How On and Zendaya Redefined Sportswear Ambition With Dream Together
On launched Dream Together in Switzerland in June 2024, a cinematic 60-second film introducing actor and cultural figure Zendaya as the brand's new multiyear partner, marking the opening creative work of a collaboration built around movement, collective aspiration, and the idea that progress is shared rather than solitary.
The campaign arrived on June 6, 2024, simultaneously across global social and digital channels, anchored by the hashtags #DreamTogether and #DreamOn. For On — a Swiss performance sportswear brand headquartered in Zurich — the announcement represented a significant escalation in brand ambition. Rather than position Zendaya as a conventional product endorser, the partnership was structured around co-creation: future campaigns, movement and well-being conversations, reimagined product collections, and collaborative storytelling, as confirmed by Press On-Running. The campaign film opens the relationship as a declaration of direction, not simply a launch asset.
In Switzerland, where On was founded in 2010 and continues to operate its global headquarters, the Dream Together campaign carries particular resonance. The brand's identity is rooted in Swiss precision engineering applied to running performance, and the choice to debut this partnership through a film that foregrounds community and shared dreaming rather than individual athletic conquest signals a deliberate broadening of that identity. According to press.on-running.com, the partnership scope extends to product development and future storytelling initiatives, suggesting Dream Together is the first chapter in a longer creative arc. On's Clapboard Score for this campaign stands at 63 out of 100, reflecting solid cultural reach and strong casting logic against a creative execution that leaves room for deeper narrative development in future instalments.
On held an estimated global sportswear market share of approximately 0.9% in 2024, up from 0.7% in 2023, according to GlobalData. That figure places it firmly in challenger territory alongside Hoka, both identified by GlobalData as the fastest-growing brands in the category. Against that backdrop, the Dream Together campaign represents a calculated move to accelerate brand awareness and cultural relevance at a moment when On's commercial momentum — full-year net sales of CHF 2.3183 billion in 2024, as reported by finance.yahoo.com — demands a marketing posture equal to its growth trajectory.
The sportswear market context sharpens the strategic stakes. Nike held approximately 14.1% of global sportswear market share in 2024, and Adidas held approximately 8.2%, according to GlobalData, together representing a dominant duopoly that any challenger must navigate through differentiation rather than direct confrontation. On's response is to compete on cultural identity and community values rather than on performance specification alone. By partnering with Zendaya — a figure whose audience spans fashion, film, and fitness — On signals that its ambition is to occupy a lifestyle position that neither Nike nor Adidas can fully claim at this moment.
David Allemann, co-founder of On, articulated this logic directly. As reported by Little Black Book, Allemann described Zendaya as having the ability to inspire a generation and dream big, and stated that On cannot think of a better partner to help the brand grow, evolve, and connect with people around the world. The campaign's focus on inclusivity — movement as something that brings people together across backgrounds — directly addresses a consumer segment that values purpose-driven brand behaviour, a segment that, according to marketingdive.com, is increasingly decisive in sportswear purchase decisions across the United States and European markets including Switzerland.
Dream Together runs for approximately 60 seconds and was directed by C Prinz, with production handled through Smuggler, as confirmed by press.on-running.com and mediapost.com. The film is built around movement in its most literal and symbolic form: Zendaya appears on a running track alongside dancers, the choreography functioning as the campaign's primary visual language. Rather than narrating athletic performance through pace or competition, the film uses collective, synchronised movement to embody the campaign's central theme — that dreaming and progressing together is itself a form of sport.
The choice of C Prinz as director is significant. A choreographer-turned-filmmaker, C Prinz brings a movement-first sensibility to the camera that is evident throughout the film's composition. Scenes prioritise ensemble energy over individual close-up, reinforcing the communal message at the level of visual grammar rather than simply at the level of voiceover or copy. The production quality is cinematic, consistent with On's positioning as a premium Swiss performance sportswear brand rather than a mass-market label.
Smuggler's involvement as production company adds further creative pedigree. The company has a documented history of high-craft commercial filmmaking, and its pairing with C Prinz for this campaign suggests On and its creative team — whose agency was not publicly disclosed at the time of publication — prioritised directorial vision over conventional sports advertising formulas. As reported by shots.net, the film's aesthetic places it closer to fashion film than to traditional sportswear advertising, a tonal choice that directly supports On's ambition to occupy the intersection of performance and lifestyle culture across the Switzerland market and globally. The campaign's single media asset — the film itself — was distributed via On's social channels including Instagram, Facebook, X, and Pinterest, as documented by press.on-running.com.
Dream Together generated 154,934 views, 4,331 likes, and 108 comments on the campaign asset as recorded in the Clapboard archive. These figures represent the documented social engagement for the film at the point of archiving. As reported by marketingdive.com, the campaign received widespread trade press coverage upon its June 2024 release, with coverage from outlets including marketingdive.com, mediapost.com, and thegrio.com confirming its cultural reach beyond the core sportswear audience.
No independently verified paid media spend or conversion data for the Dream Together campaign is publicly available. What the structural evidence does confirm is that the campaign's mechanics are engineered for compounding impact rather than single-moment reach. Per press.on-running.com, the partnership with Zendaya is explicitly multiyear and encompasses product co-creation and future storytelling, meaning Dream Together functions as a brand-building foundation rather than a standalone activation. The 60-second runtime and choreography-led creative approach prioritise emotional resonance over direct response, consistent with a top-of-funnel objective appropriate for a challenger brand seeking to expand its cultural footprint.
On's full-year net sales of CHF 2.3183 billion in 2024, as reported by finance.yahoo.com, reflect a business growing at a rate that justifies this level of brand investment. The campaign's reach extended to the United States and beyond Switzerland through global digital distribution, as confirmed by Investors On-Running, positioning Dream Together as On's most internationally visible creative statement to date at the time of its release.
Dream Together is a 60-second cinematic film released by On in Switzerland on June 6, 2024, introducing Zendaya as a multiyear brand partner. The campaign centres on movement, collective aspiration, and shared progress, positioning On as a lifestyle and community brand rather than solely a performance sportswear label. It launched globally across social and digital channels.
C Prinz directed the Dream Together film for On, as confirmed by press.on-running.com. A choreographer-turned-filmmaker, C Prinz built the 60-second film around collective movement on a running track, with production handled through Smuggler. The agency behind the campaign was not publicly disclosed at the time of the campaign's June 2024 release.
On co-founder David Allemann described Zendaya as having the ability to inspire a generation and dream big, as reported by lbbonline.com. The multiyear partnership was designed to help On grow and connect with audiences beyond its core running base, spanning co-created products, well-being conversations, and future campaigns in markets including the United States and Switzerland.
On distributed Dream Together using the hashtags #DreamTogether and #DreamOn across Instagram, Facebook, X, and Pinterest, as documented by press.on-running.com. The campaign launched simultaneously on June 6, 2024, across all channels as a global release, with Switzerland as the brand's home market and the United States among the primary international audiences targeted.
On held an estimated global sportswear market share of approximately 0.9% in 2024, according to GlobalData, placing it as a challenger to Nike and Adidas. Dream Together represents On's move to compete on cultural identity rather than specification alone, using Zendaya's cross-industry influence to reach lifestyle-oriented consumers who value community and purpose-driven brands in Switzerland and globally.
On's Dream Together campaign received a Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100. The score reflects strong casting rationale and cultural reach achieved through Zendaya's multisector influence, balanced against creative execution that — as the opening instalment of a declared multiyear partnership — leaves narrative depth to be built across future Dream Together and DreamOn campaign chapters.
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