NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oakley, one of the leading global sports brands, launched its BEYOND REASON™ campaign last night with a star-studded experience in New York City. The evening’s event at the Oakley SoHo store featured 2008 Olympic gold medalist decathlete Bryan Clay and prominent artist Natalie Frank premiering a specially-commissioned BEYOND REASON art piece to showcase creatively how elite athletes approach their performance through a distinct, personal lens.
During the 100 days leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Oakley will partner its family of athletes with artists from every corner of the world to launch BEYOND REASON. The campaign teams sport champions with creative minds that share the same convictions. Like the athletes, the artists are innovative and groundbreaking visionaries who reject conventional ideas to deliver the unexpected.
BEYOND REASON exemplifies the driving attitude that fuels and fires Oakley athletes to exceed the limits of possibility. In addition to Clay and Frank’s partnership, other Olympians participating in the BEYOND REASON campaign include U.S. sprinter Lolo Jones, U.S. beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh, British cyclist Mark Cavendish, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, Australian cyclist Cadel Evans and Spanish triathlete Javier Gomez.
“The BEYOND REASON mentality is what drives, inspires and fuels me to push myself every minute of every day to perform at the highest levels,” said decathlete and Oakley athlete Bryan Clay. “Working with Oakley and Natalie on this BEYOND REASON art gave me an outlet to showcase my mental approach to performance and how I view challenges – not as barriers, but as boundaries that can and will be pushed.”
Alongside the launch of the brand’s BEYOND REASON campaign, Oakley will debut RadarLock™, a revolutionary performance sunglass designed to deliver comfort, performance and protection for athletes at any level. Switchlock™ Technology featured in RadarLock empowers athletes with the performance advantage of fast and easy lens changing, enabling them to match their vision to the environment.
“The BEYOND REASON launch and RadarLock debut celebrates Oakley’s passion to continually push the limits of innovation so our customers and athletes can exceed the limits of possibility,” said Mike Crowell, VP of Marketing and GTM. “Like all in the Oakley family of athletes, Bryan is the best in the world at what he does. BEYOND REASON exemplifies his refusal to accept boundaries and his willingness to dream and invent in his training. This allows him to perform at levels few can imagine, and deliver unexpected results.”
As part of the lead-up to the BEYOND REASON unveiling, Clay and Frank spent time discussing passion points and motivations that fuel Clay’s iconic performances. Frank’s “Portrait (Shot Put)” represents Clay’s embodiment of the surreal, defiant and continual transformation of consciousness needed to become the greatest athlete in the world.
“This portrait reaches BEYOND REASON, to a place where representation and abstraction, specificity and the symbolic collide,” said artist Natalie Frank, an endorser of Oakley. “To capture Bryan is to look at what is, and to see what can be.” Frank added, “Working in collaboration with Bryan and Oakley on this gave me my own BEYOND REASON opportunity to test my limits.”
Throughout spring 2012, Oakley will continue to partner its athletes with artists around the world. The art pieces inspired by each athlete’s BEYOND REASON vision will come together at the London Design Museum on July 26, 2012, the night before the opening ceremonies, for a special gala to celebrate BEYOND REASON and the Oakley athletes competing in the 2012 Olympics.
In addition to the Bryan Clay / Natalie Frank collaboration, Oakley will unveil an artistic collaboration between Lolo Jones and Sarah Olson. The creation is titled, “Run Lolo Run.”
Visit Oakley.com to learn about the company’s sport performance and lifestyle products. Follow our BEYOND REASON journey online on Twitter at #BEYONDREASON.
About Oakley, Inc.
Established in 1975 and headquartered in Southern California, Oakley is one of the leading sports brands in the world. The holder of more than 600 patents, Oakley is continually seeking problems, solving them with inventions and wrapping those inventions in art. This philosophy has made Oakley one of the most iconic and inimitable brands on the market, with innovations that world-class athletes around the globe depend on to compete at the highest level possible. Oakley is famed for its insuperable lens technologies such as High Definition Optics® (HDO®) which is incorporated into all Oakley sun and prescription eyewear, and all premium Oakley goggles. Oakley has extended its leadership position as the world’s leading sports eyewear brand into apparel, footwear and accessories collections. Laser focused on the consumer, Oakley has both men’s and women’s product lines that target Sports Performance, Active and Lifestyle consumers. Oakley is a subsidiary of Luxottica Group. Additional information is available at www.oakley.com.
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