A running track on the ocean that drove interest in conversing and cleaning the oceans

adidas - the Floating Track

Running with purpose

Run for the Oceans is adidas' global campaign connecting running to ocean plastic clean-up. Every kilometre run contributes to clearing plastic from the world's seas. For Dubai we didn't just organise a run. We partnered with Nakheel to build a floating running track on the Palm: a wooden structure suspended on the Arabian Gulf with Atlantis rising behind it. Then we gave the ocean a voice. A fountain takeover on the Palm let the water itself speak, urging people to sign up, connecting the cause, the sport, and the city in one impossible image.

Sunset view of the Atlantis hotel and water park in Dubai with a pedestrian bridge and people walking along a riverside walkway.

Client
adidas

Market
UAE

Scope
Concept, venue build, event production, experiential activation, content, community activation

Group of people on a dock by the water, holding a banner that says 'Run for the Oceans' with the Dubai Atlantis Hotel in the background.
Group of people on a floating platform in the water, holding banners that say "Run for the Oceans" and standing in front of a large body of water.
Group of people wearing blue shirts holding a banner on a dock by the water during a cleanup event.

Bring Run for the Oceans to Dubai in a way that made the cause visceral and the participation irresistible. Not a road race with blue branding. Something that made people feel the ocean before they ran for it.

BRIEF

Build the track on the water. Partner with Nakheel to construct a floating wooden running track on the Palm, the Arabian Gulf beneath your feet, Atlantis on the horizon. Then let the ocean do the talking. A fountain voice takeover on the Palm: the water (fountain) itself as a messenger, urging Dubai to run, to care, to show up. The track wasn't a metaphor. It was the thing. Running on the ocean for the ocean. 

INSIGHTS & APPROACH

One of the most visually striking sport activations ever produced in Dubai. A floating running track that made the global Run for the Oceans cause feel specific, local, and urgent. Not in a lecture or content series, but in an experience. The kind of thing that earns media rather than buying it.

EXECUTION & IMPACT

What helped the campaign win the race.