The brand´s positioning centres around competitive sports, innovation and technology.

The 'marathon face-cam‘ was born out of the insight that we wanted to give the marathon a ‘face’, thus documenting the emotions and physical efforts reflected in the runner’s face. The technology was simple but innovative: a specially constructed face camera taking pictures every 30 seconds.

Prior to the Berlin Marathon adidas recruited participants to become the faces of the marathon. 15 runners were selected to wear the camera; their portraits ("Faces of marathon") were collated and made into a series of motion films displayed on a microsite and YouTube. All 'marathon faces' were streamed live to the internet during the whole run to show all unadorned emotions. Additionally, we supported the communication by a range of OOH formats before, during and after the event. We encouraged people to upload their "Face of marathon" to become part of the campaign.

The brand showed presence in a situation of highest psychological and physical intensity which is experienced by the runners but also by the spectators. Results:Bought and Owned Media:-Microsite visits 35,000 over 2 min length of stay, 20,000 film views-YouTube 15 videos > 208,000 viewsEarned Media:-Facebook 140 posts during 2 weeks, 800 likes, 100 comments, 50 shares-Seeding of documentary film: 91,000 national views/98,000 international views -PR National TV coverage via Live interviews with all 15 runners before and after the runSales:-Sales increased up to 38% compared to the Marathon week 2010.