The Campaign

We hijacked the finish line of one of Asia’s biggest marathons: The Great Wuxi Marathon, where we congratulated runners that “Warm Up Is Over.” We placed this message on every iconic finisher item: victory flags, a podium, and trophies – of a guy warming up. These “Warm Up Trophies” were awarded to finishers, and also the winners themselves, with an unnecessarily grandiose one going to the marathon champion. Running bibs led to an online parody list comparing the marathon they just ran, and the TNF100. Products on our T-Mall Online Store (China’s Amazon) did warm up exercises.

Success of the Campaign

Thousands of runners were exposed to our message at the end of the race, with thousands more watching the video of the events post-race. As a result, thousands signed up for the race, including the winners of the Wuxi Marathon.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

We hijacked the finish line of one of Asia’s biggest marathons: The Great Wuxi Marathon, where we congratulated runners that “Warm Up Is Over.” We placed this message on every iconic finisher item: victory flags, a podium, and trophies – of a guy warming up. These “Warm Up Trophies” were awarded to finishers, and also the winners themselves, with an unnecessarily grandiose one going to the marathon champion. Running bibs led to an online parody list comparing the marathon they just ran, and the TNF100. Products on our T-Mall Online Store (China’s Amazon) did warm up exercises.

We were briefed to recruit hardcore runners for one of the toughest races ever: The North Face 100 Ultra Marathon. The strategy was to make all other marathons look like a mere warm up in comparison. By targeting the finish line of a marathon, we were getting the attention of 100% runners, the exact target audience TNF was looking for. THE NORTH FACE’s brand DNA is about “Pushing Boundaries”, and this execution encapsulates this motto in an ironic, engaging way.