With the Chicago Marathon set for Oct. 10, BBDO New York’s campaign for Bank of America is focusing on a few athletes in particular. In response to the marathon happening on the rather advantageous date of “10-10-10,” 10 participants are being honored in print ads for their contributions to assorted causes around the city. All 10 will also appear on a highly-visible billboard off of the Kennedy Expressway.
Each person selected to be part of the campaign will appear in the ads as merely one runner out of 45,000. But, for example, the person pictured above is Jim Sheahan, a man recently named as the president of Special Olympics Chicago. This is why he gets to look so heroic.
Aside from the expected $10 million raised for charitable causes, Chicago is hoping to feel a beneficial $150 million impact from the marathon, a welcome amount for a city feeling such a large hit from the recession that it’s still vexed by its public transportation problem.