Brands like Asics, Fleet Feet and more are hosting or activating at pre-marathon running events, viewing them as an ideal way to build relationships with customers amid the rise of run club culture
Among New Yorkers, the first Sunday in November is synonymous with Marathon Day.
While the day of the race is an all-city celebration, the week leading up to the New York City Marathon has become a multi-day celebration in its own right. Brands, run clubs and running specialty stores are hosting numerous events throughout the city, the most popular being “shakeout runs.”
A shakeout run is typically a short (about three-mile) run in the days leading up to a marathon. It’s common for run clubs to host their own shakeouts, but clubs are increasingly partnering with brands for the events, while stores and brands themselves are putting on their own runs.
“These major marathon moments bring people from all over the world, which is super exciting,” said Asics marketing manager Frank Locascio, who attended a shakeout run hosted by Fleet Feet, a running specialty store. “It’s always great to partner with the local store because they’re the ones doing this week in and week out. It’s sort of a celebration moment, especially in New York.”
The free event, hosted on Wednesday evening at Fleet Feet’s Columbus Circle location, drew 250 participants — and was one of the store’s 10 marathon-week events, seven of which are shakeout runs.
“We want to be the pulse for everyone, at least part of their marathon week. We want to contribute and enhance it for them,” Fleet Feet Operating Partner, David Gettis, told Athletech News. “We want them to have a place to go where they’re going to recognize other people year after year, congregate and hang out together.”
The Unique Energy of Shakeout Runs
Gettis said that there is something electric that happens to the city during marathon week, an energy that sustains itself until the day after the marathon (known as Medal Monday).
“I feel like the New York City Marathon really brings out the running community in the city like no other way,” said runner Tommy Chou, who is not racing on Sunday, but wanted to come to the shakeout run anyway. “Like they say, it’s the biggest block party of the year.”
Asics tech rep Lyn Robinson emphasized the important cultural role shakeout runs and run clubs as a whole have in the New York City community, especially the closer the marathon draws.
“Run clubs, I’ve noticed, have filled in that need for a third space for people,” he told ATN.
“(Shakeout runs) give the ability for a niche community to have a go-to moment, right?” Robinson added. “If you were a part of the running community, you know it’s New York Marathon season. Something is happening every night.”
Robinson said that with so many shakeout runs happening all week long, it gives everyone a chance to be a part of the running community, even if they don’t already belong to a run club or if they aren’t from NYC.
Patty Monge is planning to attend several shakeout runs in the week leading up to her first NYC Marathon, drawn to the inclusive and diverse community that comes to these events. She came to the city on her own from California, and wanted to feel a part of the local running scene while on the East Coast.
“I like seeing the representation of shapes, sizes, the age, challenges, body challenges that people have, and we’re all here,” she told ATN.
A Long-Term Play: Forging Brand-Runner Relationships
In the overflowing store, brands had set up tables throughout for runners to demo products, including Asics shoes, Balega socks and Shokz open-ear bone-conducting headphones.
Robinson said for brands like Asics — which often hosts numerous other shakeout runs for all major marathons, last year partnering with Bandit — these events present an opportunity for runners to not only connect with the people behind the brand, but to also try the products firsthand.
“We have demo shoes that people can come in, take out on a test run, similar to test driving a car,” Locascio added. “It’s a good way for people to experience what the brand has to offer from a product perspective. And then our goal is that in the coming days or weeks, they come back in-store and make their purchases.”
While Robinson and Locascio said that the shakeout runs, especially after runners get the chance to run in the shoes, usually bring an uptick in sales, the goal is more about building customer loyalty and relationships.
“The major marathon moments are more about the community and bringing people together,” Locascio explained.
“There’s inevitably still a spike in sales, but I would still view the ROI more long-term in terms of a lot of these people,” Gettis said of Fleet Feet.
“They had a great time at a community run, and the next time they need something running-gear related, they think back to the store that they were at for the event and they return,” he continued. “It’s sort of a positive residual effect thereafter where that business keeps compounding.”
Gettis said that even with the large volume of events happening throughout the city, he doesn’t perceive those other shakeout runs as competition as the sport of running grows exponentially.
“There are enough events to go around for everyone and still have great turnouts,” he said. “It’s just different offerings for runners. And we still have our event sold out, and they’ll still have a huge turnout, too.”
