For our latest FORUM, we brought together voices from brand, community and non-profit to discuss and (generally) agree that running is no longer just a sport. It is a culture people belong to, and community is what holds it together. Brands that treat that community as a media channel will get found out.
Panel
Joanna Lowry, Head of Strategy, Protein AGENCY (moderator)
Running is culture now. 840,318 people entered the 2024 London Marathon ballot (over 250,000 more than the year before), Strava has 120 million registered users (up 26%), and the global running footwear market is projected to reach $30 billion by 2030. Running now overlaps with fashion, music and art: the FT called marathons "the new fashion weeks", and Satisfy Running's slow, single-runner film became its best-performing content ever.
Three drivers: cost, control and community. Running is free in a cost-of-living crisis, training gives a sense of control in a "permacrisis", and run clubs offer belonging. The panel added the pandemic, younger people treating health as status, and better storytelling from the creatives who built the scene.
Community is the product. Run clubs work as a third space and an extended family: game nights, shoe-launch parties, medal Mondays, crew-branded gear. For some members the club is their only friendship group.
Global, but hyperlocal. A New York crew asked local dealers for permission to run through their turf. Crews in China run in near silence, while London and New York crews bring music and flags. A group in Australia starts its hill session at 4:40am. In Chicago, run culture is about reclaiming space and backing local businesses.
Inclusivity versus exclusivity is the live tension. £300 carbon shoes, boutique brands and performative running push towards status. Slower-runner crews, intergenerational clubs and runners qualifying for Boston without super shoes push back. The panel's view: the entry point is still open, but the barriers (winter kit, sports bras, shoes) are real.
This is not a fad. More people now see themselves as runners, and ownership of the sport is widening. That is why Dania expects it to last.
In their words
Charlie
"I call it my Access All Areas Pass. A great run club is a club that realizes it's bigger than them. And a great brand that comes into that space realizes that they're trying to create something that's bigger than them."
Dania
"I fell in love with running community first. I think the work actually happens before the activation. It's trust."
Alex
"It's the stories on the margins and the borders that capture people's imagination. It felt real… people from different walks of life all together in one place."
Asked for one word to describe running, Charlie said "beautiful", Alex "hard" and Dania "family".
Takeaways
Do the work before the activation. Chicago crews see through a brand that puts its face on a billboard but won't let runners use the bathroom. The brands that win turn up in the snow, help set up the table and build trust long before a campaign.
Protein AGENCY provides insight, foresight and strategy for global brands that's rooted in culture and the collective knowledge of SEED CLUB - our decentralised research community of 500+ global experts.
