The Breakdown
Hoka · NYC Marathon run-up
Hoka's playbook: own the training, not the finish line
NYC: New York City
Every running brand wants race day. Hoka went after the weeks before it, with a Strava challenge whose borough-by-borough progress shows up on billboards across New York.
The TL;DR (too long; didn't read)
- Targets the run-up to the Nov 2 NYC (New York City) Marathon, not just the day.
- Strava challenge + live DOOH (digital out-of-home) leaderboards by borough + six creators + a block party (Digiday).
- No results published yet, and it's still running.
01
Less competition, more relevance
On race day every brand is shouting. During training, runners are thinking about shoes, recovery and motivation every single day, and fewer brands are talking to them.
That's a smarter moment to show up in.
02
Runners become the creative
Borough-level progress on public screens turns private training into shared, local pride. Your run literally moves the board.
It's gamification: progress, competition and team identity (your borough) to motivate behaviour.
03
Joined-up channels
App (Strava) → public screens (DOOH) → social (creators, paid) → real life (block party). Each channel feeds the next, and that's what makes it a system rather than a bunch of ads.
Read the original reporting
- Behind Hoka’s bid to own the NYC marathon’s run-up period ↗
Digiday · 29 Sept 2026
The theory bit
The academic ideas that explain what's going on, with the full reference for your assignments.
Category entry points (CEPs)
The situations and needs that trigger someone to think about a category (e.g. ‘training for a marathon’). Brands linked to more CEPs come to mind more often.
Here: ‘Training for a marathon’ is a category entry point for running shoes. Hoka links itself to that moment.
Romaniuk, J. & Sharp, B. (2016). How Brands Grow Part 2. Oxford University Press.
Gamification
Using game design elements (points, progress, competition) in non-game contexts to motivate behaviour.
Here: Progress bars and borough rivalry are game elements used to motivate real running.
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R. & Nacke, L. (2011). From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness. Proceedings of MindTrek '11.
Over to you
No right answers here. These are to get you thinking. Jot your ideas down or chat them through.
- 1
What's the ‘training period’ for a product you know: the moment before the big moment?
Need a nudge?
Before exams, before summer, before a festival…
- 2
Why do you think Hoka chose boroughs instead of individuals for the leaderboard?
Need a nudge?
Belonging, privacy, local pride.
- 3
What could Hoka measure before race day to know if it's working?
Need a nudge?
Sign-ups, activity logged, store visits.
Optional · about 10 minutes
Your mini task
In 60–120 words: design a ‘build-up’ campaign for a brand around an event of your choice. Identify the moment before the moment, the game mechanic, and how it shows up in public.