Sportswear Brand Distance Challenges Customers to Rob Its Store and Outrun Sprinter Mickael Zeze

With the Rob It To Get It campaign, sportswear brand Distance invites its customers to a very unique challenge: if you can steal one item from Distance's Parisian running store and avoid getting caught by elite sprinter Mickael Zeze - working the door for one day - you can keep it.

Long waiting lines, fights between customers, items that sell out only to resurface on reselling platforms... These last few years, sportswear has turned into a fashion craze that almost overshadows its original purpose: sports.

That's the reason why running store Distance and ad agency BETC Paris worked together to put back sports into sportswear and came up with the 'Rob It To Get It' operation that took place on the 13th of September in Paris. 

How does it work?

During one day, Distance wanted to celebrate real runners and it made a selection of its most-coveted items only available to them. The catch: they had to run very fast to get them.

How fast?

Faster than the security guard hired for this special day, Meba-Mickael Zeze, one of the best French 100m runners. M. Zeze is a member of the French track team and runs the 100 meter dash under 10 seconds. 

How did it go?

Many runners tried to rob the store but only a few of them actually managed to complete their heist. The final tally: 74 runners ended up being caught by Zeze and only two of them were fast enough.

With this operation produced by Soldats and directed by Victor Sellier, the brand expresses its values of fostering sports activities within its community. Distance might have found the ultimate trick to guarantee that sportswear items are only worn only by true running enthusiasts.

Guillaume Pontier, founder of Distance, adds, "Distance is a concept running store inspired by art, fashion and design. But our priority, as runners advocates, has always been to share tips and provide the best gear to athletes looking to improve their performance. It was an honor to invite our community to test their own pace against one of the world's fastest runners. We are also glad that Zeze was fast enough to prevent the operation turning into a financial nightmare. Thank you."

To extend the operation and bring sports to the masses, Distance will organise a special event on the 18th of October where all the items that were not stolen during the operation will be put back onto the shelves at a discount.

When: Wednesday October 18th at 6pm

Where: 14 rue des Filles du Calvaire 75003 Paris