To the running world,

It is becoming increasingly clear that the aging method of brand building in the world of professional athletics is both chronically underwhelming and increasingly ineffective; it’s likely that the return on investment that a company secures through an athlete who wears their brand on television is diminishing alongside the audience’s perpetually shrinking attention span[3]. Running shoe companies must find a way to successfully circumvent this problem, or risk falling behind in a rapidly changing consumer environment. This letter proposes that by investing in the image of assuredly clean runners, a running shoe company can capitalize on the direction in which the audience value structure is progressing; towards responsible corporate practice.



My name is Adam Paul-Morris and I recently graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in the field of Mining Engineering. I am an 800m runner with a personal best of 1:48.09, located on Vancouver Island to further pursue elite level running through the prestigious National Training Center located at the Canadian Sport Institute (CSI) Pacific and the running group located therein: Vic City Elite.

One potential mode to excel within the present climate of consumers is that of “Real Clean Running”, or something similar; the current popular consumer view is undergoing a massive pendulum swing away from a tradition grounded in the bottom line: big box stores are losing business to smaller-scale enterprises that are local, organic, and responsible[4], the value of the large paycheck is becoming increasingly contested by jobs advertising the best “quality of life”[6], and the publics’ reverence for the title: “Women’s 800m world champion” is being funneled largely towards the top non-controversial finisher[7-9] – fifth place.

This trend of morals driving products and their branding will only further proliferate alongside the perpetually increasing purchasing power of the consumer[5]; an increased freedom to spend grants an increased freedom to spend selectively. This discriminatory driver encourages companies to provide more than quality or affordability; it encourages the pursuit of honest corporate practice. Incrementally, competition will continue to one-up each other building new ground upon which authentic practice may stand.

This tectonic shift in the public sphere is beginning to shake the foundations of athletics, and the consumers of the content are desperately hungry for tangible change: all world records prior to 2005 may be removed soon, athletes are demanding that the monopoly of running shoe company sponsorships be dismantled[11], and crowds are falling out of love with the captivating experience of crowning Earth’s greatest champions; instead being fed the pathetic competition of one nation’s chemist against another. These warning signs should be a call to arms for running shoe companies to take advantage of a glaring albeit fleeting opportunity; to cash in on the pursuit of authenticity before their current advantageous foothold slips.

Implementing a successful marketing system predicated upon a responsible image appears to necessitate authenticity and transparency over the medium to long term. For example, when a Canadian reaches a podium position, it is highly impactful to an audience member. Unlike some other countries, rarely does a viewer find themselves muttering “yeah, but that Canadian is probably doping”. This is a consequence of Canada’s steadfast anti-doping culture[10] which took root several years prior and is now bearing fruit.

Tragically, the current scattered anti-doping system is a bad joke. Nobody takes it seriously, but nobody is laughing. One method of potentially circumventing the ineffective governing bodies[2] - which are in some cases most interested in keeping dirty athletes competing - is to privatize the testing process thereby facilitating a shift in the incentive’s orientation; active pursuit of authentically clean athletes is fundamentally different than an obligation to follow the rules. A private company, both loud an transparent can sell this new association: “our athletes are hard working, world class and clean – and unlike everyone else, we can prove it”.

The point I’d like to get across is: the phenomenon of companies finding tangible value in consumers’ personal moral code is well underway, and the athletics community is in the perfect position of unclaimed potential - beckoning for a new standard. By definitively branding themselves as the world leading enterprise in clean sport, a company could facilitate a tremendous increase in the rate of this movements’ change, while simultaneously keeping ahead of the curve - leaving the competition scrambling in their wake.

The entire purpose of placing the world’s best athletes in a single competition is to create an environment where they, as representatives for ideals, push themselves into a place of the unknown and conquer the corresponding chaos. As viewers, when we experience these champions embarking upon these remarkable feats of success it is indescribably moving. However, the audience is becoming tragically divorced from the romance, and rightly so: there is nothing compelling about a dirty athlete - nothing victorious, and the mere doubt is, at best, a massive reduction in the interest of the consumer; at worst, enough to ruin the spectacle entirely.

To be clear, I am not persecuting any running companies for any dirty athletes they may happen to be currently sponsoring – I believe that the responsibility of conducting oneself with honesty ultimately rests upon the shoulders of individuals. Rather, I am attempting to provide a potential avenue to improve the public view of a brand – one with a radical potential for economic triumph.



As an ambitious young person, I’d love to help change a small piece of the world for the better and in the process, build upon a brand in a revolutionary way. I am sending this letter to as many companies as I can in the hopes that I receive a work opportunity to collaborate in this venture process of radical brand building.

Yours in clean sport,

Adam

Adam.PaulMorris1992@gmail.com

604-704-0092

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