Ben Rosario, coach the Hoka One One NAZ elite team, really nailed it in an interview with Outside.http://www.outsideonline.com/2054486/northern-arizona-elite-olympic-trials
Ben Rosario, coach the Hoka One One NAZ elite team, really nailed it in an interview with Outside.http://www.outsideonline.com/2054486/northern-arizona-elite-olympic-trials
Totally great insight and completely agree. The problem is that the powers that be that control most of the marketing believe in this concept as well. They continue to say, "pro runners don't sell shoes, thus it's a waste to sponsor," etc.
You can blame Oprah and Dean Karnazes. They dealt a death blow.to professional running.
Worth having a discussion about. Men's Fitness and Women's health have "regular people" on the cover. Running Times had elites.
The question Rosario is asking, "Why aren't runners interested in the top of the sport?" misses the point. As it stands, most runners are not in fact participants in the sport. They are health or social minded people, running is just what they do to get there. And that is a separate question from "How do we get non-runners interested in the sport?
I think the best comparison is to cooking. Most people interested in cooking are only interested in making their own meals better. Some buy chef's cookbooks or watch celebrity cooking shows, but not most people who cook. There is a market for kitchen-hacks and 5-minute-prep meals, that purists say ruin the hobby, just like purists here complain about the 30mpw marathon plan.
What has cooking done to increase it's size/relevance? Accepted everyone under the same umbrella. It doesn't complain about people who tune in once a year for the British bake-off. It is content to leave Paula Dean to appeal to one demographic and Ming Tsai to another, and it perfectly okay with the home-chefs that don't care about anyone.
Get more runners to be racers is a missing step. Changing the goal for growth in the sport is the other.
What is the promotion like in LA right now?
jklw wrote:
Totally great insight and completely agree. The problem is that the powers that be that control most of the marketing believe in this concept as well. They continue to say, "pro runners don't sell shoes, thus it's a waste to sponsor," etc.
I like Ben and what NAZ Elite have been doing to promote the sport. Joined them on periscope a few days ago to hear from the athletes. I think he's absolutely right in what he said. It's cool to see their group sell the singlets they race in. It would be good to see Brooks market and sell the singlets that have their athletes' names on them. It would be no different from a player jersey for any other sports.
For shoes, say what you want about Skechers (I don't run in them) but they probably have done well for themselves naming shoes after Meb. And they are probably being sold to folks who do not consider themselves anywhere near elite. Nike should start a Rupp shoe. Saucony a True shoe. Brooks a Symmonds spike. Etc.
There was a Kennedy spike back in the day (Nike, I think). It was all the rage back in high school in the late 90s, even though it had a *very* non-standard spike pattern. So, yes, they should do what you said. They'd sell tons of them.
Clerk is correct and I for one am tired of people like Ben Rosario blaming others for the decline of interest in the competitive side of running. The running speciality business( which Ben used to co own a store) and others are promoting the sport. The competitive landscape is not what all the people doing road races are in it for. They just want to lose weight and be social. The problem lies in the boredom of the sport. Make it more interesting. Have match races ,make villians and heros. That will get people wanting to watch it . Bring back duel meets like the US vs Jamaica in sprinting. The same old boring format isn't going to cut.
jklw wrote:
Totally great insight and completely agree. The problem is that the powers that be that control most of the marketing believe in this concept as well. They continue to say, "pro runners don't sell shoes, thus it's a waste to sponsor," etc.
Ben makes some good points but is clearly disconnected from what is really going on in the second running boom and its participants.
The new new generation of runners could care less about elites and their racing. This new generation see it as a social event, raise money for a charity, get muddy and run an obstacle course, all our friends are running the marathon lets do it what a fun day it will type of approach.
Pro runners don't sell shoes they never have. They may give brand awareness, credibility but all that changes once you enter the retail store and start looking at shoes. Case in point, when have you seen a runner running yes actually running in a pair of skechers? They have done a great job with promoting Meb and Kara, but I challenge you to find one on the shoe wall at a running specialty store? I hope Ben doesn't think he has created sales for Hoka because he has not. The shoe speaks for itself and is tried and run in for its function not athlete promo. And no people where not going into stores saying I want Leo's shoe!
