adidas Manchester Marathon
Taking Manchester Marathon From Start Line to Headlines
adidas Manchester Marathon is one of Europe’s largest and most iconic running events, welcoming tens of thousands of participants and supporters to the city each year.
Organised by A.S.O. UK, the marathon has built a reputation for its electric atmosphere, elite competition and inspiring human stories, firmly establishing itself as one of the UK’s leading marathon events outside of London.
The solution
Press office
Media interviews
Press accreditation
Proactive/Reactive commentary
News announcements
The Challenge
adidas Manchester Marathon wanted to amplify awareness of the 2026 event across national, regional and sports media, while continuing to establish itself as one of Europe’s leading marathons and building momentum for future editions. The challenge was delivering a fast-paced, live press office operation capable of driving impactful coverage before, during and after event day.
The Extraordinary Thinking
We recognised that the adidas Manchester Marathon is more than just a sporting event – it’s a collection of extraordinary human stories. By putting inspiring participants, celebrities and key spokespeople at the centre of the campaign, we created emotionally-driven narratives that travelled far beyond the route itself.
From world-record attempts to participants overcoming incredible personal challenges, our storytelling approach transformed event day moments into national headlines, helping position the event as one of the UK’s most culturally significant marathons.
The Solution
- Proactive press office management from campaign launch through to event day
- Media strategy targeting national, regional, broadcast and sports press
- Human-interest storytelling centred around inspiring participant case studies
- Talent and spokesperson management, coordinating interviews and media moments
- Live event PR operation supporting broadcasters, journalists and content capture in real time
Delivered
Jam delivered a fully integrated press office operation from start to finish, managing media accreditation, live interview coordination, spokesperson briefings and real-time journalist support across the event weekend.
Working alongside broadcasters including the BBC and ITV Granada, we secured and managed 21 interviews with elite athletes, celebrities and standout participants, while capturing content throughout the day to extend campaign reach across owned and social channels long after the finish line.
