While most exercise brands opt for lurid gym backdrops, US brand Tonal’s latest ad is set in a fantastical Victorian era where everything is eerily black and white.

Shot by Aube Perrie, the director behind 2024 hit music videos for Fontaines DC, RM, and Jade Thirlwall, the gothic world sees Victorians engage in gruelling, repetitive exercises throughout the town – from banging anvils to riding rickety Penny Farthing bikes.

The grisly horror story descends into chaos before entering the modern day, where its protagonist reaches through a vortex and and is met with the future, otherwise known as Tonal’s at-home strength machines.

“Sports marketing has had a long history of breakthrough advertising. We wanted to launch with an idea as disruptive as the product itself. Not an easy bar to live up to,” said Ari Weiss, creative chairman at ad agency Quality Experience.

Credits:
Agency: Quality Experience
Creative Chair: Ari Weiss
CCO: Cristina Reina
Production Company: Pulse Films
Director: Aube Perrie