ASICS Padel YouTube campaign: a social media video success story
Introduction: serving up a short-form challenge
In spring 2025, our team at Critikal teamed up with ASICS for a high-energy social media marketing campaign to introduce the new GEL-RESOLUTION X Padel shoes.
The goal was clear: drive brand preference and favorability among Spain and Italy's rapidly growing Padel community.
In consultation with the client, we opted for a YouTube-first video campaign leveraging ultra-short, platform-native ads.
This case study explores how Critikal's digital strategist and motion designer collaborated with ASICS' digital enablement team to design and distribute six and fifteen-second social media videos tailored to YouTube's unique placements (from skippable pre-rolls to vertical shorts) and how this video-first approach drove exceptional results.
Campaign at a glance.
The campaign delivered over 15 million impressions, showing high engagement with the videos across Spain and Italy. The view-through and video completion rates were above 95%, dwarfing typical YouTube VCR ad averages, which sit at around 32% (source: storegrowers).
Ultimately, the campaign achieved massive reach and engagement and drove tangible brand outcomes, including a significant uplift in brand consideration and a surge in organic "ASICS" searches among Padel players exposed to the campaign.
The sections below discuss how ASICS and Critikal’s social media video strategy (from creative concept to execution and optimisation) led to this success and what it means for sports brands looking to win with short-form videos.
Strategy and goals: short-form video to win the hearts of padel players
Audience & objective.
The campaign targeted men and women aged 18–54 who are padel enthusiasts in Spain and Italy. ASICS' brief centred on building brand preference, making ASICS the shoe of choice for Padel players. Thus, success would be measured by brand metrics (favorability, consideration, search uplift) alongside video engagement KPIs like views, view-through rate, and completion rate.
Platform selection: YouTube first.
With the audience spending hours watching padel content on YouTube, the team chose YouTube as the primary channel. YouTube offered a perfect match for short-form video ads and precise targeting (e.g. Padel-related keywords and popular Padel YouTube channels) to reach the core demographic. The strategy was "YouTube-first", meaning all creatives were purpose-built for the platform's formats and user behaviour rather than repurposed TV commercials or generic social videos. Crucially, the campaign utilised four key videos and two ad lengths: six-second and fifteen-second, each tailored to its placement.
Why short-form ads?
Padel is a fast-paced sport, and we wanted to mirror that energy with snappy, high-impact videos. Research has shown that short ads can pack a punch. YouTube's six-second ads often boost brand awareness by ~9% and ad recall by ~30% on average (source: better & stronger). These bite-sized ads align with viewers' short attention spans and mobile viewing habits.
By combining short six-second and longer fifteen-second ads, the campaign aimed to maximise reach and reinforcement:
The six-second ads would guarantee exposure (unskippable impressions)
The 15-second ads would allow more storytelling for those who didn't skip after 5 seconds.
The ultimate strategy was to hook Padel fans quickly and often, building familiarity and favorability for ASICS over the campaign period.
Campaign Goals.
In summary, we set out to engage Padel players with platform-native video content that feels authentic and exciting, drive up brand favorability (as measured by brand lift surveys and increased branded searches), and still contribute to efficient performance metrics (high view rates, low CPV, and even some incremental conversions uplift). The benchmark for success was beating industry averages and surpassing ASICS' previous Padel campaign metrics from the prior year.
Creative Development: collaboration behind platform-native videos
Designing effective social media videos for this campaign required close collaboration between ASICS' digital enablement team and Critikal's digital strategist and motion designer. Together, we engineered each second of the ads to maximise impact on YouTube:
Storytelling condensed to seconds. The creative team embraced the 6–15-second constraint. The strategist worked on distilling the core message: "ASICS makes shoes that are designed specifically for Padel", into a single compelling idea that could land in a few moments. The motion designer then brought that idea to life with visuals that told a story instantly. For example, one six-second ad opens straight on a padel court action shot: a player lunges for a volley, showcasing the shoe in motion. Within the first few seconds, the viewer sees dynamic on-court gameplay and the ASICS shoe, hooking Padel fans immediately with content that feels native to their usual sports videos.
Tailoring to placement: skippable vs. non-skippable. The team created variations optimised for different YouTube placements:
Six-second (non-skippable): These were designed as punchy, stand-alone messages. Knowing that viewers must watch the whole six seconds, the motion designer treated each bumper like a quick highlight reel (e.g., a slow-motion shot of a padel smash or an explosive movement), ending with the ASICS logo and tagline. The brevity forced a focus on one key visual and one key message. The strategist ensured that branding appeared prominently so that brand recall would be strong even in six seconds. This approach aligns with Google's findings that a clear product shot in short ads can lift ad recall and brand awareness (source: Think with Google).
