Inside Saucony's 'Marathumb' 2x Grand Clio Sports Winner

Encouraging healthy lifestyles

Did you know that our thumbs scroll the distance of three marathons a year on our smart phones? This was a key insight Saucony uncovered in research for Saucony’s “The Marathumb Challenge.” The work won a slew of Clio Sports Awards at last night’s ceremony in NYC, including two Grand trophies.

The campaign gamifies the notion of replacing the scroll with a run. To that end, the sportswear brand developed the first app that measures and compares scrolling distance to IRL activity.

Launching in seven countries, the app allowed users to track their progress and share challenges with others via social. If the app recorded consumers moving their feet more than watching their screens, they were driven to the Saucony’s site for rewards—shoes and swag—to encourage healthy lifestyles.

Muse spoke with Justin Bilicki, EVP and executive creative director at Doner, which guided the project, on setting the project in motion.

Muse: What inspired the work?

Justin Bilicki: We spend over 3 hours and 45 minutes on our phones each day, and that number has steadily increased year-over-year. All of that screen time means we’re moving less, and mindlessly scrolling more. In fact, we’re scrolling the distance of over three marathons a year. Saucony felt the need to address this troubling change in the marketplace head on. Reframing a troubling stat as an opponent for consumers to outrun was one way to do exactly that. Ultimately, “The Marathumb Challenge” makes running as addictive as scrolling, replacing the dopamine rush of a social feed with the dopamine release of actual exercise.

What was the most challenging aspect?

Creating an app with first-of-its-kind technology—and convincing phone makers to let us track unusual user data was every bit as challenging as we imagined it might be. But it was all worth it when the challenge was over and we calculated that in just six weeks, our audience had logged 739,431 miles on the app. The distance to the moon and back, twice.

What was most rewarding?

Helping to contextualize screen time for our audience, and ourselves! It’s hard to grasp just how much mindless content we’re really taking in when it appears at the bottoms of our phones and disappears at the top.

Who else worked on The Marathumb Challenge to get it off the ground?

Doner was the creative and strategic lead for “The Marathumb Challenge,” and we partnered with other DPN (Doner Partners Network) agencies for assistance. These include Harris X for research and KWT for PR and influencer engagement. Huncwot & Airauts helped us developed the app, and Wolfgang Productions, Native Four Productions and Frame 48 helped produce an asset library to launch the campaign.