As a brand that understands the minds of athletes and as runners ourselves, we identified 72 moments where runners would need encouragement. Then taking inspiration from a marathon runner’s perspective, we created a visual language that was familiar to them – manhole covers.

A team of 11 local artists were assembled to create a series of manhole cover designs that were based on the iconography of the city. Each one of them had a message that would inspire, motivate or delight runners in a uniquely Shanghainese way. We then deployed them throughout the route. We made up media when there wasn’t any and built our own when it wasn’t for sale.

While other brands dropped out after the first 10KM, Nike’s inspirational messages were at every upslope, downhill, steep climb and zigzag, all the way to the finish line. We created an experience that Shanghai runners embraced and felt proud of. News picked up the buzz and social media amplified it. By inspiring the runners themselves, we ended up inspiring the whole city.