Fifteen-second (skippable): These ads had to earn the viewer's attention past the mandatory five-second mark. The creative team applied the rule "don't save the best for last" and front-loaded the most exciting content instead. In practice, the first five seconds featured fast-paced padel action, bold text callouts, and a quick glimpse of the product in action. That was crucial because viewers could skip after five seconds if not intrigued. The motion designer used jump cuts and tight framing on the shoes and players to create a sense of energy from the get-go. Once past five seconds, the ad could expand slightly, providing a closer look at the shoe and athlete in action, but always maintaining momentum. By balancing action and information, the fifteen-second spots were suited to drive consideration and clicks for those interested.
Vertical shorts format. Anticipating that a chunk of the target audience consumes YouTube Shorts (vertical, mobile-fullscreen videos), Critikal's motion designer also worked on shorts-first storyboards, producing digital creatives that feel native to their placements (i.e. Unboxing footage). While the campaign found that horizontal videos ultimately garnered more impressions (likely due to greater ad inventory), having vertical assets allowed ASICS to appear in the shorts stream with native content. This cross-format presence maximised reach and frequency: if a Padel enthusiast wasn't captured in a pre-roll ad, they might encounter the brand swiping through Shorts.
Consistent Branding and Tone. The creative strategist ensured the tone stayed dynamic and energetic across all formats, matching ASICS' brand voices. In practice, that meant the videos were high-octane (upbeat music, quick cuts, and celebratory shots of players) and uplifting (smiling faces, clean graphics and bright colours), combining ASICS' product superiority with the "Sound Mind, Sound Body" philosophy and positioning the brand as a leader in the Padel community.
Multiple creative variations. We produced eight variations for this campaign to test different formats and lengths. Notably, there were "product showcase" videos versus "unboxing" videos and versions featuring male and female players. This diversity ensured the ads resonated broadly (and indeed, one of the top-performing videos featured a female player and attracted a large male viewership, proving the strategy to appeal to both genders paid off). The product-focused videos with on-court action turned out to be the campaign's stars, as they immediately grabbed the attention of sports enthusiasts. Meanwhile, some longer "unboxing" style ads (slower-paced segments showing the shoe details) did not perform as strongly, a learning that the team noted for future creative decisions.
Creative best practices in action. Critikal's approach embodied known best practices for social video ads: keep it simple, show the product early, use action to hook the viewer, and tailor content to context. By having the strategist, motion designer, and ASICS digital enablement team work hand-in-hand from storyboarding through editing, we optimised every frame for YouTube's environment. That ensured that the final videos were not your typical ads but engaging content that felt relevant as soon as it appeared on a viewer's screen.
Execution: Social Media Video Campaign Roll-Out
With the creative assets ready, The campaign was executed on YouTube:
Media deployment. The campaign ran from mid-April to early May 2025. The media team balanced the spend between the different creatives, ensuring a presence across pre-roll, mid-roll, and shorts placements.
Targeting strategy: We employed keyword targeting and channel placements on YouTube to hit active and in-market Padel players. For example, we showed ads on popular Padel YouTube channels like Mejora Tu Padel, The Padel School, and official World Padel Tour content. Keyword triggers included everything from generic ("padel", "padel shoes", "padel tennis court") to more specific ("Premier Padel 2025") terms, ensuring the ads appeared alongside highly relevant content. This precision targeting amplified the campaign's efficiency, placing ASICS in front of people interested in padel gear or watching padel matches online.
Optimisation and A/B testing: The team tested the variations and monitored performance daily throughout the campaign. Once the learnings were clear, ASICS' digital enablement team reallocated the spend towards the best-performing six-second assets to capitalise on their success. The learning was clear: the audience preferred short, exciting clips, so the campaign continued doubling down on those.
Frequency and reach management: By the end, the Spanish campaign delivered about 11 million impressions to an audience of roughly 3 million unique viewers (frequency ~3.6), ensuring that Padel enthusiasts saw the ASICS message several times. In Italy, impressions were about 4 million with a slightly lower frequency of ~2.4. This coverage was enough to embed ASICS in the minds of a large share of the active Padel community. The media team carefully managed frequency capping to avoid over-exposure. Still, the nature of short ads meant repetition was not fatiguing; repeat-view rates were high, indicating viewers didn't mind seeing the engaging six-second clips multiple times.
