🏃🏼‍♀️‍➡️Running clubs: brands' best kept secret for customer loyalty...

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Brands are obsessed with running clubs: what can we learn?

As running clubs explode in popularity, brands are leveraging these groups for sampling opportunities and sponsorships to stand out in a competitive market. Running and walking clubs have surged post-pandemic, becoming vibrant social hubs that brands are eager to tap into.

Engagement opportunities: Running clubs offer brands a unique chance to engage directly with consumers through sponsorships and events. Examples include:

• City Girls Who Walk: Partnered with Hoka and Foot Locker for product giveaways.

• Slow Girl Run Club: Collaborated with Vuori, Glowbar, and Alani energy drinks.

• Joggy: Hosted in-person running meetups across the country with JuneShine kombucha and Foxtrot.

Experiential marketing: Events provide platforms for experiential marketing, allowing brands to offer product samples and create memorable experiences. Highlights include:

• The Goods Mart & Snaxshot: Hosted a pre-marathon event with Plink! and Dirtbag.

• Goose Island: Released an exclusive beer for Chicago Marathon finishers.

• Yes! Apples: Sponsored the Endorphins Running Club, providing apples and coffee to runners.

These events create lasting impressions and foster word-of-mouth marketing.

Building loyalty and retail expansion: Brands find that engaging with running clubs builds loyalty and supports retail expansion. For example, Fulton, a footwear insoles brand, sponsors clubs like the Central Park Track Club and Spartan Sundays Run Club. This integration has led to significant purchase rates post-events and enhanced brand visibility, aiding in securing shelf space in specialty stores.

Beyond running clubs: The key takeaway is that these clubs aren’t just about running. They create community, brand loyalty, and consumer involvement. This strategy can extend beyond running and wellness. For example:

• RentClubParis: Hosts dinner parties where attendees wear rented pieces, fostering a sense of fun and community.

• Innovative ideas: Imagine brands and businesses starting their own offline communities. An edgy fashion brand could start a skating or poetry club, and a healthy food brand could form a yoga club. Dinner clubs partnering with restaurants, movie clubs, and jazz clubs are also great ideas. There’s a wealth of opportunity to create these third spaces, especially since people crave places to meet offline and feel part of a community. They’re even willing to pay for it.

These strategies offer a tangible, in-person connection that complements digital marketing efforts, catering to consumers’ craving for real-world interactions. Brands that can successfully create these third spaces will build stronger, more engaged communities and foster deeper customer loyalty.

Why your brand's logo needs sound

Marketers, it’s time to unmute your logos! A groundbreaking study by sonic branding agency amp reveals that logos with synced audio and visuals outperform those with visuals alone. With many TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube users scrolling with sound on, this finding could revolutionize your branding strategy. Key findings:

• Audiovisual advantage: Amp’s study asked 300 participants to rate 15 logos, both with and without sound. Audiovisual logos were seen as more authentic, unique, attention-grabbing, and likable. They were also considered less generic and dull.

• Motion matters: An additional 300 participants rated logos with synced motion, unsynced motion, and no motion. Synced-motion logos topped the charts, enhancing authenticity and likability.

Expert insights: Rex Hirschhorn, a consultant for amp, noted that while unsynced logos felt more relatable to some, synced motion consistently performed better across all attributes.

Top performers: The study is part of amp’s Best Audio Brands report. Mastercard led the pack, with Shell and Swiss Re following. Surprisingly, McDonald’s ranked only 81st despite its famous jingle.

Why It matters: This study highlights the power of sonic branding in capturing consumer attention. As social media evolves, integrating sound with visuals could be your brand’s secret weapon.

Read the full report here.