HOKA FlyLab lands in Sydney to promote the latest running innovation via Emotive

The HOKA FlyLab recently landed in Sydney to coincide with Global Running Day. The HOKA FlyLab, brought to life by Emotive, is the brand’s revolutionary centre for joyful performance. A celebration of innovation, pushing boundaries and HOKA’s passion for community engagement.

Taking place in Sydney’s Pitt Street over 5 days, the FlyLab attracted thousands of visitors via an experiential brand activation, community events and health and fitness masterclasses.

Says Matthew Adams, head of HOKA, Australia & New Zealand: “FlyLab offers a unique consumer experience that encapsulates the true heart of HOKA as a global innovator and a disrupter brand. And this approach applies to our marketing as well where so often real life experiences offer a more unique approach to connect with our community. The result is more credibility and awareness in Australia for HOKA as a pinnacle running brand.”

Runners and movers of all kinds were welcomed to delve into HOKA’s pioneering innovation and its origins, experiencing firsthand the latest offerings in the HOKA lineup. Among these were the Skyward X, embodying HOKA’s distinctive maximalist design, and the Cielo X1, the ultimate road-racer.

The FlyLab also hosted a diverse range of activities including free daily masterclasses and community events on a range of topics from health and nutrition to performance, tech and innovation. The line-up included notable running culture and community leaders Chad Cohen, founder of Unofficial Run Club, Rory Warnock, breathwork specialist and ultra marathon runner, Melissa Fedele, clinical nutritionist and founder of The Good Day Wellness podcast, in addition to HOKA athletes, Bel Fong (Coach for RUN with Turia Pitt), Matt Smith (Australian duathlon champion and recent second place finisher of the 2024 HOKA Runaway Sydney Half Marathon) and Craig Alexander (5x Triathlon World Champion).

Says Rebecca Gelao, head of brand experience, Emotive: “Running is experiencing a huge moment in Australia with interest surging for both seasoned marathon runners and new runners. And this activation really captured the Sydney running community’s imagination, with all masterclasses booked out and audience dwell times in excess of 6 minutes. Importantly, HOKA was seamlessly intertwined into the entertainment, with Emotive in collaboration with the HOKA marketing team delivering an integrated fame approach covering experiential, social, talent and content partnerships including Hype Beast and The Daily Aus.”

Whilst thousands may have experienced the event first hand, key to the strategy was using the activation as a content creation hub to reach running enthusiasts right across the country. By partnering with seven influencers and media partners alongside a highly targeted PR campaign, the content reached over 2.4M running enthusiasts nationally.

This is HOKA’s second activation in Australia, with independent creative agency Emotive. The activation comes off the back of other recent fame campaigns that Emotive has conceived and executed for Altos Tequila, TRESemmé and Optus, which all leveraged the agency’s specialist capabilities in PR, social, talent, partnerships and experiential to help the ideas travel in culture.

Client: HOKA
Creative, Talent Acquisition, Production: Emotive
Videographer/Editor: Trystin Sinnott, Fortem Media
Photographer: Daniel Armstrong & Melina Bilotta, Fortem Media
PR: Hannah Devereux, THEY