The Campaign That Almost Didn't Happen: Story Directive x Coros at Mont Blanc

Lightning strikes. Missed flights. A midnight arrival in Chamonix. Not exactly the pre-production call sheet. But sometimes the best work starts that way.

When Coros came to Story Directive to help launch a new line of athlete watches, the brief was clear: capture the product in its element. No studio. No clean lightbox. Real terrain, real athletes, real stakes. The backdrop? Chamonix, France—home of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), the most iconic mountain running race in the world.

UTMB is more than a race. It's a 106-mile loop around the base of Mont Blanc, crossing through France, Italy, and Switzerland with over 32,000 feet of elevation gain. Roughly 2,500 runners toe the start line each year, and most of them take between 20 and 46 hours to finish. It's widely considered the pinnacle of trail running and the setting speaks for itself.

Story Directive founder Brandon Flint made the trip alongside ultra running icon Sally McRae, who was set to compete in UTMB alongside fellow athlete Cody Reed. If you've followed Story Directive for a while, Sally isn't a new name around here—we've had the privilege of telling her story before, and her resilience on and off the trail is something that never gets old to witness. The plan for this trip was to shoot the Coros watches in the mountains before race day, when the athletes had time and the light was right. Then the plane got struck by lightning.

A diverted flight. A missed connection. Brandon arrived in Chamonix at midnight—more than a day behind schedule, with Sally and Cody's pre-race rest window already closing.

Most productions would have called it, but Brandon reached out to the athletes anyway and made a simple ask: one hour, a gondola lift, and whatever light the Alps were willing to give. They said yes. What followed was a one-hour alpine shoot on a mountainside, with a team running on adrenaline and no margin for error. It was also Brandon's first time shooting video on location and flying a drone in the Alps. No easy feat or second chances.

The images delivered exactly what Coros needed. Watches built for athletes, photographed in the kind of terrain that proves what they're made for.

Brandon came home with the shots. Coros got imagery that matched the ambition of the product. And Chamonix—dramatic, unforgiving, and unlike anywhere else on earth—made sure the work looked like it belonged there.

Some of the best brand work happens far from a studio or set. If you're a travel brand or outdoor company looking to create imagery that actually reflects what your product can do, we'd love to hear what you're working on. Book your discovery call here.