Dubai Marathon

SITUATION
Dubai Holding is one of the founding sponsors of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.  This long-standing partnership forms part of its Wellness Programme, an initiative launched in 2007 to encourage health and wellbeing among employees, their families and the wider community in a variety of forms. Since 2008, Dubai Holding has fielded the largest corporate team in the Marathon and in 2011 introduced the UAE National Prize category to recognise sporting accomplishments and raise awareness of a healthier lifestyle amongst the Emirati community. In 2019, Dubai Holding partnered with ASDA’A BCW to create a dedicated campaign to continue championing UAE national participation and boost numbers.

SOLUTION
Together with the Dubai Holding in-house team, ASDA’A BCW developed an integrated campaign that won the hearts of the nation and fostered a sense of pride amongst the Emirati youth and wider community. Under the platform ‘MyCity_MyRace, it called upon Emiratis of all ages and fitness levels to take part with pride in the city’s signature sporting event along with the country’s professional athletes and elite runners. The campaign comprised targeted media outreach as well as direct engagement with key stakeholders such as government entities and running clubs to encourage their Emirati employees and members to get involved and help spread the word. We also partnered with Emirati influencers to create emotive and engaging video content that showcased their marathon journey on social platforms and invited their followers to join them in solidarity.  Lastly, we leveraged Dubai Holding’s strong relationship with the Dubai Sports Council to secure their full endorsement of the campaign.

SUCCESS
The campaign was a resounding success resulting in a 30% increase in Emirati participation compared to the previous year. It generated 421 pieces of media coverage with a total AVE of $ 1,367,075, reaching more than 500m people.