The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
There is a reason that the 18-35 year old demographic is the most desired by advertisors - this group is still open to forming opinions about what they buy. If you hang around LRC long enough you'll find most masters runners don't spend much money on the sport. They decided on their brand preferences long ago and don't want to spend money attending or watching events.
It is funny how one typo (rave > race) can derail the whole thread. I can't stop thinking about raves. Though to be fair, 50 year olds in the PNW were more likely to be into the grunge scene than raves.
This song was a huge hit in Seattle back in the 1990s:
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
My serious answer to this is a) 50 year olds are boring and nobody should be "following" old people like me and b) we are bad consumers because we already have everything and already know what we like/want. Ads don't really work on us.
Sure, we spend a lot as (as a demographic) but we are hard to influence because we're not trying out too many new things
Also, young people don't want to be like old people (for good reason), so if I am pushing a product, there is a good chance a hip youngster would reject it for that reason alone...
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
This group doesn't follow pro running by and large. They are more likely to be influenced by an advertisement during a football game than a track meet. They may buy the gear, but they are using it to walk around the neighborhood or maybe lift weights at the gym and jog on the treadmill - they aren't thinking of high level competition.
Masters competition is pretty diluted and at all but the biggest races, easy pickings to win a masters age group or even masters money - the serious field of masters in their 40s is like a dozen guys. The rest are just doing it as a hobby and they don't care if they are in the third best shoe or the best for their hobby.
This group buys gimmicky stuff, tech, massage and recovery equipment - but they don't care whether an elite master is using it. They care if it works well enough for average Joe and above average but far from elite Jim.
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
I agree with you and with social media their influence can be wide ranging. I'm far from fast enough to be sponsored but I am locally well known and there are younger people who "aspire" to be in the shape and health I'm in at 65 when they're myage. I think more and more "older people" are using social media. If I WAS someone to be sponsored it wouldn't take much- give me some gear and a few bucks when I race and maybe some money from social media reactions. I still think the elite influence people just like in other sports.
But our sport has the added aspect of good health in old age. And as you age you realize how much more important that is than anything.
Because those 45 year olds have kids that are in high school, and they buy their kids the things the professional runners use because they want their kids to be good.
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
This group doesn't follow pro running by and large. They are more likely to be influenced by an advertisement during a football game than a track meet. They may buy the gear, but they are using it to walk around the neighborhood or maybe lift weights at the gym and jog on the treadmill - they aren't thinking of high level competition.
Masters competition is pretty diluted and at all but the biggest races, easy pickings to win a masters age group or even masters money - the serious field of masters in their 40s is like a dozen guys. The rest are just doing it as a hobby and they don't care if they are in the third best shoe or the best for their hobby.
This group buys gimmicky stuff, tech, massage and recovery equipment - but they don't care whether an elite master is using it. They care if it works well enough for average Joe and above average but far from elite Jim.
Elite master is an oxymoron. They’re really slow and not marketable.
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
The largest demographics in every major rave is over 40 years old, married with 2 kids. This is also the same group that is spending the most amount of money on shoes and gear.
None of these people relate to a 13 minute 25 year olds. Very few spend time on social media.
Sponsorships are based on performance and social media presence. Why?
My serious answer to this is a) 50 year olds are boring and nobody should be "following" old people like me and b) we are bad consumers because we already have everything and already know what we like/want. Ads don't really work on us.
Sure, we spend a lot as (as a demographic) but we are hard to influence because we're not trying out too many new things
Also, young people don't want to be like old people (for good reason), so if I am pushing a product, there is a good chance a hip youngster would reject it for that reason alone...
Surely this is the main reason, and it also works in reverse. The over-40 crew don't want to be reminded that they are getting old by having things pitched to them by other older people. Although advertising probably doesn't work as well on older people, it still works to some degree to suggest (subliminally) that buying stuff pitched by a fit 25-year-old will make them young again.
There is a reason that the 18-35 year old demographic is the most desired by advertisors - this group is still open to forming opinions about what they buy. If you hang around LRC long enough you'll find most masters runners don't spend much money on the sport. They decided on their brand preferences long ago and don't want to spend money attending or watching events.
I'm well over fifty and I have to disagree to some extent. When Hoka hit the market several guys I knew who were about my age switched to them because they thought Hokas felt better and reduced their chances of injuries.Sure, after decades of running we've got ideas about what we like and don't but are open to finding something better. And you're talking about the demographic with the most disposable income, the group that happily pays $200 plus to enter a major marathon, several hundred more flying to those major marathons and several hundreds beyond that for hotel rooms and meals at those major marathons.
The thing about age group runners is that they do not generally get much recognition outside of master's running, don't have much presence on social media, aren't asked to talk at pre race clinics, don't hang around after races signing autographs. These are the kinds of things that get shoe companies to sponsor you and it's usually younger runners who do these sorts of things.
I think cycling and tris are good example of the 40+ age demographic spending big money to get the latest gear/tech. Just like in cycling, a 40+ runner/rider is going to want the shoes more if the top pro's are wearing it and it promises to be fast and look/feel fast.