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For years, Pocari Sweat has been there at the start and finish line, hydrating runners chasing their personal best. But in 2025, we decided to test ourselves in a different way. Not by running a marathon. By putting a new event on Dubai’s running calendar . 

Introducing THE RUN 2025 DUBAI, BY POCARI SWEAT. Our target was clear - 3,000 registrations across 5 km, 10 km and 21 km distances.

Earning alarm time

Dubai’s fitness culture is growing fast. But signing up for a marathon isn’t a casual decision. It’s a commitment.

It means weeks of training. 5 am alarms. A promise you make to yourself long before race day. Our challenge wasn’t awareness. It was motivation - strong enough to beat the snooze buttons.

Runner-speak

Runners train alone. But participate as a community. They don’t sign up for an event because brands tell them to. They do so because other runners inspire them to. Motivation travels faster inside communities than it does through advertising.

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We started inside the running community itself. We partnered with eight running influencers, reaching a combined audience of 7,000 followers across the region.Instead of just announcing a race, we let runners hear about it from people already living the lifestyle. 

Eyeballs and footfall 

Our GCC-wide social media campaign was just support for the heavy lifting we were doing through running influencers. The gamble paid off: Our event earned • 36,720,514 impressions • 1,454,348 video views • 68,672 website visits. Instagram led with 7,115,196 impressions, followed by TikTok with 5,734,199 impressions.

Our goal of 3,000 registrations? We had crossed it before race day. 3,000+ runners signed up - a critical number we needed to put our event on the city’s Marathon calendar. 

The learning 

Want a great VO to launch your campaign? Tap voices from within the community. They hit harder. 

Homes, hangouts, happy times. For 40 years, Oronamin C has been a part of social moments. You pop open some Oronamin C, you lift the mood. For our big anniversay, we wanted to take this one step further. Could Oronamic C lift the mood even before you opened a bottle?

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Here’s how we did it. In a special activation across three cities, we installed interactive vending machines with one requirement. No coins, no cards, no payment. Just your biggest, broadest  smile. Flash it at our machine, out comes your bottled moodlift. 

The reaction to our activation was instant. Thousands lined up to test their happiest grin. Some walked away with surprise rewards. Some with pics and video clips. But everyone left with the same thing - a better mood and Oronamin C in their hands.

Watch Alok Gadkar talk about his creative journey here