Case study 11 Sportswear · Running shoes & apparel · Spec work

First light with On.

On makes running shoes that feel like landing on clouds, and lately it has learned to make people smile, too. We gave Fotyra Studio four product pages and one morning. No models, no photographer, no set. Five films and seventeen pictures came back, a few of them painted, drawn or made of felt. This is the story of how they were made.

4product pages
5films
17stills
4voice-overs
0shoot days
1morning
19min read

Try it on your store Read the afternoon

OnFloodlights, fog, and a hoodie that means business.

Highlights

Four more On films, finished with motion graphics

A wet coastal road, a creek crossing, a mountain ridge and a 3D rooftop at dusk, each with moving type, callouts and an end card. Press any one to watch it with sound.

6:00 am

A Swiss shoe that began with a garden hose

On started in Zurich in 2010, and the story of how is hard to beat. Olivier Bernhard, a former pro athlete, had a sore Achilles and wanted a softer landing. An engineer friend glued pieces of garden hose to the bottom of his shoes. It worked. Bernhard teamed up with two friends, David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, and On was born.

Those hollow bits of hose grew up into CloudTec®, the bumpy sole you can spot on any On shoe today. The brand still describes the feeling the same way: running on clouds. Roger Federer has been a partner since 2019, and you now see On shoes at the office as often as on the track.

Lately, On has also learned to be funny. Its Soft Wins campaign starred Elmo from Sesame Street, telling runners they don't have to push so hard all the time. In one ad, Elmo even asks Federer whether the logo says On or QC. It's a brand that's serious about the product and relaxed about everything else.

That mix made On a tricky brief. The ads have to feel calm and premium, like good Swiss design, but warm enough to make you smile. They need real people moving, not models posing. And runners notice details. Get the sole wrong, and they'll know.

So here was the brief. Four product pages from on.com: a road shoe, a trail shoe, a tee and a hoodie. No models, no photographer, no photos from the brand. One morning to make it all.

First, the studio gets to know the brand

Fotyra always works in the same order: the brand first, then the products, then, if you want one, a face. We pointed the studio at on.com and let it read. It came back with a Brand DNA built from 384 details about On: where it sells, who it competes with, which colors it uses and how it talks.

The colors were the easy part: black, white and a soft gray. The voice was more interesting. The studio called it elevated optimism, which means ambitious about movement but kind to the people doing it. Professional, yet warm. Quietly energetic. Funny only now and then, the way Elmo is in Soft Wins. Its read on the mood was uplifting and feel-good, and its advice was to lead with emotion, not with specs.

Inside Fotyra Studio

The brand, on one page

This is the top of the Brand Snapshot the studio wrote for On. The promise, the markets, the colors and the voice are all here, before a single picture was made. Press it to see it up close.

“On promises to make movement feel more inspiring and rewarding, pairing performance ambition with the distinctive sensation captured in its running on clouds idea.”
The brand promise, as the studio wrote it

Even the empty space has rules

Then the studio looked at how On lays out a page. This part of the Brand DNA decides how every static ad gets built. For On, it chose left-aligned and structured, with generous white space. In plain words: the headline sits on the left, the product gets room to breathe, and nothing is crowded.

How copy, product and empty space sit on a canvas, read from On's homepage. Every static ad in this study follows it. Press it to see it up close.

Underneath, it summed up On's look in a few lines we liked a lot. Swiss performance minimalism. Athletes in motion. Clean rectangles and squares. And a few small touches of high-voltage lime. Look for that lime in the pictures below. It turns up on a trail marker, on a line painted across gravel, around a button. Never more than a touch. This page borrows it, too.

384
details about the brand: 3
markets: 6
sales channels: 0
photos supplied

Then the products, read closely

Next, the studio read each product page and turned it into a Product DNA. For the shoes, that meant the details runners check first. The cushioned sole and wide base of the Cloudrunner. The grippy Missiongrip™ sole of the Cloudvista. For the clothes, it was all about feel: a relaxed cut for the tee, and a soft, cotton-rich hoodie that stretches and keeps its shape.

It also worked out the real size of everything, so a shoe never looks too chunky and a hoodie never looks too long. That's why the green sole, the lace loops and the little On logo look the same in all twenty-two pieces, painted or photographed.

