Background

The Longest Run is an app-based eco-friendly running event that helps the environment through participating runners. Because of COVID-19, runners who once ran together for the planet started to run apart. Days spent alone grew longer. Runners became tired and ran less. They wanted an opportunity to run again. Not alone, but all together in real life. To make this possible, we decided to create a race where everyone could run alone while feeling together. Users could safely pass their friends while running at the same time, in the same space.

Describe the creative idea

We created a fun race in a space that was both real and virtual. In this special place, everyone could run alone and together. The virtual racing ground was in a park the size of a village. It had no physical start or finish line. Runners could start wherever they chose and completed the race if they found 20 spots within 60 minutes. We prepared virtual AR games and quizzes with environmental tips that participants could practice in real life. We also created a contactless (“untact”) high-five event, which alerted users when other runners were nearby and let them greet and support each other safely.

Describe the strategy

The runners who lead the environmental running campaign didn’t just want to run, but to run with real people in the real world. We focused on creating a space where runners could run free and feel safe from COVID-19. We designated 20 spots that runners had to find throughout the virtual course, similar to Pokémon GO. Within one hour, participants solved quizzes, played AR games, and had fun while running 4km to 5km. We connected virtual space with reality through the app, which alerted users in real-time when other runners were nearby, and let them greet and support each other. All the programs in the app utilized GPS technology.

Describe the execution

The Untact Fun Race was held in a nature park designed for city people to encounter different plants and animals. This park is especially meaningful since it's where we created a kid’s track from upcycled car parts using the kind donations of our runners. We limited the number of participants in each time slot to prevent the risk of COVID-19. Participants’ information was gathered in advance through pre-registration. They then came to the park at their reserved date and time, and started wherever they opened the app. The race was held from October 29th to November 8th, 2020, with 184 60-minute time slots. Every slot was booked, and, by popular request, we opened an additional registration for 3,400 more runners.

List the results

Over the previous the campaign, there were a total of over 36,000 brand hashtags on Instagram. However, in 2020, there were over 22,000 brand hashtags, which is 250% more than the annual average. Even with COVID-19, active users on our running app increased by over 10,000 from the previous year to 19,476.