adidas’ Runner 321 is a social movement created by and for the neurodivergent community to[1] improve their visibility within sport. What started as a moment at the Boston Marathon, quickly turned into a global movement where hundreds of runners and hundreds of races signed up to get involved, without any media spend.
Not only did we spark a global movement toward inclusion, but we successfully contracted all six of the world’s major marathons to reserve Bib 321 for a neurodivergent athlete, even though four of these races are sponsored by our largest competitors.
When people with Down syndrome don’t see their community represented in sport, they aren’t able to see what’s possible for them. As a brand, adidas’ has a unique mission built on the idea of breaking down barriers for marginalized communities and demonstrating to the world that ‘impossible is nothing’.
Our work was cut out for us. We set out to change what’s possible for the Down syndrome community with two key objectives in mind:
- Inspire the next generation of athletes with Down syndrome via visibility in one of the most widely participated and accessible sports: running.
- Create a social movement to generate awareness and acceptance of neurodivergent athletes from the world’s largest organized marathons and races.
Individuals with Down syndrome stand to reap significant physical and cognitive benefits from exercise, but despite this evidence, they’ve remained excluded from the fitness community. One of the biggest barriers to fitness for individuals with Down syndrome is the lack of visibility of their community in mainstream sport. Neurodivergent athletes are often placed in separate competitions due to outdated stigma and bias about their abilities. These events signal that neurodivergent athletes are incapable of participating in regular sporting events, which is far from the truth.
Chris Nikic, the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman, is a shining example of what’s possible for individuals with Down syndrome. After incorporating exercise into his routine, Chris observed strengthened memory, enhanced learning, boosted social skills, and increased confidence, all of which have life-changing impacts for individuals with Down syndrome. Chris was the perfect individual to represent adidas, so adidas made history by partnering with Chris and making him the world’s first sponsored athlete with Down syndrome. A monumental moment for neurodivergent athletes everywhere.
One of the most common symbols for inspiring the next generation of athletes is an iconic number. Like Michael Jordan’s 23, Lionel Messi’s 10, or Wayne Gretzky’s 99. Iconic numbers that represent perseverance, dedication, and the pinnacle of athletic success. They also represent a legacy, wherein sports fans can wear the number with pride and the hope of reaching the same level of achievement.
Iconic numbers symbolize the best athletes of all time. In reality, they’ve only represented athletes in mainstream sport. We set out to create the first iconic number to represent an entire community of athletes who are exceeding what society thinks they can achieve.
Introducing Runner 321, the movement wherein adidas asks the world’s largest marathons to reserve bib number 321, representing Trisomy 21 for people with Down syndrome, for a neurodivergent athlete.
We targeted the six world marathon majors—Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York—to drive global awareness of our campaign. There was only one problem, four of the six marathons are sponsored by our competition. Then the impossible happened. All six majors added Runner 321 to make running a more inclusive sport.
We launched the campaign on adidas’ and Chris’ social pages with a long-form video, formally introducing Chris Nikic as the first adidas athlete with Down syndrome and the first-ever Runner 321. The video shed light on the need for visibility of neurodivergent athletes and encouraged our target to get involved via our destination site.
Next came the activation phase: race day at the Boston Marathon. First, we handed out orange supporter t-shirts to fans attending the marathon in support of Chris and the Runner 321 movement. We then encouraged people to join us 3.21 miles from the finish line, to cheer Chris on during his home stretch.
The campaign became a global movement with runners signing up from all over the world and 252 races from three different continents reserving running Bib 321.
adidas’ Runner 321 campaign started a social movement that continues to grow. Our results include:
- Raise awareness of the true abilities of neurodivergent athletes:
○ 59 earned placements for 268M impressions including Forbes, The Boston Herald, Barstool Sports, Yahoo!, and MSN Sports
- Garner involvement from major marathons:
○ All six of the world’s largest marathons, including four that are sponsored by Nike, New Balance, and Asics, have reserved a spot for Runner 321 in their 2023 events
○ To date, 252 races have committed to adding a Runner 321
- Inspire the next generation of athletes with Down syndrome:
○ 278 athletes, and counting, have signed up to be the next Runner 321
@audrey.zink@fcb.com had to trim this one a bit too. Also good to go, if you are good with it!
cc @keeley.ohara@fcb.com
_Assigned to Audrey Zink_