Most runners see heart rate training as for elite athletes only.

Our challenge was to demonstrate that the TomTom Runner Cardio makes heart rate training accessible for everyone.

To do this we needed to get Hello magazine as excited about heart rate training as Runner’s World.

Our idea was to invite mainstream media to a press event, but get their hearts racing long before the event had even started.

While journalists thought they were simply on route to the venue, they were actually part of an immersive experience designed to get them to test the Runner Cardio in action, without them even knowing it.

Journalists were bundled into taxis, diverted underground, chased by protestors, guided by Nordic walkers, challenged to a bowl-off, made to navigate pitch-black corridors filled with horror scenes, before ending up in a spin class led by Olympian Victoria Pendleton.

This was repeated 11 times, with 70 journalists, over 2 hours, involving 40 actors, 22 cars, 7 venues and 5 Heart Rate Training Zones.

Journalists could see how their own heart rates were affected via the Runner Cardio they had been wearing the entire time.

For the first time, heart rate training was written about in mainstream media, communicating how the Runner Cardio makes heart rate training accessible for everyone. PR activity alone drove pre-orders to a record high and demand outstripped supply in just two weeks.

The event started just like any other.

Journalists were met by an overly enthusiastic (and entirely fake) PR exec, who gave them each a Runner Cardio and put them into taxis.

Then, the unexpected.

Journalists were diverted underground into an “Occupy Bloomsbury” encampment. Chased up six flights of stairs to escape, they encountered Nordic walkers who power walked them to a bowling alley. After a quick bowling contest, they were hurried to a nearby transport office. Having navigated pitch-black corridors filled with horror scenes, a mad scientist led them into a spin class where their instructor was revealed as Olympic champion, Victoria Pendleton.

Journalist were able to see how their heart rates had been affected, before entering the “official” press event.

This was repeated 11 times, with 70 journalists, over 2 hours, involving 40 actors, 22 cars, 7 venues and 5 Heart Rate Training Zones.

Articles about heart rate training appeared in mainstream media for the first time.

All articles communicated how the Runner Cardio makes heart rate training accessible for everyone.

Based entirely on the impact of the PR launch, TomTom saw its highest number of pre-orders ever, up 220% on previous product launches. Demand for the Runner Cardio outstripped supply within two weeks of launch.

And we managed to get Hello magazine as excited about the Runner Cardio as Runner’s World. Hello magazine said, “LOVE the watch. Never going to take it off” and Runner’s World “can’t wait to take it out for a run.”