Aegean invited runners to enter a competition that would get one of their loved ones who lives away from Athens, to wait for them at the finish and support them in person.

At the most difficult point of the route, a digital billboard was set up, showing encouraging messages for all the runners. What the 10 lucky winners of the draw didn't know, was that a surprise video would play automatically as they approached, informing them that their loved one was already waiting for them at the finish line.

That gave them the extra strength they needed to carry on and created a very moving experience for all.

We announced a competition 1 month ahead of the Athens Marathon, calling for all runners to tell us which of their loved ones that live away from Athens, they would like us to bring to support them in person at the race.

But we didn’t let the 10 lucky winners of the draw know that they won, before the race itself! We communicated directly with their loved ones and prepared a surprise for the winners.

At the 25th kilometer of the authentic route, we set up a digital billboard that showed supporting messages for all the runners. 800 meters before the billboard, we laid a special carpet on the street, that would detect when the 10 lucky winners of the draw would be approaching. That triggered a video on the billboard, showing them that their loved one had arrived in Athens and was waiting for them at the finish line.

More than 1.000 Marathon runners, from Greece and abroad, took part in the competition and asked us to bring one of their loved ones in Athens.

When the video showcasing the surprise for the 10 lucky runners was posted on Facebook & YouTube, it quickly became a hit with more than 1 Million views and an enthusiastic response from viewers sharing more than 7k likes, shares and comments, saying how much it moved them.