The objective of the promotion was to motivate 11,000 runners to take part in the adidas Auckland Marathon – the biggest marathon in New Zealand. Our long running strategy is that you only need two things to run: Motivation and Adidas running gear. To motivate runners this year, we used military psychology, and a little yellow rubber duck.

The military thinking goes like this: In times of extreme stress or pain, think of yourself as a rubber duck: You cannot be crushed, you cannot be broken, you will rise to the surface, you will always bounce back.

So we wrote a motivating duck manifesto, appearing outdoor, in gyms, POS, magazines, along running routes, t-shirts, and online. For both the marathon and pre-marathon running events, we built a 4.5m inflatable duck, and gave away 15,000 Adidas-branded rubber ducks in motivational packs. Runners could interact with the giant duck and write their reasons to run on our duck motivation wall.

Once the duck hit the streets, the Adidas Auckland marathon sold out in record time - 8 weeks ahead of schedule. adidas has received numerous requests from the public for copies of the creative, and the duck was picked up by websites and blogs overseas. The giant duck also made an appearance on page 2 of the largest circulating New Zealand newspaper weeks before the marathon. On race day, hundreds of runners got their photo taken with the giant duck and some even ran with their mini ducks.Remember, flesh, bones and muscles can hurt. Rubber can’t.

There’s no denying it, it’s pretty unusual to see a little yellow rubber duck as a marathon mascot. But the psychology can’t be faulted – running a marathon is an incredibly daunting challenge. Giving prospective marathon runners a psychological tool to help them push through the physical pain is a great idea, and hugely credible coming from an elite sports brand like Adidas. Because of its originality, the duck concept really stood out and made people stop, think, and react positively to the marathon. Suddenly, it became achievable. Because if a little rubber duck can do it, so can you.