MICHAEL KENNEDY
PRODUCTION LEAD: FILM, SOCIAL AND WEB
AGENCY: Jellyfish
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Mike Kirwan + Adrian Thomas
PRODUCER: Cailey Gribbon
ACTIVATION PRODUCTION: Tool of NA
DIRECTOR: Ben Trickleback
PHOTOGRAPHY: Cameron Strand
FILM PRODUCTION: Hummingbird
POST PRODUCTION: Afterburner
“WE’RE JUST A GROUP OF FRIENDS RUNNING
FROM LOS ANGELES TO LAS VEGAS.”
THE SPEED PROJECT (TSP) is an underground 340 mile race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, on foot. There's no official route, no official support, and no officials telling you where to go. You navigate it yourself through desert, darkness, and the kind of extreme heat that bends the horizon as well as your mind.
With its ethos of 'No Rules, No Spectators,' it challenges conventions and pushes boundaries, making every experience limitless and unforgettable.
What started as a challenge amongst friends running from LA to Vegas has grown into a global movement that transforms and connects rebellious spirits through provocation.
DELIVERABLES
ON-THE-GROUND ACTIVATION
A Roving Post Office
& Content Studio
DOCU-STYLE FILMS + PHOTO
18x Teasers, 1x Hero Film, Interviews,
Paid Spots, and Static Library
HOKA.COM/SPEEDPROJECT
An Immersive Landing Page
On HOKA.COM
WHAT IS THE MOJAVE DESERT POSTAL SERVICE?
An extension of The Speed Project and its world-building. MDPS delivers what traditional systems can't: hope, humor, fuel, and connection across the desert. From Santa Monica to Las Vegas, we carry dispatches between supporters and runners when they need them most. Delivery isn't guaranteed. That's part of the magic. In partnership with Hoka, MDPS is your way to show up without stepping on the course. NO SPECTATORS. ONLY PARTICIPANTS.
ACTIVATION
BRINGING THE
OUTPOST TO LIFE
THE BUILD
We bought a vintage Airstream, gutted it, and rebuilt it as a mobile outpost for the Mojave Desert Postal Service. Part coffee stop, part post office, part recording booth. Runners stopped in to send a message fast, written, typed, or spoken. They paused, reset, mailed postcards, recorded their voices, and added their piece to the story of the race.
We gutted the trailer and rebuilt it into a working space for TSP participants, set up for coffee, mail, and audio capture.
Every detail was handled with restraint. The branding stayed quiet. The finish was weathered instead of glossy. The space was built to feel like it grew out of The Speed Project's culture rather than landing in it from outside.
The result was a reusable, long-term asset for HOKA and TSP: a distinctive object that worked as functional infrastructure and as part of the event's visual mythology.
The Outpost wasn't just part of the race experience. It became the hub of a larger content system.
CONTENT
HOKA launched the project through a dedicated campaign site built around a longform hero film. The film lays out the lore, ethos, and psychological reality of The Speed Project, and casts the MDPS Airstream as a central character in the 2026 race. The site also featured Voices From the Road, a six-part vignette series following HOKA runners and teams, each one digging into a different side of the race: motivation, mentality, pain, limits, sacrifice, and love.
