Patter - 05 - The simmering of slower running
Slower running and the opportunities that exist for brands as consumers reject 'alienating' high-performance
There’s been a simmering of slow running for some time now: with new crews, new motivations and soon…new products cropping up.
I was recently working on customer segmentation for a running brand; the concept of cohort-ing by motivation came about. It landed me down a rabbit hole of self-proclaimed slow runners, their crews and their representation in today’s running culture.
See below: some artefacts of today’s slow running movement, which is somewhat a rebranding of easy pace.
2 - Windthrow Store - Seattle running workshop
4 - Slowpokes Toronto Run Club
5 - Beinghunted’s Moderately Fast Walking Club Merch
Slow running isn’t new, it’s been a long-time movement, most recently popularised by the likes of Slow AF running, profiled here in the NY Times earlier this year. However, it feels that at some point in culture, going for 'a jog’ stopped, and everything, regardless of pace or effort, became ‘a run’.
Slow running in running culture today, however is a direct response to brand behaviour of the last decade: aggressively-high-performance focused narratives from brands and their ambassadors. These narratives have even permeated into the grassroots of the running community. Average run crews have pace groups that can often be too quick for the most casual of runners, leading to feeling alienated.
That feeling of alienation led to Jen creating a run crew for women in London. She denotes feeling alienated from the content of fitness influencers who frequently post race PBs she and her running friends couldn’t comprehend: 'Run crews are seen as this really athletic thing…but not many people can run fast... there should be a crew for everyone.'
Jen sees intentional slow running as: ‘encouragement for everyday people to get into running... it makes them feel seen as runners'.
So, what does this mean for brands?
Some brands are already slowly shifting to less performance-heavy narratives and I think this has to continue. New Balance, Nike & Asics have all recently released campaigns and creative touching on slower, less performance-focused running - see references below.
Asics go furthest in stepping away from performance with their latest campaign in partnership with Mind. Coined A New Personal Best, the campaign sets out to remind us that a less numerically quantified approach to performance is better for our minds…
I’d personally like to see even more created akin to the above. With a real long tail of runners now participating in the sport, who are motivated by things other than pace and distance, there is a real opportunity to tell their stories and that of their communities. I’d like to see these narratives be loud and proud for brands in these cultures.
From a product perspective, we should start to see less strictly performance gear and more hybrid use-case products developed. This, in the long run, could tangibly apply to footwear. However, I think clothing that serves more as multipurpose is a safer starting point - avoiding the pitfalls of some ill-fated slow running footwear of the past.
Running gear has long-inspired elements of streetwear but a product designed purposefully for a slower, less performative runner is perhaps what’s missing for those who aren’t early adopters or streetwear-inclined.
To conclude, running easy or slow isn’t new but its current moment in running culture is a direct response to something brands within that same culture have peddled for long enough - that elite performance is all that’s worthy. These burgeoning customer cohorts within running are motivated by things other than performance and are already becoming more vital for brand growth. They're also intentionally or unintentionally creating a more accepting and open culture within sport.
Some links:
A study looking into the effects of running as therapy compared with antidepressant medication in those with anxiety disorders - it’s fascinating. Here
When in Tokyo last week I stumbled into this just-opened ‘running station’ in Nihonbashi complete with Sauna, Shoe rental and Bar. Here
Setinn, Beams’ running brand are ‘officially’ launching with a pop-up this coming weekend. Here.