byLarry EderPeter Abraham is one of the most energetic and visionary people that I know. A couple of times a year, we meet in disparate places. One time it was on a bench outside of CES, another time, Outdoor retailer, another time, Santa Monica. Each time, I learn something new.
lululemon booth at LA Marathon
RunBlogRun, #1: Tell us about your new company? I understand that you are focusing on new media and brand activation?
Peter Abraham: At Abraham, we have two areas of focus: 1. creating compelling content marketing for brands, and 2. developing our own media properties in-house. These two initiatives are complimentary and support each other.
On the content side, we understand not only how to create great content, but what to do with it across all of the digital channels. Mediums we work in include video, experiential marketing, social, and digital. These days, you can’t separate a concept from the means of distribution. All of that has to be thought of together right up front. For instance, if you’re creating a video for a brand, what channels will it play on and what’s the desired outcome? How will your ROI be measured? The :30 video you make for TV will certainly be different than something that would play on Facebook, which is again different from a :15 Instagram version.
On the media property side, we have an experimentation lab where we can create our own businesses. I’ve always been inspired by Warren Buffett’s quote: “Being an investor makes me a better businessman, and being a businessman makes me a better investor.” Currently, I’m very excited about the app development business, Freestyle Studios, that I’ve created with my brother. We make tools for athletes. Freestyle has four apps in the marketplace, including the popular McRun running calculator we created with coach Greg McMillan. Our next app is a subscription-based video coaching tool for fastpitch softball players.
(Editor’s note: check out Abraham site at www.abrhm.com).
lululemon booth at LA Marathon
RunBlogRun, #2: Word is that the lululemon activation at Los Angeles marathon was fun, interactive and unique, tell us about it?
Peter Abraham: lululemon asked me to help them with their LA Marathon activation. The goal was to bring mindful performance to running, and we wanted to speak to runners in lululemon’s unique brand voice. So we designed and installed window displays at 12 stores, we put together a team of 20 running product testers, we had events along the race course, and we built an inspiring experience for runners in the LA Marathon Expo. The whole initiative was titled Run Self-Conscious. The Expo booth was really fun: working closely with lululemon LA Maven Colleen Angeles, I created an interactive experience to help get runners ready for peak performance on race day. We collaborated with sports psychologist Adam O’Neill and meditation teacher Megan Monhan to create custom guided visualizations for runners. Then marathoners would come sit on pillows in the booth and listen to the audio tracks on wireless headsets. Over 1,000 runners sat and listened to this audio in two days at the Expo. I was particularly inspired to see how many teenage runners from the Students Run LA program were attracted to our booth.
The point here is that we’re trying to bring value to runners with an experience that improves their LA Marathon. The bar is set very low at marathon expos–most brands just set up a table and put their wares on it. But this also creates an opportunity for businesses that want to do the workand create a thoughtful experience for runners. That’s what we tried to do.
lululemon activation by abraham, LA Marathon weekend, 1/3
RunBlogRun, #3: Word is that lululemon activation at Los Angeles marathon was fun, interactive and unique, tell us about it?
Peter Abraham: As you know, lululemon makes beautiful, premium running apparel. They also have fantastic retail stores and deep network of community managers in all of their markets. Their customer loyalty is off the charts because they’ve built their brand on core values and great product. I help them speak authentically to the running community here in Los Angeles.
lululemon activation by abraham, LA Marathon weekend, 2/3
RunBlogRun, # 4. if you were speaking to road race directors, what is the most important concept for them to remember about social media and races?
Peter Abraham: Great brands do four things: Inspire, inform, entertain, and connect a community. These things added together are all about bringing value to customers. And that’s how running events need to think about their product. Too many running events just phone in the product with a check box experience that feels just like many other races. Race directors need to take some time and understand firstly what makes their event unique, and secondly how they can create a special experience for their participants.
lululemon activation by abraham, LA Marathon weekend, 3/3
RunBlogRun, # 5. On line registration is probably the most recent addition to road racing that is accepted worldwide. What else should race directors be looking at?
Peter Abraham: An event’s “product” is the sum total of all its consumer touchpoints: the website, the social channels, the registration platform, the course, the parking, the line for the porta-potties, the medals, the shirts, everything. It all matters. Race directors need to be thoughtful and diligent about creating a unique and special experience from beginning to end. The reason I started my first running event was that I always got bad cotton t-shirts at races. The kind with 25 logos on the back. Who wants to wear that? I thought events could do better and actually think about what their customers want. So I started my own race to experiment with that idea.
