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ProjectsDecathlon · SUBEA

Decathlon’s fin recycling, explained with no one there to explain it

A new programme, a multi-step process and plenty of people who had to get it first time, with no one beside them to explain. We told it in an animated video.

Fins made from FinsMotion graphics and 2D animation

Sound familiar?

If any of these sound like you, this project is about you.

  1. You have something new on your hands and, outside your team, nobody understands it yet.
  2. It will be explained by people who were never in a single meeting: shops, sales reps, partners.
  3. It has to work on its own, on a screen, with no one beside it to answer questions.
  4. And it has to look like yours, not like a template video.

That’s where Decathlon came in.

Fins wear out too

Since 2021, Decathlon has sold a large range of diving and swimming fins in its stores. SUBEA, its diving department, launched an experimental project to give them a second life: collect them at the end of their useful life, recycle them and turn them into new fins.

The idea was clear to the people who designed it. Explaining it was the hard part: the process ran through the store, transport and the factory, and it had to make sense equally to someone dropping off old fins and to the person collecting them behind the counter.

How we told it

Flat illustration, relatable characters and Decathlon blue in every shot.

  1. Still from the video: a worker loads a fin collection box next to a recycling truck
    01Seguro que te estás preguntando qué pasa con tus viejas aletas. [You’re probably wondering what happens to your old fins.]

    Starting with the viewer’s question

    The video doesn’t open with the company but with the customer’s doubt. Viewers recognise themselves from the first second.

  2. Still from the video: a worker shows on a tablet the video of the fins being shredded
    02Seguidnos y os lo mostraremos. [Follow us and we’ll show you.]

    A Decathlon face who walks you through

    A store employee acts as guide: the explanation sounds like someone from the company, not a leaflet.

  3. Still from the video: step 4, a technician checks the recycled fin on a machine
    03Solo queda homologarlos. [All that’s left is to certify them.]

    The process, step by step and numbered

    Collection, transport, recycling and quality control, each step with its number. Something complex makes sense because you see it in order.

  4. Still from the video: a diver swims with new fins, with the caption “2023”
    04Y ofrecértelas para un nuevo ciclo de vida. [And offer them to you for a new life cycle.]

    An ending that closes the circle

    The old fin goes back in the water as a new fin. You can see the circularity: it doesn’t need explaining.

How far it went

Shown in every Decathlon store in France

and at PADI dive schools

Decathlon used it to explain its recycling pilot wherever it launched: a single video that did the job with no one beside it.

Project details

Client
Decathlon · SUBEA
Project
Fins made from Fins
Format
2D animation video
Where it ran
Decathlon stores in France and PADI dive schools
Production
Isla Studio

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