet photographed three of the six executions of the in-house effort. "He had the sports background needed to do action shots," Westerman says, "but also demonstrated that his work had artistic value.

One of Huet's images captures a tennis ball in motion and the others are of women in different yoga poses. While the former represents an often unnoticed visual, the yoga photographs beckon an emotional reaction celebrating a "certain serenity and peacefulness and artistic beauty," Westerman says. The remaining ads including one of a sweaty man exhausted from a workout consist of stock art from Getty Images.

The global campaign seeks to leverage Fila's Italian heritage and to promote its philosophy that esthetic and performance complement each other in its footwear, apparel and accessories. "Performance should be inherent in good design," Westerman says. "That's what comes through with the imagery and photography . . . Some campaigns, when presented to you, you have to think about it and this one was so visual, the reaction was immediate, and you just fell in love. This is what we stand for."

The effort targets affluent, well-educated adults between 25 and 49 who are involved with sports for "personal fulfillment, the joy of participating, and who are not trying to win at all costs," Westerman says. That group was largely Fila's original base in the 70's and 80's before the company extended its elite brand to 12- to 24-year-old "urban trendsetters" in categories like basketball and entertainment.

Two years ago Sparks, Md.,-based Fila, a subsidiary of Sport Brands International, began the process of re-focusing once more on its original consumer group. With the new work, Fila has "gone back to our roots," Westerman says. "This is where we started as a brand."

The ads' sparse copy includes Fila's guiding principles: "vero," "audace," and "elegante," which translate to "true," "bold," and "elegant," respectively.

The campaign broke recently and will run through June in a diverse mix of magazines including Architectural Digest, Fitness, Harper's Bazaar, Robb Report, Town & Country, and Vanity Fair. Westerman says Fila will switch to more product-focused executions during the second half of the year.