The New York City Marathon is the ultimate display of a city coming together—a feel-good moment in every sense.

After a challenging year in the midst of COVID-19, we harnessed the power, triumph, and resiliency of New York City to create a series of content pieces highlighting small businesses that embody the same grit and determination as marathon runners.

With the milestone 50th running of the NYC Marathon, the timing was perfect to showcase the collective spirit that both the city and the event are built on. We collaborated with the unofficial mayor of New York, Nick Heller (aka New York Nico), to produce three spots featuring small businesses along the marathon route, showing that running a small business is just like running a marathon.

Our hero piece featuring Bronx Native ran in broadcast during the race, and all three were shared in the lead-up to the marathon across Mastercard’s native social channels, the businesses themselves, and by @NewYorkNico, reaching an authentic New York audience.