Adidas looks to ‘create legends’ with 30,000 personalized videos at the Boston Marathon



Roughly 30,000 runners will compete in the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day, and Adidas says it will create 30,000 unique videos for those 30,000 runners, delivered within hours after the race is over.

The runners, along with half a million spectators, are there to accomplish a feat, celebrate milestones, support loved ones, pay tribute to those lost in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and run for causes close to their hearts. Some legends will be created that day, and that’s the idea behind the Adidas ‘Here to Create Legend’ campaign.

To celebrate 30 years of partnership between Adidas – the footwear and apparel partner of the race – and the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), the 2018 Boston Marathon campaign is a monumental task.

A promo video (above) for the event shows runners stretching and training in Boston in preparation for the marathon.

Here's how it works: data generated by RFID chips on race bibs, like pace and split times combined with street mats that broadcast ultra-high frequency radio signals from antennas allow Adidas, in partnership with digital agency Grow, to capture individual videos using just seven cameras and a 20-person crew around the 26.2-mile course. The highlight reel will combine scenes from race day against an inspiring soundtrack.

Personal footage will be captured at the 15K mark and finish line. Trial runs at other road races, storyboarding and prototyping with prescriptive camera angles, shot lists and sound effects will eliminate excess footage and unnecessary editing to make quick delivery a possibility.

“We’re capturing the excitement, support and celebration that is Boston in a way no one has ever done before,” said Paul Bowyer, head of Adidas Running US. “In our 30th year of partnership, Adidas and the BAA are creating an epic moment for Boston by harnessing the power of technology and 30,000 runners and to highlight the pride, firsts, wins, personal records and energy of runners who will become legends on April 16.”

Added Drew Ungvarsky, chief executive officer and executive creative director at Grow: "We are thrilled to create a first-of-its-kind experience for Adidas at the Boston Marathon. We wanted to harness the power of 30,000 runners generating data from the very race bibs that sport the adidas logo and transform the entire race into a creation engine. The result is an epic personal highlight film for every single runner who becomes part of the legend of this incredible event.”

Runners will receive an email from the BAA after the race to access their sharable videos. They can also visit heretocreatelegend.com starting on April 16 to search for their video by bib number. SOURCE

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