The studio wrote every headline, too. Short and plain, the way On writes, with the idea up front and no claim the product page doesn't make. Here are some of them.

I don't need all that noise
Comfort does not ask
Soft weight. Strong start
There's more after the finish
Designed for traction and control
I know when I'm done
Wide base for a steadier start
She knows the way out
For people who know their pace
The trail doesn't ask permission

Headlines from the morning's ads, all written by Fotyra E‑Commerce Ad Studio. Point at the bands to stop them.

6:40 am

Cloudrunner 3 Max, before the sun is up

We started with the road shoe, because a morning run starts on the road. The Cloudrunner 3 Max is On's cushioned, steady everyday shoe, made for people who run often and want every step to feel supported.

First, a film. A wet coastal road, a runner who goes anyway, and a voice that says what every early runner knows: conditions change, commitment does not. It was made in an earlier session for On and finished in the motion graphics editor, so it still tells the story with the sound off.

The Slick Coastline. Press it to watch with sound.

Then the photographs. The idea was simple: show the runs that happen before work. Blue light, wet roads, nobody watching. Four came back. Two tall ones with a headline, and two squares with no words at all.

Four photographs for the Cloudrunner 3 Max. Point at one to see its name, or press it to see it full size.

7:15 am

In felt, oil paint, anime and storybook ink

Then the studio did something a photo shoot can't. It made the products as art: once in felt and clay, once in oil paint, once as anime and once as a page from a storybook.

This wasn't random. The Brand DNA says On is playful only now and then, so the studio saved its play for these four pieces. And it kept one rule. The art can be loose, but the product can't. Scroll through them and watch the products. The green sole, the wide base, the blue tee and the little logo stay true in every style.

Four styles, one rule: the product stays true. Press the picture to see it full size.

7:50 am

Cloudvista 3, off the usual loop

The Cloudvista 3 is a trail shoe, but not for mountain races. It's made for shorter, everyday trail runs: the gravel path beside the road, the loop through the park, the bend where dirt turns to stones. So the studio took it off the usual loop.

First, two films. Like the coastal one, both were made in an earlier session and finished in the motion graphics editor. One crosses a creek, the other climbs a ridge, and in both the graphics find the shoe the moment it meets the rock. The Motion Graphics study shows how, one graphic at a time.

Two Cloudvista 3 films, one at a time. Pick one from the strip, or press the film to watch with sound.

Then four tall pictures. The first is set at dusk on old city steps, and it isn't quite a photograph.

Still · Cloudvista 3 · 9:16

The Route She Knows

She knows the way out.

Dusk on mossy stone steps in an old city, with the street lamps just coming on. A runner in a sage jacket stops halfway up and winks back at us. It's a glossy digital painting, close to a photograph but softer, like a film poster. The headline turns the shoe into a secret shortcut out of town. A tall picture for Reels and Stories.

Press it to see it full size.

The other three keep moving between road and trail. In two of them, look for the lime: a curved line on the gravel and a band on a trail marker. That's On's accent, used exactly the way the Brand DNA asked. A touch, never a flood.

Not the Usual Loop, On Cloudvista 3. Take the gravel path beside your usual. — Three tall pictures for the Cloudvista 3. Press any of them to see it full size.

The Switchback of Surfaces, On Cloudvista 3. Take the bend from dirt to gravel. — Three tall pictures for the Cloudvista 3. Press any of them to see it full size.

8:25 am

The Men's Club T, for the hours after the run

A tee is the hardest thing to make exciting. It's blue, it's soft, it fits. So the studio didn't try to sell the tee. It sold the moments you'd wear it: after the run, on the way to the airport, on a slow day off.

Three photographs came back in one style, each with a short line that sounds like a runner talking, not a brand. I don't need all that noise. For people who know their pace. I know when I'm done.

No Extra Noise, On Men's Club T. I don't need all that noise. — The cards shuffle on their own. Press one at the back to bring it forward, or the front one to see it full size.

The Collar's Quiet, On Men's Club T. For people who know their pace. — The cards shuffle on their own. Press one at the back to bring it forward, or the front one to see it full size.

There's a fourth Club T picture, too. It's the storybook one, back in the art chapter, where a paper map turns into a road.

