Bulldog Skincare and Ironman
Bulldog Skincare celebrates the relatable reality of everyday endurance, proving you don’t need to be elite to show up, just human.
The brief
The Brief
Bulldog Skincare became the Official Men's Skincare Products of IRONMAN Europe. They needed campaign content that could do two jobs at once: credibly live inside the world of elite endurance sport, and stay true to Bulldog's self-aware brand voice.
We knew from working with Bulldog for over 5 years, that a straight sports ad wasn't the answer. Neither was a skincare ad bolted onto a race backdrop.
Services
- Ideation,
- Production,
- Creative Development,
- Strategy,
- Post Production,
- Photography,
- Brand content,
- OOH
Deliverables
- 20 Second Hero Films for UK and Germany
- 2 x Out Of Home
Our Creative Approach
Using our years of knowledge built by working closely with Bulldog across many campaigns, we built this new campaign around a single, honest tension: the gap between the Ironman ideal and the very human reality of actually doing one. Our hero isn't a podium finisher. He's relatable, giving it a go, more charity effort than elite athlete. What makes him compelling is his warmth and comic timing. He reacts rather than performs. A glance, a breath, a moment of doubt. That's where the humour and relatability lives.
The Bulldog mascot manifests as a floating, omnipresent head appearing in reflections and sunglasses lenses throughout, acting as dry-witted companion rather than mascot wallpaper. His tone is observational, lightly teasing, always rooting for our main guy.
The central idea, "The Spectrum of Everyday Endurance," extended the campaign beyond race day. Not every Ironman wears a race bib. Some are squeezing a run in before work. Some are just trying to make it back for dinner. The campaign speaks to all of them, positioning Bulldog as the skincare brand that understands what showing up actually looks like for the everyday bloke.
The Production Approach
Shot on location at Worthing Beach and the Luna Hut Sauna in a single day, the production blended original footage with curated IRONMAN archive to create event scale without needing the budget of a live race. The archive was used selectively, slipped into original footage rather than the other way around, with swimming sequences chosen specifically to cheat the viewer into believing our hero is in the water.
Shallow depth of field and handheld energy keep the film intimate and reactive. Quick, punchy cuts mirror the intensity of the triathlon, contrasted with perfectly timed reaction shots and Bulldog's commentary. The rhythm builds, peaks, and lands cleanly within 20 seconds.
Photography deliverables spanned 6-sheet and 48-sheet OOH in both product and no-product variants, with the reflection device carrying consistently across stills and film. Wardrobe and art direction kept Bulldog's green identity threaded naturally through the environment: kit bags, towels, flags, giving the brand presence that felt embedded rather than imposed.
Bulldog Skincare x Be The Fox
The Team
We crew up for projects based on the audience we’re trying to reach but our aim is to have representative sets as much as possible. That means key Heads Of from the community that match the audience so that creative decisions are being made with authenticity and lived experience.
You can find out more about our approach to representation behind every frame on our Be The Frame Pact page.
Executive Producer: Meg Price
Creative Director: Trak Ellis-Hill
Senior Producer: Cheyne Mills
Director: Matt Carter
DoP: Bud Gallimore
1st AC Focus Puller: Gabe Jones
2nd AC: Jordan Wright
Camera/Edit Runner: Gianni Battaglia
Gaffer: James Burgess-Russell
Spark: Tom Saunders
DIT/Bulldog Director: James Eldridge
Art Director: Jenny Dee
Art Assistant: Inga Rock
HMU/Stylist: Fraggle Jury
Behind The Scenes Videographer: Rachel Pearson
Runner: Myles Johnson / Daisy Elizabeth-White
Talent: Oliver Meredith
