Mizuno

Since its foundation in 1906, Mizuno has developed products and services and utilized the value of sports under the management principle that “they will contribute to society through the advancement of sporting goods and the promotion of sports”. They actively spread the value of sports even in everyday life and contribute to making people around the world happy through the power of sports.

Mizuno Norge really values its collaboration with Flare. The images they deliver are exactly what we need and exceed our expectations every time, so much so, that they have even been incorporated into Mizuno’s European and global marketing. We are extremely impressed with how Flare maximises the limited time with the athletes, while still delivering exceptional quality and creativity throughout the images. They make the process so easy.
Lene Johansen, Commercial leader/CCO Mizuno Nordic

As a large, global enterprise, a lot of the product and action photography is provided globally by HQ or the large hubs. In Norway, they wanted to both bring it down to earth and spice it up by adding famous, Norwegian, Olympic-, World- and European-champions as brand ambassadors.

Through tailored photo’s and videos’ Flare’s helped Mizuno Norway build brand awareness and increase sales and reach through their own and their partners digital channels. Some of the material has even been picked up by Mizuno EU and used globally.

The nature of these shoots are always fast paced, and not just because the athelets are some of the fastest people alive. Having a limited amount of time with the athelets and a set amount of apperal to get through. The shoots take place at a specific, but well-thought out location that can provide a multitude of different environments and scenarios. Thus ensuring we maxisimise the amount of quality material that can be captured in the limited time available. The photoshoots can be divded up in two kind of poses:

• Action: We set scene for an athelet to perform actions associated with their sport. This can be quite the challenge as not all sports are as easy to photograph for commercial use. You are looking for that single point in time, where the athlete has executed the movement or action to perfection, the facial expression and joy in their eyes doing what they love, the clothes have not wrinkled and the lighting and and focus are on point.

• Posed: We use the term posing, very lightely here, becuause its not really posing. Its about setting the scene where the athletes can act naturally, be themselves, but in a more controlled setting. This can be as simple as tieing a shoe or being sat in a group chatting and having a good time.

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From a lighting  perspective it was clear that the photography and video should not come across as heavily lit, as the look Mizuno Norway is going for in their commercial content is down to earth. This led us to work with mostly natural light and reflectors. On certain more posed shots, we added flash, balanced with the natural light on location to really help accentuate the person and inturn the product being shown.

The shoots have included great athletes such as:

• Marit Bjørgen
• Martin Johnsrud Sundby
• Alexander Blonz
• Silje Solberg-Østhassel
• Katrine Lunde
• Maren Nyland Aardahl
• Johannes Thingnes Bø
• Anders Mol og Christian Sørum
• Simen Hegstad Krueger
• Selma Pettersen
• Emil Heyerdahl

Overall we have absolutely loved the projects and people we have had the chance to work with, and on, so far with Mizuno and look forward to the upcoming projects.

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