Failing at the Finish

Creative idea

To make an invisible education crisis impossible to ignore, we turned Latvia’s biggest marathon into a live metaphor for school failure. With 1 in 5 students never reaching graduation, we partnered with rapper Fiņķis, who spent a month documenting his preparation for his first marathon and winning public support for his journey. Then, on race day, just meters before the finish line, he stopped. In front of 40,000 runners, national media and thousands online, he refused to cross the line and revealed a message: “School is a marathon that every fifth child doesn’t finish.” His personal failure made a national problem impossible to overlook.

Brand name: Mission Possible
Advertiser / client: Mission Possible
Product / service: Teacher recruitment
Campaign name: Failing at the Finish
Agency network: McCann
Agency: McCANN Riga
Media agency: Mindshare
Web address: https://www.iespejamamisija.lv/izglabt-stem/
Agency chief executive officer: Kristaps Silins
Chief creative officer: Valters Jonats
Creative director: Sintija Popena
Art director: Linda Justa
Copywriter: Sintija Popena
Designer: Edgars Drusts
Account director (agency): Ragnars Krumins
Client account director: Ulrika Malina
Media director: Vita Stirane
Managing director: Madara Gore Berzina
Strategic planner / strategist: Oskars Toms Lībers
Photographer: Andris Barbans
Film production: Colortime
Director: Sintija Popena
Director of photography: Janis Dunkurs
Music: Audilla
Post production: Colortime
Digital strategist: Rihards Zeilis
Digital creative: Sintija Popena