Adidas harvested the energy from the footsteps of the 25,000+ people entering and exiting the Santiago de Chile international marathon. This energy was stored in a battery and used to project motivational messages that were displayed to the runners in the 39th kilometer of the race. The messages were synchronized with the unique chip numbers of every runner, allowing friends and family to personalize messages of encouragement. Created by Iris in collaboration with Pavegen, the installation generated enough energy to display messages for six hours – allowing Adidas to give every marathon runner a ‘boost’ in their final strides. The installation is a creative vehicle inspired by the technology of Adidas’ latest flagship running shoe, energy Boost™. Made of a unique material that is significantly more effective at absorbing and returning energy than traditional EVA materials, Boost™ claims to make runners more efficient.
