Bank of America x The Boston Marathon

Instead of focusing on the fastest, we focused on the runners that ran for something greater than themselves.

At the world’s fastest and most prestigious marathon, we convinced our clients to focus on the runners who were the slowest.
Charity runners faced an immense challenge… raising up to $15,000 on their own to secure one of the few charity slots at the marathon. All of their support coming from a small circle of friends and family. It’s the most meaningful part of the Boston Marathon®, and the most overlooked.

So we asked Bank of America to do something radical for their first year as presenting sponsor:
Don’t talk about the brand.
Don’t celebrate the elites.
Turn the entire sponsorship into a platform for the people fundraising for their communities.

We shifted every dollar of the brand’s media to amplify charity runners. Expanding their networks, telling their stories, and giving them reach they could never achieve alone.

The result: 268,000 donations.
A record-breaking $71.9M raised for 243 charities.
A +5.7ppt lift in brand favorability.

This was the most successful marketing move that Bank of America has ever done, propelling brand favorability to its highest point in recorded history.