"Bike"

10 August 2026

30s

Out of the dark.

Actimove's new campaign is all about the pain barrier and those who push through it. Injured athletes often describe themselves as being in a dark place, and that's precisely where the protagonist of agency Publicis and director Quentin Deronzier finds herself.

To make her bike ride in the black void even bleaker, the floor turns into thick tar crossed with a symbiote from 'Spider-Man'. If she stops the sludge may well swallow her and her bicycle whole—nothing else for it than to pedal as hard as she can, even as the sludge develops tendrils that grab onto whatever they can.

Said ooze both looks and sounds the part—shimmery, squelchy, and grotty— but it would be a grim-ass commercial if we stayed here for the duration. It's here where a nicely judged cut to a regular street also introduces the product itself: kinesiology tape that supposedly makes the pain more bearable. For viewers lost in the dark, this is an atmospheric promise to light the way.

UK

Gyms & Fitness Equipment