RunBlogRun, # 6. How should races and running brands be using video?
Peter Abraham: Most importantly, video and any other media need to support the mission of the brand. There isn’t one right way to do that. What Red Bull does with video is different from what Chipotle does, but in both cases their content represents the brand really well. When I was at the LA Marathon, we created over 100 original videos to accomplish a number of goals:
1. Video was a great way to support our sponsors. We could incorporate them in almost all of the content.
2. We could inspire our runners by telling them about the spectacular route we’d designed.
3. We also created TV campaigns that our broadcast partners would run. We did a “My Favorite Mile” campaign where celebrities talked about their favorite mile on the course. We got Dwayne Johnston, Kobe Bryant, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Gordon Ramsey to participate.
4. We created a lot of training video content for runners–technique, nutrition, training plans, etc.
5. We produced a live television broadcast of the race that was viewed by hundreds of thousands.
Running fans (even a famous one), at lululemon cheering station at mile 22 at LA Marathon
RunBlogRun, # 7. Do we shoot ourselves in the foot in running by not promoting events before they happen?
Peter Abraham: The short answer is yes, but this is part of a deeper problem. Generally, the running business doesn’t value communications, marketing, and branding. I really believe most brands in the space are years behind when it comes to storytelling and digital. There’s this entire world of possibility out there, and I still see most brands and events executing like it’s 1995.
RunBlogRun, # 8. Most races pitch the local running store, running shoe brands and perhaps, local health care, what else should they look for in terms of sponsorship of events?
Peter Abraham: Races need to think bigger when it comes to brand partners. We’re in an environment where sponsorship of sports is on shaky ground, particularly with endurance sports. Cycling teams are vanishing every year, professional runners don’t make what they used to, and few running events attract brands outside of the sport. What I don’t see is events selling a point of view that is attractive to brand partners. It’s not enough to say, “We have 20,000 runners at our event, so we’ll put your name on the bib and on our website.” Those things are commodities that a brand could find anywhere. Events need to stand for something. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Have a point of view. Then go after sponsors who share that point of view.
On top of that, events need to be creative with the assets they offer their brand partners. Think beyond the basics of signage, social, expo, etc. Go deep and offer real value to your sponsors.
When I started my first 10K race in Santa Monica, the event benefitted local environmental group Heal the Bay. It was all about celebrating clean beaches. That was my point of view. I worked really hard to create all kinds of media platforms that would appeal to brand partners, including a television campaign. This allowed me to sign up Red Bull, Nike, Whole Foods, and Jet Blue to big sponsorship deals in the first two years of my local 10K. With Nike we created a mobile vehicle that hosted training runs five days a week all over Los Angeles. The more runners that participated, the more Nike would donate to Heal the Bay. It was really successful for the event, the brand partner, and Heal the Bay.
RunBlogRun, # 9. Last year, we chatted about making Oxy meet a big deal, with social media and event promotions, any more ideas on that event?
Peter Abraham: As I’ve written, Oxy could be one of the best and biggest track meets in the United States. Yet it’s run like a small high school dual meet. The meet directors have built a great foundation, but now they need professional help on media, marketing, and fan experience if they want to grow the meet to the level it deserves. I also wonder if the meet can thrive at a venue that only holds 2,400 spectators. They may need to move it to a bigger facility, like UCLA’s Drake Stadium.
RunBlogRun, # 10. I see compelling stories in our athletes and the build up that they do for events, how do we create drama in developing branding and recognition of events in our sport?
Peter Abraham: You’re right–there are lots of compelling stories out there. But who’s telling those stories? That’s what we’re missing: competent storytelling expertise that can connect emotionally with fans of the sport. Most of the running media channels are focused solely on the results story. And mostly that’s kind of boring. Runner’s World does a good job in the print format, but who’s going deep with video or multi-channel stories in running? I don’t see much of that.
If I ran one of the footwear or apparel brands, I’d have a content publishing department to tell stories about my athletes and products. I’d be doing blogs, videos, social, and experiential activations that supported not just my brand but my mission. And I’d partner with world-class storytellers for maximum emotional impact. That’s how you build a passionate tribe around your business. Stand for something bigger than your product and evangelize relentlessly.
To view the website for Abraham, go to www.abrhm.com.
To read the piece on How to Make Oxy Performance (now HOKA ONE ONE), a better event: http://thepeterabraham.
Here is a recap of the lululemon activation: https://www.
And here is the video of the guided meditation, with a vocal track for the lululemon guided meditation: https://www.
