The Key to Building More Durable Brand Relationships

This post was created in partnership with Strava

Professional sports offer brands compelling moments to reach audiences, but these are often one-off opportunities, like a championship game or an all-star weekend. How can brands move beyond such fleeting events to create authentic, lasting engagement?

During an ADWEEK House Sports Summit panel co-hosted with Strava, industry leaders sat down with Bill Bradley, deputy TV, media, and sports editor at ADWEEK, to discuss how brands should position themselves within the daily fitness routines of everyday people.

Brands as part of a ritual

Jen Starr, director of North America at Strava for Business, opened the discussion by explaining that Strava’s goal is to help brands find ways to be part of a consumer’s daily fitness ritual organically.

“Instead of looking at it as a one-time campaign-based activation or impression-based activation, we look for an opportunity to consistently motivate their audience and to reward them for their effort,” Starr said.

As an example, she cited a recent collaboration with Starbucks that challenged Strava users to walk or run for 22 minutes a day for 10 days or more. Those who did were entered to win a limited-edition Starbucks weighted vest.

Jared Shulman, SVP, head of strategy at CAA Brand Consulting, noted that brands have to target the exercise moment as well as the routines before and after.

“It’s not just about running. “It’s how you get ready to run. It’s how you recover from running,” Shulman pointed out. “Look at Therabody—they are at run clubs and at fitness spaces because of the recovery. It’s this whole kind of ecosystem surrounding it that comes back to the routine and the rituals.”

The power of social fitness

Starr talked about the importance of run clubs within Strava’s ecosystem, which have become so popular that celebrities such as DJ and record producer Diplo have started their own and host events that are open to the public.

Their unique intersection of social connection and fitness, Starr noted, allows brands to show up to a targeted audience. One example she gave was a beauty brand that wanted a club to try a new line of SPF products by routing the runners to the store.

“There is opportunity for an authentic way in for so many brands who are really deeply understanding their audience and their customer and showing up where they are, which is at our run club,” Starr explained.

How storytelling goes beyond a moment

Baker Machado, host, producer, and moderator at Front Office Sports, shared how brands that partner with athletes and celebrities can outlast a moment by telling a story.

Machado mentioned NFL quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s partnership with LinkedIn as a “perfect example.” Throughout his NCAA championship season at Indiana University, Mendoza built a presence on the social networking platform that culminated on the night of the NFL Draft.

“In that period when he gets drafted by the Raiders at No. 1, he’s this LinkedIn spokesperson, and we’re all waiting for him to update his LinkedIn status to being selected as the No. 1 pick,” Machado said.

However, Machado cautioned that the story being told must be authentic, as Mendoza was with LinkedIn. “If the person who’s trying to sell me this product doesn’t love the product, I’m not going to love the product,” he concluded.