9:00 am

The Women's Focus Tech Hoodie, soft but serious

Last came the hoodie. Its product page talks about two things: comfort, and a fabric that stretches and keeps its shape. The studio gave each idea its own look.

First, two magazine-style portraits in the soft green On calls Agave. Bold backgrounds, a stool, a chair, and headlines with real attitude.

Color Holds Its Shape, On Women's Focus Tech Hoodie. Soft weight. Strong start. — Two tall pictures in Agave. Press either to see it full size.

No Apologies for Comfort, On Women's Focus Tech Hoodie. Comfort does not ask. — Two tall pictures in Agave. Press either to see it full size.

Then a film in a completely different style. It's 3D animation, and the motion graphics turn every move into a streak of light.

Film · Women's Focus Tech Hoodie · 16:9 · 0:10

Out of the Gray

A gray city, and one streak of color.

This one is 3D animation, like a scene from a video game. A runner in the Agave hoodie warms up on a gray rooftop at dusk, and every move leaves a glowing green trail behind her. A blue band names what the fabric does: it stretches and keeps its shape. Made for YouTube and social, where a different look stops the scroll.

Voice-overStart heavy. Keep moving. Move in Focus Tech.

Press it to watch with sound.

The film at the top of this page sells the same hoodie in a deep red On calls Barberry. It was built a different way, so it gets the next chapter to itself.

9:20 am

One face, one hoodie, and the shoes to match

We saved the opening film for last, because it shows something every sportswear brand asks us about. For most of the morning, the studio cast each piece on its own. For Beat the Pace, we made three choices ourselves and let the studio build everything else.

A face. A hero product. And the shoes to wear with it, from On's own store.

Orla O., a Fotyra spokesmodel with copper curls and freckles, smiling in a blue top in her roster portrait — Three choices in, one film out. Press the film to watch it with sound.

The Women's Focus Tech Hoodie in Barberry, a dusty red hoodie with black drawstrings — Three choices in, one film out. Press the film to watch it with sound.

A face from the Fotyra roster

Every project in the studio comes with a roster of ready-made spokesmodels, eighty-two of them on the day we looked. You can filter them by gender, age, ethnicity, skin tone, build, language, audience and the role they play, from relatable friend to aspirational icon. Each one is a synthetic character, made for exactly this.

Inside Fotyra Studio

Fotyra Spokesmodels

The Fotyra Spokesmodels roster in the studio, with Orla O. picked and her description open. Press it to see it up close.

We picked Orla O., a relatable friend. Her description is fixed: twenty-two, Irish, a high copper ponytail, freckles and warm brown eyes. That's what keeps her the same from one shot to the next, and from one film to the next, so a brand can run her all season. If you'd rather have a face of your own, the studio builds that too, in Spokesmodels.

A wardrobe from your own store

Then the clothes. The hoodie is the hero, in a deep red On calls Barberry. But nobody runs in socks, and On makes shoes too. So the studio styled Orla in the Cloudvista 3, another product from the same store. In the studio, that's the Styled with line: the rest of the look comes from your own catalog, not from a generic wardrobe.

This is how the big sportswear brands work. On, Nike, Gap and Under Armour rarely show one product on its own. The person in the ad wears the brand from head to toe, and the same face comes back campaign after campaign. In Fotyra E‑Commerce Ad Studio, that comes out of the box: pick a spokesmodel, pick a hero product, and dress the rest of the look from your catalog. Every product keeps its own Product DNA, so the shoes stay as true as the hoodie.

Then the studio directs

With the cast and the clothes set, the studio wrote the film. Its idea, in its own words: on a slick outdoor track at night, she refuses the metronome's rigid lane rule and moves to her own rhythm, owning the cool-down.

It drew Orla in the outfit from the front, the side and the back, plus a close-up of her face, so she and the clothes stay the same in every shot. It found the place: a wet track and its infield, under floodlights in the mist. And it set the tone in a few words. Cinematic noir, cool light, bold, rebellious, cut to a pulse.

