Tokyo Zoom 2.0: Hakone Ekiden

The speed of Japan is possibly the sports worlds largest secret. They lead the world in sub 3 hour marathon finishers, more sub-2:10 marathon finishers than the US in 2018 and Hakone Ekiden is one of the most popular running events, most watched in the world. Our goal was the not only bring this to the forefront of pop culture in Japan but also to the world.

We launched Tokyo Zoom through 2 major sporting events; First, the Marathon Grand Championships (the final qualifier for the 2020 Olympics) and Second the 2019 Hakone Ekiden.

Hakone Ekiden is Japan’s equivalent to the Super Bowl and the most watched running event in the world.

For Phase 2.0 we captured 4 time winner, Meijo University Women’s Running Team and the Tokai University Male Running Team.

In 2019 this was the first year that the female Ekiden race was to be televised across Japan. Meijo University was the lead our campaign launch, making this the first time in history that a female running team was featured as the hero of this male dominated event. Meijo university won the 2019 Ekiden race with a devastating result.