Mastercard has had a long standing relationship with the New York City marathon. The running of 2022 Marathon was even more special than usual as it was the 50th anniversary of it being run. We wanted to do something special to celebrate such an important occasion. But what we didn’t want to do is focus on the runners. There are plenty of amazing stories, they’re already being told in a wide variety of ways. Instead, we wanted to stay true to who Mastercard was, and what they did.
So we decided to focus on the small businesses that 50,000 runners run by every race. More importantly, we wanted to focus on minority and female owned businesses. Because for half a century they’re what truly fuel New York City. And Mastercard wants them, and all small businesses to thrive for another 50 years and more. The end results were a Clio Shortlist, 25% increase in positive brand attribution as well as a spike in Mastercard usage on a retail level.