PUMA invited us to help with the launch of their new Hybrid Astro product line. They asked us to create an experiential outdoor activation that would take over Hua Shi Guang Chang (华狮广场) plaza in Shanghai, right across from one of their key retail points in the city.

Although at its core, Hybrid Astro is a running product line, it was important for PUMA that every aspect of the experience reflected the freedom encapsulated by their “管我怎么跑 - Run my Way” campaign.

The aim was to deliver an immersive running experience where people would be free to run their own way, regardless of their age or performance level.

We custom built a popup installation that covered a total of 100sqm, including a curved treadmill, a 180° immersive screen and a room custom-fitted with motion and face-tracking cameras to create your personalized avatar.

Run My Way distances itself from other running experiences by celebrating the joy of running, regardless of one’s performance level. It is not about how fast you can run, it is about running as an experience and the beauty of exploration.

The main idea was to allow visitors to transform themselves into their own PUMA spirit animal, and embark on a journey through three mystical lands populated by creatures with its own magical lore.

The puma model was custom designed to allow for various colors and textured finishes to be applied, enabling people to add their own personality. The three mystic environments were built entirely from scratch and designed to react to a runner's different speeds.

By adding this level of customization to the Puma and allowing users to run in environments that reacted to their speed, we built a truly personal running experience for each visitor.

We created an elaborate 100sqm popup experiential running activation that would take over Hua Shi Guang Chang (华狮广场) plaza in Shanghai for one week.

Visitors are greeted at the entrance and introduced to an elaborate product display area where they could slip on PUMA’s Hybrid Astro shoes for themselves.

Our visitors then entered the customization room. Facing a large screen combined with face and motion-tracking cameras, they would start their avatar creation process by unlocking the screen through our WeChat mini-app.

Visitors then see themselves morph and transform into a puma in real-time. Using a smoothed polygon design, the puma model was created in 3D to allow for numerous colors and textured finishes to be applied. The final step was to select between original music tracks of varying genres to play during their running experience.

Introducing a storyline with lore to the experience, our visitors are then presented with a gallery display of artwork that introduces the enchanted world they are about to enter.

Lastly, visitors arrived in the running room where they would step on a mechanical treadmill, surrounded by 180° screens, and run through a 3D world that includes a neon city, misty mountains, an emerald forest and finally, ending at an oasis with a pond that mirrored the runner’s face with their Puma.

The three environments were built entirely from scratch to include mesmerizing animal life, distinctive landscapes, and even a mystic dragon flying between misty mountains. The music tracks also reacted differently depending on running speed, adding in layers of sounds and beats as they ran faster or slower.

The whole experience was managed through a dedicated WeChat mini-app. This allowed users to easily log-in through each step and receive a personalized video that reflected their transformation through their entire experience.

Users would receive coupons at the end of the experience to be redeemed at PUMA retail stores in Shanghai. 92% of coupons were redeemed in-store, leading to:

21% increase in retail foot traffic

34% increase in sales conversion

60% increase in overall sales

In addition, engagement / time spent with the brand was high for each experience visitor, with average brand engagement between 5min12 and 7min42.