Mizuno Baton

The good folks at Mizuno running have a new advertising campaign: "What if everybody ran?"

I'm not sure its a very good marketing strategy, but it's a helluva concept.

Imagining a world where everyone, and I mean everyone, was a runner, starts to blow your mind.

Everybody would be happier, healthier, nicer, easier going, more productive, better in bed, and they'd sleep better afterward.

What I love about this idea is that it has the same vibe as John Lennon's Imagine. It's a concept that is absurd, but so damn appealing, and hopeful, that you start to actually think about it as if it were possible.

The problem with the campaign is that a running shoe company is preaching to the choir. I don't know that they will sell more shoes with it.

But they sure as hell will sell more shoes with one of their programs that is part of "What if everybody ran?", and that's the fucking brilliant Mizuno Baton.

Click image to learn more and to get the app.

Here's the deal:
1) You download an app to your phone.
2) For one week, you run as many miles as you can with the app counting your miles.
3) Mizuno donates $1 per mile to Back on My Feet, a national non-profit that uses running to help homeless people re-establish their lives. (I am an ardent supporter of BoMF).
4) After your week, you pass the baton to someone else - they get to run with a greater purpose, BoMF gets more awareness, and more money.

See? Fucking brilliant!

How do I know this will sell more shoes, because I am going to buy a pair of Mizunos to support this effort. I can't even runic Mizuno's! Too narrow. But I'm going to buy some anyway... expense ones. This is the type of marketing that makes me want to like a company, want to support it. It beats the shit out of "Just Do It".

I'm also going to run my ass off for a week. And then I'm going to challenge someone else to do the same.

I want to talk more about "What If Everybody Ran?", but for now, I leave you with one of the slogans for the campaign:

Running is powerful enough to transform everyone.

And it takes just one person at a time, one mile at a time.

Update 9/19/2014: Mizuno Baton has ended. It raised over $87,000 for Back on my Feet. At $1 per mile, that's 3 times around the Earth. How cool!

Good running,
Doug