Adidas and Parley are teaming up again on the ‘Run For The Oceans’ cause campaign: a global running movement that uses the power of sport to raise awareness for the threat of marine plastic pollution.
The 2018 edition of the event, which was first announced on 31 May, again aims to highlight the plight facing the world’s oceans with an initiative revolving around an international, participatory community run project.
This is the second year in a row that sees the sportswear giant adidas and eco design outfit Parley combine to call upon their combined global communities to take action and protect the oceans that are increasingly endangered due to man-made issues including pollution, waste and growing consumption.
The central strand of the initiative is a jointly hosted, global running event on 17 June that sees a series similar races taking place in other cities around the world.
On June 8 a run takes place in Temescal Park (Los Angeles), while on 27 June a matching run is being held at Pier 26 in New York City, while in London the campaign is encouraging people to run a one-mile closed road course through central London (starting and finishing at St Paul’s Cathedral).
Runners anywhere in the world are invited to sign up and track their runs on the digital platforms of Runtastic and Joyrun (in China) to contribute and help reach one million kilometres – joining adidas ambassadors Shaunae Miller, Tori Bowie and Wayde Van Niekerk among other high-profile athletes in their efforts to spread the message.
Each run at tracked on the app as part of the Run for the Oceans community will be added to a global tally and Adidas has pledged to contribute $1m dollars to the Parley Ocean Plastic Programme for the first one million kilometres run.
The month-long initiative, which runs from 8 June to to 8 July, is promoted through a multi-platform campaign led by a hero ‘Run For The Oceans 2018’ spot (posted on 7 June) that has racked up an impressive 5,5m YouTube views in its first week.
Plus there is a supporting, product specific content for the ‘adidas x Parley UltraBOOST’ (made from upcycled plastic waste intercepted from beaches and beach communities)
Further content pieces aim to engage consumers in the conversation at @adidasrunning on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and using #RunForTheOceans, #adidasParley, #UltraBOOST.
“At adidas, we believe that sport has the power to change lives and the Run For The Oceans movement truly reflects this,” explained Adidas Sports Businesss Unit general manager Andre Maestrini.
“We have created a unique global platform that gives everyone the opportunity to impact their lives by joining a collective running movement that fights marine plastic pollution. Seeing the adidas family unite for a shared purpose is what makes the campaign so powerful.”
Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley for the Oceans, added: “Every second breath we take is created by the Oceans. Still, we are killing its life in rapid speed. We are hosting Run for the Oceans with adidas to step out of our routine, to take a deep breath and to reflect on how important the sea is for every one of us. And to show that millions of little steps can make a huge difference for our movement.”
To get involved, adidas and Parley are hosting a series of physical runs in several key cities worldwide including LA, New York, Paris, Berlin, London, Barcelona, Milan and Shanghai, and are mobilizing the global adidas Runners network to organize weekly running initiatives in 50 adidas Runners communities worldwide.
Comment:
These two organisations have been working together since 2015 on projects and campaigns aimed at educating people around the world on the issue.
Both approach the objective with creative solutions: including the use of Parley Ocean Plastic for the making of adidas x Parley products.
Last year’s campaign was also spearheaded by a hero video,
while other joint initiatives include projects with major football clubs and leagues (see case study).
Links:
Adidas
https://www.adidas.co.uk/parley
https://instagram.com/adidasrunning
https://twitter.com/adidasrunning
https://facebook.com/adidasrunning
https://www.youtube.com/user/adidasrunningtv
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/runta…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de…
Parley:
http://www.parley.tv/#fortheoceans
