Oakley revives its ‘fearless spirit' to celebrate 50 year anniversary

Campaign ME

a day ago

This summer, the global eyewear brand Oakley has launched its limited edition Oakley Ellipse 50th Anniversary collection to honour the brand's legacy of disruption while simultaneously looking towards future with a refreshed vision.
In conversation with Collin Allin, Oakley META's Sports Channel Manager & GCC BBM, Campaign Middle East dives into Oakley's regional brand strategy behind the anniversary campaign.
'Over the past five decades, Oakley has defined itself by challenging convention and pushing the boundaries of performance, design, and innovation,' Allin says. 'As we look to the next 50 years, we have revived that same fearless spirit with a recharged brand identity rooted in authenticity and evolution.'
The brand's anniversary campaign has been designed to speak directly to the hybrid athlete: a consumer who lives at the intersection of performance, fashion, and street culture. These are individuals who might hit the track in the morning and the skatepark by afternoon.
'They seek self-expression, authenticity, and a product that performs as hard as they do,' Allin says. 'In the Middle East, this resonates with Gen Z, a rising generation of sport-loving youth and lifestyle trendsetters who demand both aesthetics and utility.'
Furthermore, the campaign is also designed to reconnect with loyal Oakley purists who've followed the brand from its origins in elite sport.
The strategy behind the Oakley Ellipse 50th Anniversary campaign
In terms of reinventing the brand's identity Allin explains the anniversary campaign is not just a celebration of where the brand has been; it's a bold statement of where it's going.
'We're still engineered for athletes, but we're now speaking to a new generation: those who blur the lines between sport and culture, performance and expression. The brand DNA remains bold, disruptive by design and built with function in mind,' he explains.
This strategy centers around community, storytelling, and experience. 'We activated a tiered release approach across retail, digital, and cultural spaces,' Allin says.
In the Middle East, Oakley has partnered with regional running clubs, cycling collectives, and padel communities to 'co-create moments that live both online and on-ground,' Allin says. 'Our anniversary drops were supported with exclusive capsule showcases in key retail locations like Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates, paired with curated influencer seeding and targeted social amplification across META platforms.'
'We also launched the first-ever Oakley Community Club to deepen our connect with sporting communities in the region,' Allin adds.
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Campaign roll-out
Structured across a 12-month period, with key spikes in activity aligned to milestone product drops, the campaign includes seasonal launches, and community events. Additionally, the campaign runs across digital, retail, experiential, PR, influencer marketing, and media.
'Oakley's 50th is a movement and a milestone,' Allin says. Consumers first engaged through teaser reels and legacy stories on Instagram, followed by immersive pop-up retail spaces and on-ground activations like the Oakley Run Club Takeovers. Following this, regional influencers and athletes amplified the message through bespoke content drops.
'Every touchpoint – from a product swing tag to a geo-targeted digital ad – was unified by the 50th visual identity, with a focus on bold storytelling and community participation,' Allin explains.
Localisation a key factor in Oakley's regional storytelling
Furthermore, the brand tapped into localised content to highlight the technicality of Oakley's designs, with a nod to Middle Eastern style sensibilities.
'Localisation is not an afterthought; it's at the front and centre of our strategy,' Allin says, explaining that in the Middle East, Oakley's global brand energy was translated through the lens of regional relevance.
Allin explains that: 'this includes bilingual campaign roll-outs, collaborations with local athletes and creators, and curated visuals that speak to the prevalent sport culture: referencing padel courts, desert trail runs, and high-performance training on rooftops.' The brand has also adapted global creative assets to reflect regional fashion nuances and climate-driven utility without compromising Oakley's technical storytelling.
Actualising this strategy, Oakley has partnered with a handpicked group of Middle Eastern sport and lifestyle creators who 'embodied Oakley's 50th ethos – bold, unapologetic, and performance-led.'
From Emirati triathletes to Saudi street cyclists and Dubai-based fitness creators, 'these collaborations were not so much about endorsement as they were about shared storytelling,' Allin explains.
According to him, the creators' content brought the campaign to life in a culturally resonant way, 'extending our reach and authenticity, especially across Instagram and TikTok.'
'The impact was immediate; increasing engagement, expanding our audience base, and inspiring meaningful dialogue around sport and identity,' he adds.
Results of the Oakley Ellipse 50th Anniversary campaign
Oakley combined a scorecard of both hard and soft KPIs to measure the campaign's success. Performance metrics included reach, engagement rates, and sell-through of anniversary SKUs. Oakley also closely tracked footfall to retail experiences and online traffic spikes post-influencer activations.
On the brand equity side, the team measured campaign recall, sentiment, and share of voice across owned and earned media.
'For Oakley, success isn't just sales; it is about reigniting cultural relevance and re-establishing community connection,' Allin said.
'Since launch, we've seen a 38 per cent increase in regional engagement across social, with video content from the anniversary campaign outperforming our initial benchmarks by 60 per cent,' he explains. 'Key anniversary SKUs sold out within weeks at flagship retailers, and the Oakley Middle East Run Club community grew by 400 per cent during the activation period.'
'On the softer side, sentiment tracking showed a marked shift – positioning Oakley as not just a sport brand, but a lifestyle icon re-entering the cultural conversation,' he adds, claiming that this signals long-term brand equity growth.
All in all, Allin concludes with a note that Oakley is witnessing the return of brand love in markets it has reactivated through its Oakley Ellipse 50th Anniversary campaign.