2014 Winners & Shortlists

TREADMILL VENDING MACHINE

Short List
BrandADIDAS
Product/ServiceBOOST
EntrantLIQUID THREAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryAmbient/Alternative Media
Entrant Company LIQUID THREAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency LIQUID THREAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Brief

UAE is a nation of couch potatoes. According to a new research, it’s the 6th laziest nation in the world. The reason - a comfort-obsessed culture which dissuades people from being active. In a society where there’s no exercise culture let alone running, how do you excite people about anew running shoe? Adidas needed to launch Boost –the new running innovation. The shoe was made of a new material that returns energy back to the runner. The brand’s challenge was to bring the technology to life. But energy return was a complex proposition to communicate.

Creative Execution

The treadmill vending machine was designed for youngsters to break out of their comfort zone and get active. We all know that UAE is a nation of couch potatoes. According to a new research, it’s the 6th laziest nation in the world where 4 out of 5 people do not get enough physical exercise to keep themselves healthy (Source: Lancet Medical Journal). The reason - a heavily car-dependent and comfort-obsessed culture which dissuades people from being active. And the idea of running on a treadmill in the middle of a shopping mall was an experience they wouldn’t forget.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We built the World’s first treadmill vending machine – a treadmill which uses energy as a currency and rewards runners on their calories burned. To use the vending machine, runners simply had to run on the treadmill. The machine counted the running joules which were displayed on the vending machine screen. A reward was then dispensed to the runner based on his/her performance. The rewards were all about energy – ranging from Red Bull to energy bars and Adidas running gear. And if you were really good, the machine could even vend you Boost shoes.

Results

In just 2 weeks, we had 926 runners participating –surpassing our expectation by about 54%. * 4 weeks into the campaign Boost shoes were fully sold out across UAE achieving a sell through rate of 100%. Boost’s share of adidas running category more than doubled to 11%. ** The campaign generated a huge amount buzz on social media, blogs, portals dedicated to health & fitness translating into an earned media value of $565,000- more than 3 times the investment *** The treadmill had become so popular that adidas brought it back for the Dubai marathon 2014

Credits

Name Company Role
Mohit Lodha Starcom Mediavest Group Media Director
Taufiq Abounader Liquid Thread Consultant
Kinda Al Issa Liquid Thread Consultant
Pauline Rady Starcom Mediavest Group Associate Media Director
Milad Samia Starcom Mediavest Group Media Manager
Jose Garcellano Pixel Plus Media Consultant