Shake Shack × NYC Marathon: A Finish Line Photo Booth Worth Stopping For

In September, Joe Kaufman, Regional Marketing Manager at Shake Shack, reached out with a simple brief:

"We're going to be creating a celebratory environment for NYC Marathon finishers to come get a free ShackBurger. We'd love to create a photobooth so people could send themselves the photos."

The constraints were less simple. One four-hour window on November 2, 2025, from 12 to 4 PM. An outdoor plaza. Guests who had just finished a marathon and wouldn't wait around for anything that felt like a chore.

The booth had to be fast, feel like part of the celebration, and look unmistakably like Shake Shack.

We set up a FutureFoto open-air photo booth outside the Shake Shack at 1700 Broadway, in front of a custom Shake Shack × TCS New York City Marathon backdrop.

Finishers stepped up with their medals, took their photo, and walked away with an instant print plus a digital copy by email or text. Horizontal frames handled groups. Vertical frames handled solo portraits.

Getting the branding right took six weeks and six rounds of revisions with Shake Shack's design team. When an early preview showed the logo getting lost in the repeat-pattern background, Shake Shack's designer Byron Chow flagged it, and our team had it fixed within hours.

The logistics were planned just as tightly: power for a 1,200W peak load, Wi-Fi for instant delivery, a 10x10 tent on standby in case of rain, and booth placement chosen for signal strength. When we raised the trip hazard of an extension cord running across the plaza, Shake Shack found outdoor outlets instead.

It fit the moment.

Finishers weren't asked to stop for a brand. They were already stopping for a burger, and the photo turned that stop into a keepsake of the day they ran New York.

Guests chose the branding.

Shake Shack's design team spotted one couple deliberately framing the Shake Shack logo in their photo. Guests weren't tolerating the brand. They were choosing how to show it off.

The frames matched how people posed.

"Love how people used the horizontal frames for groups + vertical frames for portrait shots."
— Byron Chow, Shake Shack

Nothing was left to event day.

Six weeks of planning for four hours on site meant no surprises. Wi-Fi details arrived 24 hours ahead, delivery instructions were specific, and every booth preview was signed off before going live.

In four hours on the plaza, the activation delivered:

• 259 marathon finishers photographed
• 150 sessions, many of them group photos
• 149 instant prints handed out
• 181 shares across social media, with no paid promotion
• 50,508 impressions and 15,535 total reach

Pinterest was the top sharing channel, followed by email, Instagram, text and Facebook. Participants were 43% women and 57% men, mostly aged 25 to 48 and based in NYC.

"The attention to detail and professionalism of their entire team was exceptional. From the initial design conversations with Byron to the day-of execution with Edwin, every interaction showed that this team cares about getting it right. Our guests loved it. Our team loved working with them. This is exactly what partnership should look like."
— Joe Kaufman, Regional Marketing Manager, Shake Shack