Adidas London Marathon

Adidas sought to mark its ninth year of partnership with the London Marathon by doing more than ever to ensure runners were prepared for the big race. It wanted to utilise the latest technology to deliver a personal message of inspiration, based on the “Impossible is Nothing” slogan, to the tens of thousands of runners while they were running the marathon.

Its solution was the creation of a real-time competitor-tracking WAP system, so supporters could track exactly where their runner was using just their mobile phones. This enabled people to make sure they were in the right place at the right time to cheer on their loved ones and give them encouragement when necessary. Secondly, Adidas hijacked the Cutty Sark site at Greenwhich and installed of four giant mobile LED screens, with an emphasis not just on the hardware aspect but also on an advanced content delivery system for the broadcast of inspirational messages.

Family and friends of runners were invited to email or text Adidas their personal messages of support. Then during the marathon, when the runners passed a timing point leading up to the Adidas screens at the famous landmark, their race numbers triggered the messages of encouragement to appear on the big screens alongside their name, inspiring them to pick up the pace for the remaining 20 miles. These messages were interspersed with Adidas messages, like: "Come on Sam Jones from Hillington, pain is temporary, but pride is forever...love from Adidas".


The site was also wrapped with two giant 43m banners, one on either side of the Cutty Sark, branded with the “Impossible is Nothing” slogans to enforce Adidas’ inspirational brand values. Almost 4,000 runners were tracked using the WAP site, with supporters using the site to track their runner an average of 17 times per runner. With the activity picked up by BBC cameras, and observed by 3,000 spectators at the scene, excellent PR was generated.