The Creative Direction for Beat the Pace in Fotyra Studio: the concept, the Women's Focus Tech Hoodie as the product and the Cloudvista 3 as footwear, Orla O.'s cast sheet in the hoodie from the front, side and back with a close-up of her face, two location frames of a wet floodlit track and infield in mist, four numbered shots (Crossing the Line, Infield Rhythm, Settling the Hood, Owning the Cool-Down), and the settings: Elevated world, flash-lit cinematic noir, cool lighting, bold, a rebellious mood and Montage Pulse pacing. — The Creative Direction for Beat the Pace: the hoodie and the shoes it's styled with, Orla's cast sheet in the outfit, the location and the light, and four shots from the starting blocks to the cool-down. Press it to see it up close.

Then four shots, each with its own camera move. She rises out of the starting blocks and steps over the line. She turns slowly on the wet turf. The camera rushes in as she pulls the hood strings. And it circles her as one hand finds the pocket. Four shots, and On from head to toe.

9:40 am

What one morning made

5
films: 17
stills: 4
products: 4
voice-overs: 0
shoot days

So that was the morning. Twenty-two finished pieces for a Swiss running brand, from four product pages and no photo shoot.

There are five wide films for YouTube and the website, all finished with motion graphics and four of them with a voice. Three of those were made in earlier sessions and brought back for their finishing touch. There are thirteen tall pictures for Stories, Reels and product pages, and four squares for the feed. Four of the pictures are art rather than photographs, and one film is 3D animation.

To make all this the usual way, you'd need runners for every look. You'd need a coastal road at sunrise, a trail, a track at night, a studio with a colored backdrop and a set full of floating shapes. You'd need an illustrator, a 3D animator and a lot of early alarms.

Every piece is checked before you see it

Nothing on this page was taken on trust. After every picture and every film, Fotyra Studio checks its own work. Its Quality Checker compares each piece with the real product, and for a film it checks frames from every scene. If something big is wrong, like a sole in the wrong color, a missing logo or a hoodie with the wrong drawstrings, it quietly makes the piece again before anyone sees it. That second try costs nothing extra.

Each piece then lands in the Creative Library with a Fidelity report that says what was checked and what was fixed. So the people reviewing the work can spend their time on taste, not on spotting mistakes.

Checked before you see it. Every piece is compared with the product page, big mistakes are fixed automatically, and each one comes with a report.
The products stay true. The green sole, the wide base, the trail lugs, the Agave green and the small logo look right in all twenty-two pieces, painted or photographed.
One face, head to toe. A spokesmodel from the Fotyra roster, with the hero hoodie and the shoes from On's own catalog, in one film.
On's look, kept. Headlines on the left, room to breathe, real people moving, and lime used as a touch, never a flood.
On's voice, kept. Short, warm lines with the idea up front, and no claim the product page doesn't make.
Room to say no. Every idea goes on a concept board first, and any piece can be sent back with a note.

In a real project, the morning would end a little differently. On's team would approve or reject each piece in the Creative Library, resize the pictures for every place they'll run, keep Orla or cast a face of their own for the season, and have everything in a shared folder by lunch. All of that is already built, and the help center shows how, step by step.

There's one film left, the one this page opened with. A foggy track, the floodlights still on, and Orla, in On from head to toe, there before the sun.

Beat the Pace. Press it to watch with sound.

Products featured

01
Cloudrunner 3 Max
On's cushioned, stable everyday road shoe, with a wide base and higher side walls, CloudTec® and Helion™ foam.
02
Cloudvista 3
On's trail shoe for shorter, everyday trail runs, with a Missiongrip™ outsole and Helion™ foam.
03
Men's Club T
A soft, relaxed tee in On blue, cut for travel, recovery and everyday life.
04
Women's Focus Tech Hoodie
A soft, structured hoodie in a cotton-rich fabric that stretches and keeps its shape, here in Agave and Barberry.

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Published 23 Oct 2026

First light with On.

4product pages
5films
17stills
4voice-overs
0shoot days
1morning
19min read

Try it on your store Read the afternoon

Products featured

Cloudrunner 3 Max

On's cushioned, stable everyday road shoe, with a wide base and higher side walls, CloudTec® and Helion™ foam.

Cloudvista 3

On's trail shoe for shorter, everyday trail runs, with a Missiongrip™ outsole and Helion™ foam.

Men's Club T

A soft, relaxed tee in On blue, cut for travel, recovery and everyday life.

Women's Focus Tech Hoodie

A soft, structured hoodie in a cotton-rich fabric that stretches and keeps its shape, here in Agave and Barberry.

First light with On.