On and Zendaya Turn a Shoe Launch Into an Action Movie
On's new film with Zendaya, designed by Law Roach, frames a sneaker launch as a martial-arts action movie. Here are the behavioural levers behind it.
The new film in one paragraph
On’s latest campaign, “Your New Favourite Action Movie,” treats a running shoe launch like a big-screen martial-arts film. It was made for the brand’s second co-created collection with Zendaya, designed by Law Roach, and it places the actor in an urban, dreamlike pursuit and hand-to-hand combat sequence with an athletic group of women. The spot was released days ago and has been named Bestads Best TV/Film of the Week by Campaign Brief’s global showcase.
The levers it pulls
Three behavioural science principles do the persuasive work here.
- Halo effect. Zendaya’s cultural credibility rubs off on the shoe before a single feature is shown. The film never argues material superiority; it lets her presence make the product feel modern and desirable.
- Parasocial relationship. The audience already feels they know her. Watching her step into an action role lowers the usual resistance to advertising, because it reads more like casting than a pitch.
- Pattern interrupt. Sneaker ads usually run through training montages or runners gliding through parks. This one borrows fight choreography and chase grammar, so the brain flags it as novel and keeps watching.
Together, these levers do not ask a viewer to evaluate the product. They ask the viewer to enjoy the film, and let the enjoyment colour the shoe.
The bet the brand is making with it
On is betting that entertainment can carry performance credibility further than product detail. The film does not explain foam compounds or energy return. It sells the feeling of moving like an action hero, and leaves the shoe as the object that made that possible. Bestads guest judge Roisin Keown called the approach “genius and my winner,” adding that the celebrity is not the concept—the film still has to surprise.
The risk is that star power can swallow the product. But the campaign leans into that, treating the shoe as part of the spectacle rather than a prop to be zoomed.
It is a brand-building choice rather than a direct-response one. The ad assumes the performance story is already understood and spends its time shaping how the brand feels. For a performance footwear maker, that is a confident trade: entertain first, substantiate later.
What to borrow for your next campaign
The takeaway is not “hire a celebrity.” It is to transplant the grammar of a different genre onto your category. Pick a film genre that fits your product’s opposite—action for footwear, heist for finance, nature documentary for skincare. Give the product a role as the enabler of a transformed self, not the hero being inspected. If you cast a famous face, give them a character to play, not a line to read. The test from the film is simple: when the product disappears, does the feeling remain? If yes, you’ve built memory, not just awareness.
Watch the original: On on YouTube
Source: Campaign Brief