Adaptive formats: Including horizontal and vertical video versions allowed the campaign to engage viewers regardless of how they accessed YouTube. On desktop or TV apps, the 16:9 ads ruled. On mobile, if a viewer swiped through shorts, they'd encounter a full-screen vertical ASICS ad. While horizontal videos got the lion's share of impressions, the multi-format approach ensured no audience segment was left untouched. That is a crucial aspect of modern social media marketing: meeting the user where they are with content optimised for that experience.
Results and performance: hitting above benchmark.
The ASICS Padel campaign scored outstanding results, both in raw numbers and relative to industry benchmarks:
Sky-high view rates. Across Spain and Italy, the campaign achieved a 95% view-through rate. That means 95% of ad impressions resulted in a "view" (defined by YouTube as watching at least 30 seconds or the full ad, whichever is shorter ). To put that in perspective, typical YouTube ads average only ~31.9% view rate (source: storegrowers).
Completion and engagement. The video completion rate (VCR)—the percentage of viewers who watched the entire video, also averaged around 95%, exceeding both the platform and the brand's benchmarks. Short-form content was key here; six-second ads naturally tend toward high completion, but even the fifteen-second ads were highly effective at retaining viewers, with completion rates trailing in the high 80s or low 90s (well above most industry norms).
Impressions and Reach. Between the two countries, the campaign served roughly 15+ million impressions. In Spain, this translates to reaching more than 50% of the total Padel population with a frequency of ~3.6. The repetition at this level benefits brand lift: seeing the brand multiple times reinforces memory. In Italy, the frequency was slightly lower (~2.4) due to the shorter campaign. Nonetheless, the sheer scale of impressions ensured ASICS dominated padel-related content on YouTube during the campaign period. If you watched Padel videos on YouTube in May 2025, chances are you saw an ASICS ad.
Brand lift. The true test for this brand campaign was whether it moved brand perception. The results, measured by Google's Brand Lift Study surveys, were very positive:
In Spain, the campaign yielded a statistically significant lift in brand consideration for ASICS among exposed audiences, a substantial result for a brand trying to win share of mind in such a competitive market. It shows that the short-form videos grabbed attention and left a lasting positive impression about the brand.
Perhaps even more impressive was the search uplift observed. In Spain, Google's organic search analysis showed a two-digit increase in searches for "ASICS" among audiences exposed to the campaign. That indicates that the ads made viewers curious enough to actively seek out the brand online, a strong signal of heightened interest and intent.
Benchmarking the success: Compared to industry benchmarks:
Our 95% VTR/VCR is nearly triple the average view rate for sports industry video ads (~35% view rate for sports brands on YouTube, source: Storegrowers). It even eclipses the 60% view rate benchmark Strike Social reported for short (<15s) video ads in early 2024. This campaign set a new internal benchmark for ASICS, outperforming the previous year's Padel campaign by 4–5 percentage points in view engagement metrics.
The brand consideration lift aligns with what might be expected from a well-run awareness campaign, especially considering it was measured on a tougher metric like consideration (lower in the funnel than general awareness or recall). Global studies show short ads often drive ~+9% awareness (source: Think with Google). A significant consideration lift suggests these video ads didn't just make people aware; they nudged them closer to choosing ASICS over competitors.
The search uplift is significant, and it reflects how social media videos can stimulate interest that spills over to organic behaviour, validating the strategy of investing in upper-funnel media.
The 95% completion rate vastly outstripped typical completion for skippable ads. By combining short and storytelling content, we achieved bumper-level completion (approaching 100%) even on the slightly longer formats.
Key Takeaways and Lessons Learned
This case study of Critikal's work with ASICS Padel highlights several insights relevant to sports and sports tech brands leveraging social media marketing:
Short-form video is a powerhouse for brand engagement. When done right, six to fifteen-second videos can captivate an audience. The campaign's 95% view-through rate proves that brevity combined with creativity holds attention in a way that longer ads often don't. For brands, it means investing in platform-specific short content is worth it, especially on channels like YouTube, where skipping is an option. As we saw, viewers responded best to content that jumped straight into the action. The old advertising idea of building a slow narrative doesn't work in this context; you must win the viewer's interest in seconds or lose them. With short ads, ASICS managed to convey its message and leave people wanting more rather than wishing they could skip. Beyond just being watched, these videos drove action – aligning with research that relevant video ads get 3× more attention than average on social platforms (source: Better & Stronger).
