Written by Peter Brooker in News on the 7th March 2016

For 60 years, iconic Italian brand Diadora has been partnering with top athletes, and contributing to some of the most exciting moments in sports history. Last month they just completed one of their most audacious sporting campaigns to date. The idea of the campaign was to make an everyday occurrence - delivering a pair of shoes - into something epic. For one of their customers, Diadora did something different by delivering their shoes by foot in a relay run that spanned 1500 km across the picturesque landscapes of Southern Europe. It sounds like an errand I'd send my tea boy on to save money on stamps.

What I love about this campaign is how one customer unknowingly started the relay run by ordering the shoes, a pair of Diadora Italian made N9000. And what a story they have when someone asks them about their new shoes. Those shoes now have a more interesting back story than the watch Christopher Walken hands Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction.

“At Diadora, we have a slogan: 'make it bright'. This reflects everything we do and everything we stand for. We think this act of joy, letting all these people do what they love to make a special delivery for one lucky customer, was a unique chance to prove it. We hope people had fun taking part in this event, and that it will inspire to enjoy sports and the outdoors.” – Romina Zanchetta, Head of Communication.

Runners from 10 different countries passed on a shoebox from the manufacturing headquarters in Milan, all the way to the final destination in Barcelona. The campaign was a huge success, though unfortunately the customer ordered the wrong size and the runners had to double back (only joking). The campaign was also interactive as people were able to take part in the fun at makeitbright.diadora.com and keep track of the package as the run progressed through Europe, one day at a time. The interactive feature meant that spectators got to see the plight of the individual runners with live updates, social media conversations and daily live broadcasts.

Interesting Facts: 1482 km is the total distance covered by runners from 10 different countries. The runners' ages ranged from 19 to 56 years old and one guy flew on an airplane for the first time in his life to participate in the relay - 1 dog and 4 couples were also involved.

With quotes from Romina Zanchetta we look at the Diadora Make it Bright campaign which saw a pair of Diadora Trainers Delivered Across 10 Countries by Hand.