• October 28, 2011

Sports gear company Asics, an official sponsor of the 2011 ING New York City Marathon, will debut the first part of its 2012 national advertising campaign during race week, starting Oct. 31. Featuring the brand's new tag "Stop at Never," the campaign, via Vitro, will air at the Asics Marathon Experience at Columbus Circle, an interactive exhibit including some 600 linear feet of exhibits and displays.

Olympic Marathoner Ryan Hall will be the face of the campaign and will do videos of his training for the 2012 Olympics. The assets will run on the CNN digital board in Times Square, on 50-foot banners hanging in the Time Warner Center, and on bus wraps across the city. The next rollout of the campaign will launch in early 2012 for television, digital media, print, social media properties and will incorporate key product messaging.

By the way, the name Asics is not a play on, say, "basics." The release from which the above is garnered says name it comes from the Latin phrase "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano," or "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body."