The collaborative creative process yields platform-native assets. A key to the success was how Critikal's strategist, motion designer, and ASICS’ digital enablement team collaborated from the start with YouTube's peculiarities in mind. That ensured that every creative choice (visuals, pacing, length) was optimised for social media distribution. Brands should note that cross-functional teamwork, combining strategic insights (audience behaviour, platform trends) with design and storytelling, is essential to produce content that doesn't feel like repurposed TV ads. In this campaign, that meant using placement-specific storyboards, on-screen text for silent autoplay environments, vertical versions for mobile feeds, and making the product the "hero" of the story quickly. The result was video ads that felt native to YouTube, blending in with the Padel highlights and vlogs that users were there to watch, yet still standing out with ASICS branding.
Tailor message length to placement purpose. We learned that if a fifteen-second ad doesn't add new value beyond what a six-second ad delivers, it might be unnecessary. The campaign's data suggested to "continue creating impactful short-form content" and only use longer variants when they carry a distinct message (for instance, a specific promotion or a narrative that truly needs those extra seconds). This flies in the face of the instinct to consistently produce a suite of six, fifteen, thirty, and sixty-second cuts. Sometimes, less is more. The success of the shorter ads here reinforces that clarity and simplicity in one tight package outperform diluted messages spread over more seconds.
Know your audience and play to their passion. The campaign resonated because it spoke the language of Padel players. Using actual action footage, targeting Padel content, and timing around the season (spring, when outdoor sports kick up) made the ads feel relevant. For sports marketers, tapping into the culture and community of the sport is crucial. Padel is a social, high-energy sport, and the ads reflected that vibe. Moreover, the content connected with a broad spectrum in the community by featuring both male and female athletes and multiple creative angles (product demo vs. action shot). One takeaway is to create variety within your campaign. In this case, the "female player product video" grabbing the most impressions in Spain was a fascinating insight, suggesting that showing diversity can actually engage even the majority male audience because it offers a fresh perspective.
Leverage data and adapt quickly: The in-flight optimisation (reallocating budget to best performers, adjusting frequency, etc.) was a big part of exceeding benchmarks. In social media marketing, real-time analytics are a goldmine. The team's decision to push the top six-second videos harder once early results came in undoubtedly boosted overall averages. The lesson for future campaigns is to plan for a strong start (to gather data and impact quickly) and be ready to pivot the budget or creative focus based on what that data shows. This agile approach ensures you're constantly amplifying success and mitigating any underperformance swiftly.
Short videos can drive long-term brand benefits. Perhaps the most important finding is that a campaign built on short videos can move metrics that have long-term significance, like brand consideration and search behaviour. There might be a misconception that six-second ads are too superficial to change minds. Our results counter that notion: these quick hits, when repeated and targeted well, do build brand affinity. They worked in concert with the audience's curiosity (as seen by increased searches and presumably engagement with the brand site or store visits following the campaign). In other words, short-form video can be an entry point to a marketing funnel: grabbing attention, piquing interest, and leading the consumer to seek more information. That is precisely what happened with ASICS, evidenced by the brand lift study and conversion tracking. For sports and tech brands, using short social media videos to seed interest could be an excellent strategy to complement product launches, events, or larger campaigns.
Benchmarking success. By comparing campaign outcomes to benchmarks, we were able to frame the success in a way that is meaningful for ASICS leadership (and now for prospective clients reading this case study!). For example, knowing that a 95% VTR is not just a high number but 3× the industry average helps illustrate the exceptional nature of this campaign. Likewise, achieving significant brand and search lifts from an awareness push shows efficiency that many might not expect from YouTube ads. This underscores that with the right creative and strategy, social video campaigns can be full-funnel effective, building the brand at the top and even driving sales at the bottom.
Conclusion.
The focused yet differentiated approach to social media marketing proved to be a perfect match for ASICS and the Padel community. The team delivered a campaign that smashed expectations by focusing on video-first creative, purpose-built for YouTube's skippable and non-skippable formats. The ASICS Padel YouTube campaign achieved near-record engagement rates, boosted brand consideration among thousands of potential customers, and even directly contributed to product sales, all within a one-month sprint. It exemplifies how strategic short-form content, combined with savvy targeting and real-time optimisation, can yield results that rival (or even surpass) traditional longer-form advertising.
For sports and sports tech brands, this case study highlights a winning playbook:
Embrace the nuances of each social platform (in this case, YouTube's need for immediate impact and mobile-friendly visuals).
Collaborate creatively to ensure your content feels native and exciting.
Keep the message tight and the energy high. Assume every second counts because it does.
Measure everything, learn fast, and double down on what works.
Align your video efforts with broader brand goals so that awareness translates into consideration, search interest, and bottom line.
ASICS set out to become the preferred padel shoe among players in Spain and Italy. With this activation, they moved one step closer to that goal. We are beyond proud to have partnered with ASICS on this campaign, and we're excited to help more brands serve up big wins through the power of creative social media videos.