CLIF at London Marathon 2026

At the 2026 London Marathon Running Show, Primatix worked with SPORTFIVE and CLIF Bar (Mondelez) to put runners onto their own "Official Energy Bar" pack, a personalised digital keepsake marking their road to the finish line.

Client: CLIF Bar (Mondelez) / SPORTFIVE
Location: ExCeL London, United Kingdom
Event: London Marathon Running Show 2026
Date: April 2026

The challenge: representing every runner

The London Marathon is one of the most inclusive sporting events in the world, and CLIF held us to that standard. The AI had to represent every runner accurately and respectfully, without defaulting to algorithmic averages.

That set four firm requirements:

• Reflect varied skin tones, body types and visible disabilities, including prosthetics and wheelchairs.
• Depict modest clothing options so the experience welcomed runners of every religious and cultural background.
• Use generic but recognisable marathon environments to stay within strict London landmark IP rules.
• Build a custom pack in CLIF's Crunchy Peanut Butter colourway, with vertical logos and brand-matched assets.

The solution: a bespoke, identity-first pack

Primatix built a custom AI workflow that put subject fidelity ahead of generic stylisation. Rather than replacing a runner's features, our "Refined Identity" model was tuned to enhance them and place the real person inside the CLIF world.

We wrote modesty-first clothing prompts and tuned the models to recognise and keep unique features such as birthmarks, prosthetics and diverse physical abilities. To match CLIF's "Feed Your Adventure" ethos, we generated varied outdoor backgrounds of greenery and London marathon-inspired trails, so no two packs looked alike. More of that output sits in our AI photo booth gallery. Adjustable kiosk heads let the crew frame runners in wheelchairs or of any height properly, and built-in gesture moderation flagged inappropriate poses to keep the output family-friendly.

The results

Despite a compressed lead time and serious legal and safeguarding hurdles, the activation became a standout of the Expo. Moving from head-shots to waist-up captures meant the AI kept runners' actual clothing and gear, so religious and cultural garments were preserved in every output. The pack-shot format drove thousands of digital shares under #FueledByClifBar, tagging @clifeurope. All data was handled under Mondelez-approved GDPR and safeguarding protocols with a 30-day auto-deletion policy, and the dual-kiosk setup held an average processing time of under 60 seconds per runner.

Why it worked

By getting skin tone and physical features right, we made runners feel seen by the technology rather than replaced by it. Constant iteration with the SPORTFIVE and CLIF legal teams got every guideline right, from the brand font to the exact Peanut Butter pack colour. And while the AI processed each image, the "Official Energy Bar" messaging kept users engaged and reinforced the brand.

Primatix has run similar activations for other sports brands, including Aston Martin x Puma's Paddock Pass and Lenovo's FIFA trading cards. For anyone planning something around the race itself, our guide to London Marathon brand activations covers what works on the expo floor and along the course.

The CLIF Bar London Marathon activation showed that inclusive AI can be both deeply personal and genuinely welcoming. By putting each runner's real identity at the centre of the creative, Primatix kept a high-tech experience honest.

"The client is aligned on the concept - they absolutely love the idea. It is super engaging, user-friendly, and inclusive. Capturing our community authentically is critical for our brand values."