Why Elmo Is Right About Running

We’re living in a time where the elite end of the running world is on fire: innovation through gear, nutrition, training, and race strategies are pushing the envelope of what we thought possible in running.

At the time of writing this, in the past nine days, five major world records for running distances have been broken — including a sensational 48-second reduction in the half marathon world record.

And though it’s the elite fields that are at the vanguard of these new methods, what’s interesting is that you and I (the regular runners) have access to pretty much all of them.

When Jacob Kiplomo melted brains with his new half marathon world record, he was wearing Nike Alphafly 3s. I can walk into a store near my house and purchase those very same shoes.

And with wearables and tracking apps, casual runners have the opportunity to quantify themselves to the gunwales.

While there’s always been a gap between runners focused on performance, and those who “just run,” this new wave of optimization tech is continuing to drive a wedge between those of us who want to continually chase new PRs, and those of us who just want to go for a run.

In fact, while elites are just getting faster and faster, recreational runners are actually getting slower.

If you look at how running has evolved in the last few years, I’d argue that almost every change has leaned towards more of a performance-related culture.

The omnipresence of Strava means that every runner (and all their followers) is keenly aware of their last run’s distance, speed, GAP, time in heart rate zones, number of times they double-knotted their shoelaces, etc.

Not just this, but the amount of training, nutrition, and lifestyle advice we’re swamped with from apps, podcasts, YouTube and social media can easily make casual runners feel pressure, or feel like their routines and workouts aren’t good enough because they’re not “optimized“.

In short, I think many elements of the running world risk leaving casual runners behind as they constantly push the message of “performance” — that we should all be competing, tracking, monitoring, and pushing our limits.

But brands are starting to notice this, and they’re bringing the big guns. Starting with Elmo.

Why Do We Run?

Running contains multitudes: it can be hard for any runner to succinctly answer the question “why do you run?“

But whatever the reason, you can broadly split runners into two groups: performance and casual.

Performance runners buy in to all the latest tech, shoes, and wearables. Their VO2 max score is social currency. They are usually either training towards, or at least eyeballing, a new PR attempt in some distance or another.

Casual runners, on the other hand, are just that: they run largely unhindered by what their wearable tells them. They’re likely to tell you they run occasionally, and that they run to stay fit rather than achieve something specific like a new PB.

There is, of course, crossover in this Venn diagram of performance vs. Casual.

There have always been runners who will dabble in both camps: one year they’ll tackle an ambitious half marathon PR, the next they’ll lapse in their running commitment and get involved in something else.

But in recent years, both the tech and brand side of running have been pushing all runners towards a culture of performance. And that’s missing an opportunity.

Innovation Pushes Us Towards Performance

Here’s the change I’ve noticed the past five or so years: casual runners are being talked to like they’re performance runners by brands and tech.

Any runner who uses a wearable to track their runs now gets a litany of feedback and stats when they finish their run. You can see how your relative fitness is, how your pace is holding up, how you’re doing compared to your digital social circle. Your public Strava profile, by default, lists all your PBs for the world to compare with their own.

All of these data feeds act as nudges or suggestions that casual runners should pay attention to this stuff. “What gets measured gets managed”, after all.

At the same time, the language around shoes and nutrition has become increasingly performance-driven.

Performance runners have never felt more like an “in-crowd,” with their own jargon, social currencies, and tools— much of which is of little interest to the casual runner.

Brands Messaging: Performance vs. Casualization

If you reflect on the biggest running marketing campaigns of the past 12 months, you’ll find most are deeply rooted in the performance market:

• Nike: Winning Isn’t for Everyone campaign
• On: Lightspray technology
• Lululemon: Womens Ultramarathon FURTHER

But then at this year’s Super Bowl, something interesting happened.

On dropped a major ad campaign—featuring Elmo—called Soft Wins.

It’s not just an ad aiming at the casual runner; it’s an ad that asks what the definition of winning is; poking a finger in the eye of performance running in the loveable way only Elmo can.

“Running for fun: can that win?”

The On ad—which is for the Cloudsurfer 2 shoe—is refreshing because it breaks the mold.

Maybe Casual Runners Don’t Want To Optimize

As someone who is firmly in the “casual runner” circle of the Venn diagram these days, I think On has noticed something.

Sure, there are go-to daily trainers that have always been marketed to the casual runner.

But the On campaign is the first I’ve seen that suggest it’s ok to shun performance.

That’s just because we have the tools to optimize every aspect of our performance, doesn’t mean to say we have to.

That not everyone should worry about improving their VO2 Max.

That maybe, winning isn’t about going hard.

That maybe, soft wins.

And maybe, you should listen to Elmo instead of your wearable.