Research showed that most people do sports for fun and do not want to become professionals. This is in line with a trend observed by sports organizations: people are less inclined to commit and persevere to a sport. People are becoming less likely to follow-through sports and are more likely to try many different sports. This is contradicted by how the sports category communicates. The brands communicate about perseverance, obstacles, becoming better, hard work and intensity. Even the ‘democratizing’ sports brands were showing serious faces covered in sweat with focused expressions.

Decathlon had an opportunity. The brand specifically kept its prices low so anybody could participate, it created specific innovations to make sports more accessible, in the stores you could test out equipment and there was an app for Decathlon clients to share and use sports gear.

The love for sports starts with a single first step. The moment when you aren’t sure how the rules work, whether you can do it and where there is a bunch to learn. A moment without any obligations, thinking, technique, strategy, stamina or muscle power. Just purely the fun of starting something new. There is nothing more magical than the first try in sports. The free and easy fun of trying something. The gesture of true love from starting something you have never tried before.

In the brand film, the first piece in Decathlon’s new communications platform, we asked people to forget. Forget everything they knew about sports: from winning and losing to talent, age and gender. Forget everything there is to know. Forget the rules, make your own. Go try Pick up a bat, kick a ball, throw a disk, jump, duck, bike, skate and run.