Brands, at Odds With Athletes’s Dreams

Jeff Garmire makes the case for brands rethinking the relationship with their athletes:

Every adventure, race, and FKT starts with a reason. A why. That’s where the connection lives. Brands should meet athletes there—not just at the finish line or the campaign shoot, but at the messy, meaningful beginning.

It’s a case of tilting the scale away from performance marketing back toward brand marketing. In the long run the better investment, but social media clicks have fueled years of increased focus on performance metrics and marketing managers have lost sight of the bigger picture. Maybe we’re seeing a chance to bring to back in line over the coming years.