From The Inbox: Q & A with Ben Cooke, President of Marathon Sports on Their Ambitious Rebrand
Marathon Sports is undergoing a massive rebrand. It’s going to be controversial. But with new stores popping up, a whole bunch of Gen Z and Millenial energy (and $$$), why not them?
This rebrand shocked me. I was (maybe unfairly) surprised to see that this was such a transformative and progressive rebrand from a traditional run specialty store.
The new Marathon Sports is modern, sharp, and geometric. It doesn’t have the warmth of a slab serif typeface or their clip art image of Bannister breaking the tape. Their normal customer base might not get it or love it, but they’ll probably keep going because they know and trust the store. It’s just where people in New England shop for shoes.
But they are trying to catch the new wave of runners, appeal to a younger generation, and continue to be for runners (and walkers). They’ve been around long enough where they’ve earned a facelift. Why can’t they try to adapt, and have a bit of a glow up? Third and fourth wave stores like Heartbreak, Mill City, Renegade, The Exchange, Running Wylder, Distance, Up There Athletics, are setting the pace.
Why not a store that was (sort-of) part of the original wave?1
I emailed Ben Cooke, the president of Marathon Sports, to see if I could get any scoop that the company’s blog post left out. He was quick to comment on my mistake in the first newsletter Thank you to all who replied correcting me when I mistakenly wrote Zappos owns Marathon. No I do not have a scoop. Fleet Fleet acquired Marathon Sports by way of IMC. Apparently, beyond accounting, Fleet Feet has next to no influence on what Marathon is doing.
Marathon Sports is simply a sister company to Fleet Fleet. Like North Face is to Altra. Two different brands on different trajectories, personalities, and geographies.
Anyways, some of he said up surprised me and got me really excited to get back on my feet running2. Published below is a quick email questionnaire I sent Ben. Edits made for clarity.
Cole: When was the initial push for the rebrand?
Ben: We acquired Marathon Sports 3.5 years ago and we have different ambitions than the former owner. We worked on our Vision (to be the most influential and trusted running brand) and Mission (to be the trusted guide to run culture, curating premium products, and authentic experiences that connect communities and inspire movement). We are moving from retailer to brand.
The gist of their announcement blog post is that they’re trying to build out a brand. The message is that they want to be “more than a retailer,” as you can see from the quote here as well. The third and forth wave running stores that I frequently mention like Heartbreak, the Exchange, Mill City, The Loop, Running Wylder, Up There Athletics, Knee’s Up Space — they’re building roots locally but building a brand globally with unique marketing activations with major brands.
No traditional run specialty stores have done that yet.
CT: What was the impetus behind the rebrand?
BC: There was a gap between where we were going and how we showed up. There still is, but the rebrand gave us tools to show up more disciplined and cohesive. We want to be Marathon Sports, not anyone else. However contemporary run culture isn’t just retail and road races. We are doing so much more. We are building worlds for runners, or at least we aspire to.
[We want to own] high school meets across cross country, indoor, and outdoor. This Friday, we have the best collection of high school mile, 800, and 400 that will be assembled in New England at UMASS Lowell. We have our own NIL roster of local kids. We love building and supporting this part of running because it shaped us. We want to build an Arcadia East-like experience3. We have entire teams working on coverage, live streaming content at Bay Sate running and the sister sites, we invest a lot here. These kids deserve it.
In trail, we bought races, amplifying them with real prize money—championship status, and deep prize money to support aspiring athletes and keep them in the east. [New] field trip experiences to get people opened to trail, an adult camp in the Berkshires. Additionally we are building a trail mecca store in North Conway to honor the sport. We almost feel an obligation to do these things. If not us, who else will?
In road racing we are working on building spectacular events. The Rhode Island Half this weekend is an example of that. We also sponsor too many races to name. [We’re] always trying to make them have better experiences. We love what Bandit is doing with the Grand Prix race. That’s an inspiration to us.
CT: How was it working with Upstatement? How did they work with you to define the look and feel?
BC: They were fantastic. Most of the team members have been in our stores. They frequently work with Nike so understand the audience we cater to, and their editorial story telling approach pushed us. It was collaborative though. Early on as they showed us potential logos we asked them to bring in objects, and other brand elements we were not seeing. Honestly it felt like they fell in love with the project somewhere along the way. They kept building and giving us more.
I was pleasantly surprised to see they hired Upstatement. They’re excellent, but I, maybe unfairly, wouldn’t expect a Marathon Sports or Fleet Feet type brand to do let them do something so transformative. That prompted my follow up question.
CT: Any challenges with the rebrand?
BC: We don’t have a lot of internal experience with executing a brand stylistically. So our challenges will be internal. Learning the muscles and discipline to show up in a focused way.
My Takes
This ambitious play comes with some risk. Stores like Fleet Feet and Marathon Sports are trusted by a huge community of runners, walkers, and hikers. It’s a familiar place to shop with all the brands they expect. They’re not necessarily serving the same type of person that shops at a Heartbreak or Running Wylder, a Renegade or an LSD, and vice versa. As I wrote before, running brands don’t need to be edgy to be cool. You can elevate the design language, change the logo, but it would be a shame to lose the soul of MS. They’d never want to alienate the core audience, and I don’t think they’ll be taking such a 180 given the plan that Ben laid out.
Some of the beauty of these stores is that they are simple not “cool” in the most traditional sense. They aren’t trying to be something they’ve never been. Conversely, it’s painful to see someone start up a wine-bar/café/run space hybrid that just started running last year. The former is a bit “boring” but is the bulk of run specialty out there and is financially stable, the latter feels like it’s cashing in on a niche trend and seems hard to run at a profit.
The other concern is that it doesn’t become some high growth PE-backed play. IMC acquired Fleet Feet in 2012, and hasn’t grossly changed things. They’re not a PE company that is into flipping businesses on some five or ten year plan.
I’m hopeful that they can strike a balance, and I love that they’re putting so much behind high school racing, trail, and overall the whole East Coast running scene. Track, road, and XC in New England.
In fairness, they really took off in 1994 when Colin Peddie took over the original store Cambridge-based store.
I tore my meniscus and had a repair done in March. I’m walking again though and back on the bike!
Arcadia Invitiational is the most competitive high school track meet in the country, pulling in the very top talent.
Great read, appreciate this insight! I share many of your sentiments and am mainly concerned with the customer experience in-store, branding aside. Run Specialty has to focus just as much on the in-person buyer as on the online shopper, and Marathon Sports just isn't there yet. While they have clearly invested a lot into enhancing the online experience, they are far too inconsistent across their brick-and-mortar stores.
A little consistency goes a long way in retail, and this rebrand is a huge low-hanging fruit opportunity for Ben to enhance his customers' experience with his new brand in-store. Consistent staff, structure, assortment, events, etc., make a huge difference and keep this legacy brand thriving in this new age.