NYC Marathon Guerrilla Campaign - Open Igloo

To help Openigloo–- a challenger platform for verified apartment listings and landlord reviews–- break into one of New York City’s most iconic cultural moments, I developed a guerrilla activation during the 2025 New York City Marathon.

The insight was simple: every year, the signs held by everyday spectators become some of the marathon’s most memorable and shared images on social and in the press. We used that behavior as the distribution engine.

Four teams of NYC renters positioned across key cheer zones held humorous, painfully-relatable handmade signs connecting the marathon to the universal struggle of renting in the city. To reinforce the message, we layered on wildposters along the race route highlighting the number of rent-stabilized apartments nearby, plus analog QR flyers placed around high-foot-traffic corners: lean, local, and intentionally lo-fi.

The takeover felt organic (not advertising) and spread quickly. Spectators began posting the signs in real time, generating hundreds of UGC posts across Instagram and TikTok. Major local culture accounts including Time Out NY, Overheard in NY, and What Is New York? amplified the campaign further, leading to millions of earned impressions within 48 hours, followed by coverage in the ad trades. The QR codes and phone number drove hundreds of map visits from renters actively seeking apartments.

The activation occurred just two days before the NYC mayoral election, when housing affordability was the city’s top voter concern—making the conversation timely, relevant, and culturally resonant.