Asics in collaboration with Vitro, San Diego, will debut the first part of its '12 national ad campaign today in advance of Sunday’s ING N.Y. Marathon. The theme of the campaign is “Stop at Never,” and Asics America Dir of Marketing Communications Shannon Scott called it a nod to the “fact that Asics is striving to be at the forefront of everything it does." The campaign features photographs of real runners in marathons from around the world and has already begun to pop up in N.Y. The Asics Marathon Experience also debuts today in N.Y., and Scott notes, "There will also be digital signage in Times Square running custom marathon messaging." Asics, an official sponsor of the race, created the "Support Your Marathoner" program that allows friends and loved ones "to create inspirational messages for their marathoner." Scott said, "They can submit videos, pictures or texts that will appear on three possible screens on the race course." A new aspect created this year is a Facebook app that runners can sign up for prior to the race that will enable three programmed messages to be automatically posted to their Facebook and Twitter posts when they cross miles 9, 13 and 22. Scott says, "Our goal is to inspire athletes of all levels to pursue their goals and dreams.”
