The BMO Vancouver Marathon is the event of the year for the Vancouver running scene. For one weekend the city is electric, runners travel in from around the world, and the energy is unlike anything else. The campaign was always building up towards race day, not just for the six participants crossing the finish line, but for the whole community. While the docuseries laid the groundwork, this was where everything came to life in the real world. Four days of events, a full store takeover, and a community that showed up in a big way. For the full story on the campaign's messaging and values, start with the docuseries case study. This one is about what happened when it all came together.
Project Type
Brand Campaign Event Series
Project Role
Marketing Strategy, Event Coordination, Social Media Strategy, Graphic Design, Environmental Design
The Store
In the weeks leading up to marathon weekend, we transformed the RunAsYouAre store into a full Just the Half experience. The campaign branding was brought into the physical space, turning the store into a destination in its own right. For the runners coming in to gear up ahead of race day, and for the curious passersby drawn in by the energy of marathon week, it was their first tangible encounter with the brand.
Working closely with our creative director, I led the design of the in-store experience. We wanted people to walk in and feel something, to understand immediately who we were and what we stood for, before a single word was exchanged.
The Activation
If the store set the scene, the events brought it to life. Over four days, RunAsYouAre hosted a full programme of events that drew in the local running community, visiting runners, and everyone in between. From a Nike shoe demo, to shakeout runs with local run clubs, to a closed family dinner event for the participants of the docuseries, every event was designed to feel like a natural extension of the brand values.
Beyond the core campaign branding, there was a layer of smaller assets designed for the weekend. As the designer responsible for these little touches, I may be biased in saying that they had a big impact. Not just for the community, but in helping drive the overarching campaign values at the events, in a more experiential way.
The Nike partnership ensured their branding ran through all campaign elements. Outside of the big campaign visuals, I worked alongside our Nike team to create smaller brand moments. An event mug. A run of stickers. Custom Nike x RunAsYouAre letterman jackets with patches for our store's run club leaders. A particular favourite with the community was the sign-making station, where we created blank campaign branded posters that allowed people to write signs to cheer on their own community. A little way to bring the spirit of the campaign to those cheering as well.
The Makers Lab, a hat customization experience we partnered on with Ciele Athletics, was one of the most memorable parts of the weekend. I used the campaign branding to produce a collection of vinyl stickers that people could use to fully personalize their collaboration hat. Cheeky phrases captured the spirit of the campaign, things like "Fast is Overrated" and "Halfway There Club," alongside a timestamp sticker that let people commemorate their own finish time.
That same sticker system found its way onto the team, literally. Our staff shirts featured "Your Race. Your Pace." down the back, tying everyone at RunAsYouAre into the same visual world as the campaign. They weren't for sale, but more than a few people asked.
Reflections
If the docuseries was about building a story, the activation week was about proving it. The energy across those four days spoke for itself. Events filled up almost as soon as they were announced, the hats sold out, and for a weekend, the store felt like the centre of the running community.
One thing that has stuck with me since is the impact of experiential design. The Makers Lab was flagged as too time-consuming for one person to manage, but that wait ended up being part of its magic. People struck up conversations in line, some made lasting friendships, and I still see those stickers on car bumpers around the city over a year later. It's a reminder that the small, easy to overlook details often carry the most weight, and the best community moments are rarely the ones you can fully plan for.
I'm proud of Just the Half, not just because I got to be part of the docuseries and finished the race, but because of what it did for the community it was made for. Spoiler alert, we did it again the following year.