Foot Locker & Asics Run ‘Real Lives, Real Runners’ MOFILm NYC Marathon Competition

Foot Locker joins forces with Asics for the second annual ‘Real Lives. Real Runners’ New York City Marathon campaign: a competition giving runner-filmmakers a chance to tell their story through video and have their spot screened on national TV during the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon.

Foot Locker, the New York-headquartered specialty athletic retailer, and sportswear brand Asics teamed up with consumer filmmaker community platform MOFILM by inviting filmmakers to identify authentic runners and document their stories in a short film focusing on ‘why they run’ and ‘how running impacts their lives’.

The initiative began back in July when the two sportswear brands, both official NYC Marathon sponsors, called for filmmakers to submit a two-minute video and an abbreviated 60-second version that celebrate runners from all walks of life.

Flmmakers were invited to submit two-minute videos (and an abbreviated 60-second version) to MOFILM.com.

The submission deadline was 6 September, after which Foot Locker and Asics selected five finalists and posted their 60-second spots on the Foot Locker YouTube channel and on its Facebook pages through October during which the public were able to vote for their favourites via a Facebook Poll (https://poll.fbapp.io/rlrr2016).

WATCH our real lives real runners program. amazingly inspiring stories Foot Locker x Asics Real … https://t.co/xhlbzUOuOn via @YouTube

— Francine Feder (@franfed) October 5, 2015

The top three filmmakers and their subjects were then invited to an exclusive screening event on 2 November, hosted by Foot Locker and Asics in New York, to present in person to a judging panel (including New York Road Runners President and CEO Michael Capiraso, Olympian and American half marathon record holder Ryan Hall and BBDO Executive Creative Director Dan Lucey).

The winning video (see full results), ‘Second Chances’, was announced on 3 November and nationally televised on 6 November during the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon (on ESPN2) and the winning filmmaker also received a cash prize from Mofilm.

‘Second Chances’, directed by filmmaker Sean Brown and produced by Stephanie Martucci, features runner Matthew Williams – who ran the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon to honour his late father.

Williams is currently in his sixth year of sobriety and during this journey and, for him, running is more than just a way to exercise, but it’s a time of reflection, meditation and gratitude and a way for him (and others) to defeat addiction and get their second chance.

The winning film was also amplified and celebrated socially.

Congrats to our 2016 @asicsamerica REAL LIVES. REAL RUNNERS. Matthew Williams, whose film will air this Sunday during the @NYCMarathon! pic.twitter.com/RqyWTPNPqb

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) November 3, 2016

Good luck to our 2016 @asicsAmerica REAL LIVES. REAL RUNNERS. winner Matthew Williams in the @nycmarathon today! pic.twitter.com/N6ftaXBMjT

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) November 6, 2016

The other shortlisted entrants were ‘The Art Of Running’,

‘I Coach’,

‘One More Step’,

and ‘Hope’.

‘We’re proud to partner with Asics to host a campaign that celebrates the running community by showcasing inspirational stories of real, everyday runners,’ said Foot Locker marketing VP Stacy Cunningham.

‘We hope that “Second Chances” will encourage and motivate experienced and novice runners alike to be their best.’

‘Running can have a powerful and positive impact on both body and mind. The stories shared by this talented pool of filmmakers showcased the power of running in people’s lives,’ adds Roeya Vaughan, vice president of marketing for Asics America.

‘We are honoured to partner with Foot Locker for the second consecutive year to help bring these stories to a wider audience. We hope that Sean Brown’s winning film reaches and inspires audiences around the world.’

‘We are excited to enter our second year of collaboration with Foot Locker to capture and share these stories,’ continues Vaughan.

‘Storytelling creates such a powerful human connection, and we look forward to another year of authentic and compelling films that will touch and inspire all of us.’

‘Our first instalment of the ‘Real Lives. Real Runners’ campaign in 2015 uncovered a wealth of talent and self-expression from both our filmmaker entrants and their running subjects,’ continued Foot Locker’s Cunningham.

‘The campaign shined a light on the different types of inspiring runners out there and their fascinating stories. This year, we’re raising the bar and challenging filmmakers to get creative, inject a new wave of freshness into their projects and develop their own interpretation of what “Real Lives. Real Runners” truly means to them and the runners they document.’

Comment

The inaugural ‘Real Lives. Real Runners’ initiative in 2015 (see case study) was won by Evan Kelman with her film called ‘The Push’ featuring Marco Reininger – a US Army veteran living in New York City who runs every day to pay homage to the military.

Set up in 2007, MOFILM (which describes itself as a fork of ‘people-powered marketing democratising creativity’) aims to connect brands to its global community of filmmakers and creatives to produce authentic content which it then amplifies to millions around the world.

Previous MOFILM marketing led video contest campaigns have stretched from events like Cannes Lions and the Super Bowl, to brands like Doritos, HP, AT&T, Vodafone and Visa and sponsorship initiatives such as Chevrolet and Manchester United (see case study) and General Motors and The Oscars (see case study).

Foot Locker, which has developed a relationship with running over the last four decades, also activates around the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon through its ‘Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge’: another initiative focusing on how participants use running to overcome personal trials and tribulations.

This sees the brand select a five person team, one from each New York Borough, who will run the first 13.1 miles of the race together before completing the final 13.1 miles at their own pace in a unique ‘race within a race’.

Introducing the Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge Team! Follow their stories & learn how you can help cheer them on at http://ow.ly/6je5Y.

— TCS NYC Marathon (@nycmarathon) September 1, 2011

The runner in the group who finishes the marathon in the fastest time will become the Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge Champion, winning a Tiffany trophy and city-wide bragging rights.

This year’s team consisted of Sean Neal (Bronx), Kelly Roberts (Brooklyn), Evan Wood (Manhattan), Kenan Bal (Queens) and Jen Correa (Staten Island).

‘Each member of the 2016 Five Borough Challenge team exhibits tenacity and determination – both physically and mentally,’ said Andy Gray, vice president and general manager for Foot Locker US.

‘The stories of these athletes are inspiring examples of the positivity that can come from life-altering events with perseverance and optimism.”

Both activations sees Foot Locker promote its latest in cutting-edge running technology fronted by its new ASICS Marathon Collection – available in select NYC Foot Locker stores.

Foot Locker has supported running for the past 40 years through partnerships stretching from the New York Marathon to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

Links

Foot Locker Web: