Bolt’s in Rome

How to build awareness for the Diamond League Athletics event in Rome, with the objective of filling a 70.000 seated Olympic Stadium?

Make the fastest man on earth run on the eternal city’s busiest and most iconic streets, covering distances in almost no time, in spite of the traffic. Then engage people to challenge him and mark a record time to win tickets.

No one beat him.
But we did beat a record crowd (47k), bringing 60k+ to the Olympic Stadium and 1m+ in front of their TV’s to watch the event.

  • Role CD | Writer
  • For Diamond League Athletics
  • Agency SPQR | Italy
  • Art Director Gioia Riccioni
  • ECD Stefano Massari

NEWS

BILLBOARDS were placed along the related iconic busy streets.

[Condotti Street in 9"58.]

BILLBOARD
[The Eastern Distributor in 25"47.]

BILLBOARD
[The tour of Navona Square in 19"19.]

BUS SIDE
[From here to the next stop in 7"35.]

FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
Users could ‘become fans in 3 seconds’ and download the dedicated App.

MOBILE APP
We created the first Golden Gala App, for users to find news, buy tickets and engage through 2 functionalities (the functionalities unfortunately have not been realised due to budget and timings):

  1. ‘Challenge Bolt and Win’ by tracking your speed on the street and enter the draw to win tickets.
  2. ‘Watch Bolt running on your street’ by activating AR on your phone through QR codes on billboards.

AR FUNCTIONALITY
Watch Bolt running on your street.

SPEED TRACKING at bus stops
‘Challenge Bolt and Win’ activation

GOOGLE MAPS
[The city tour in 20".]
When people would look for their trip, a dedicated banner would come up linking to the Golden Gala website. (Unfortunately, banner not realised for budget and timings).

METRO STATIONS | Installations

SPORT SHOPS
[From here to the stadium in 25"47.]

EVENT
The campaign led to the main event: Usain Bolt sprinting for real through Rome’s most iconic street, Via Condotti.

CLOSING AD | THANKS IN ADVANCE
In line with the campaign, even the closing 'thank you’ ad marked a record time. In fact, it was so fast that it ran on main Italian daily newspapers in anticipation to the event.
An idea that helped to sell even more tickets.

LINE
“Whilst it’s common to thank after an event,
we love speed so much that we thank you in advance."

SUB
“Thanks to each and everyone of you who will attend the event tonight."

MEDIA COVERAGE