humanLIMITS tells engaging stories of inspirational humans pushing their physical and mental boundaries to the “limits” – from swimming the most dangerous rivers in the world to withstanding excruciating cold beyond what was thought humanly possible. The campaign aimed to inspire young people to engage with and share these stories, aligning themselves with the brand messaging.

No one would expect a young audience to relate to and empathize with an overweight, out of shape, swimmer from Slovenia in his 60’s, but that is exactly what happened with Martin Strel in his episode of humanLIMITS. To overcome this challenge we specifically told his story in a way which encouraged the audience to relate the material to their own lives and viewpoint. By swimming the longest rivers on the planet Martin aims to raise awareness of the world's useable water shortage, an imminent crisis which affects us all.

As part of a 5-part series, we shot Martin's episode on-location in Arizona and utilized footage and photography from Martin's past to bring his story to life. We launched the episode on August 8th 2017 to align with the open water marathon olympic trials to help fuel the conversation around who a world-class athlete can be. The program launched on our agency's website through an in-depth editorial article with a detailed interview, a video embed of the episode, and brand media adjacencies. Amplified across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, with platform-specific cuts to ensure we were in front of the right audience with the right message, the episode touched on social tensions that inspired massive engagement and consumption.

Martin Strel's story caught fire. With over 10.3 MM views and over 1.1MM engagements (likes, comments, and shares), Martin reached people across the world and sparked conversation across platforms. Viewers engaged and participated in the conversation because audiences wanted to share the inspirational story and be part of questioning societal norms that have been put in place, encouraging their peers to do the same.

Views: 10,349,729

Likes: 422,990

Shares: 147,340

Comments: 616,322