Promo dollars in athlete support help support the sport giving athletes an extended window of being able to compete. Brands feel good with some PR and recognition feeling a little ROI maybe. The reality though is that on Monday morning you will not a spike in sales from the brand that has the winning athlete at the marathon trials.
I think it is a bit of both. I was around the St. Louis scene when Ben and Matt first opened the Big River Running store. The scene was absolutely decimated, but their store helped to revive the local running community.
This environment took (some) people from non-competitive hobby joggers to "racers," and still others from couch potatoes to actually running 5K/10K. This is one outlet for growth that has been thoroughly utilized.
What Ben is driving at, I believe, is this: how can we move the bar even higher? How can more people become fans and participants in the sport at a higher level? He, and others, have looked at the levers pulled by other professional sports and realized this is one lever that has yet to be effectively pulled. I don't think that is the "same old boring format" at all.
At the end of the day, the guys running these pro teams are running (no pun intended) a business. What would we think if the NFL, NBA, etc. didn't do everything within their power to promote their brand and those businesses that benefited from their brand? It would be absolutely ludicrous. Will this method of marketing work long term? It's hard to say, but at least they are exploring these avenues instead of just saying, "Well, nobody cares about elite racing anyway." That seems a little defeatist to me.
I contend one of the reasons running is not as popular a sport as it could be is this website, letsrun.com.
Do you have any data that any of this is true? Or did you just assume it was true?
Whether disinterest in track is caused by what Ben attributes it to, I will say Ben has done more than his fair share to bring the sport to the masses, at least in St. Louis. The Festival of Miles is a fantastic track meet, with a more electric format that puts your atypical, stale track meet to shame. Music playing, short intervals between events, and kids lining the infield during the men's mile. He was also instrumental in bringing the US XC championships to St. Louis. Through these efforts, St. Louis fans have been able to see Dathan Ritzenhein, Matt Tagenkamp, Chris Derrick, Ben True, Ryan Vail, Luke Peskedra, Shalane Flanagan, Kim Conley, Deena Kastor, Sara Hall, Emily Infeld, Leo Manzano, Jordan McNamara, and of course Grant Fisher's sub-4:00. Attendance at these events wasn't sparse, either. Maybe if there were a few more people thinking outside the box like Ben, interest in the sport would grow.
The festival of miles is a small charity event and attracts a few hundred people to watch it each year. The XC champs also a few hundred people showed up for it and that was a freaking national championship! No TV or interest from anyone aside from the local running community. So the point is that is not the type of national attention and big time viewership we are talking about at all. We aren't even at the level of the X games for crying out loud.
Huh what wrote:
The festival of miles is a small charity event and attracts a few hundred people to watch it each year. The XC champs also a few hundred people showed up for it and that was a freaking national championship! No TV or interest from anyone aside from the local running community. So the point is that is not the type of national attention and big time viewership we are talking about at all. We aren't even at the level of the X games for crying out loud.
Never said these were huge events. They are grassroots efforts (specifically the Festival) to bring track to the casual fan, with the hope of growing interest in a sport where it is severely lacking. Why crap all over the effort?
BTW, over 2,000 people attended the FOM in 2014, and that it is a charitable effort shouldn't detract from the event. They've raised money for some very deserving people.
There's only about a million things a day to do in LA, so this isn't on any regular person's radar. And with the LA marathon the very next day, that's got the miniscule buzz that might have gone this way.
Fact is, the people I know who are running Sunday aren't going Saturday to stand around and watch for obvious reasons. I'm going Saturday because I'm not running Sunday, and I'm in the bubble of people who care about this stuff.
The ONLY promo for either of these races deals with the road closures I hear about on the news. Telling everyone to stay away.
And the bigger online buzz for Sunday deals with the unofficial bike ride that takes place on the marathon course a few hours before the runners start (thanks to the closed roads).
Top level marathoning in the US is a lot of things, but popular among the masses is not one of them.