WHOOP Keeps to the Beat of Time in Disciplined and Rhythmic New Short

In a connected world, we have insider knowledge about everything. We know the stats of our favourite teams and players. We intuit the meaning behind social media slang. But when it comes to ourselves, most of us are still in the dark. It’s why WHOOP, industry-leading 24/7 fitness tracker and health monitor, created a new campaign titled, 'Know Yourself' to drive our audience’s focus inward.

In the first TVC for the wearable tech brand, WHOOP paints a stark contrast between the vast knowledge we have of the world around us and the limited understanding of the world within us. Making the point that when we know ourselves better mentally, physically, even scientifically – we become better. As athletes, it's the ultimate competitive advantage. And in the time of a global pandemic, when our well-being has been brought more into focus, it’s vital.

The film itself is a dizzying journey through their audience’s insider knowledge. It makes references to statistics and facts in the Zeitgeist. Sure, it might fly over some people’s heads, but to WHOOP, that’s the point. The film is designed to celebrate their audience’s truly niche knowledge about the world. Then challenge them to embark on a more meaningful journey of self-discovery, empowering the viewer with the key takeaway that it’s time to 'Know Yourself'.

Executionally, the film uses two vocal talents who perform together in a duet, ricocheting between poetic stanzas in a verbal dance – each line intentionally crafted as a riddle for their audience to solve. The film was created by the directorial duo Rubberband. Running two cameras at the same time and shooting on 35mm film, the team created a surreal, black and white void that captured the musculature of the bodies in a playful way.

This surreal void also became the backdrop for dynamic type and sound design featuring Easter eggs that speak to sports and culture references in the zeitgeist and help viewers unlock the riddles in the VO.

Every step of the process – from the shoot, to the edit to the graphics and sound design – was done remotely, thanks to the team of clients, production partners and collaborators.