When I joined AG1, the mandate wasn’t “optimize ads.”

It was:

Build something unconventional. Build something meaningful. Bend the curve.

The company already had:

• Paid social

• Influencers

• Referral programs

• Performance channels

They worked.

But they were crowded.

And crowded channels get expensive.

So I started asking a different question:

Where does trusted attention actually live today?

And the answer wasn’t on a screen.

It was at 7:00am.

At the starting line of a half marathon.

At a 6:15pm run club.

Inside a HYROX training session.

On a Saturday long run.

At my weekly outdoor Yoga class with “Nama-Steve”.

That’s when it clicked.

The Modern Public Square Is Not the Bar. It’s the Starting Line.

People are drinking less.

Going out less.

Spending more time in fitness communities.

Run clubs are exploding.
Endurance events are growing.
IRONMAN races are selling out.
5Ks and half marathons are social glue.

These are not passive audiences.

They are:

• Recurring

• Identity-driven

• High-trust

• High-intent

If you could design a channel inside those environments that was measurable and repeatable, you’d have something very different from an ad.

You’d have embedded trust.

The First Test

Instead of buying impressions, we did something simple.

We activated inside fitness communities and race environments.

We:

• Distributed samples in trusted contexts

• Printed physical QR cards with our best new customer offer

• Created unique QR codes per activation

• Tracked every purchase tied to each specific event

Not just fuzzy awareness metrics.

No siloed “brand lift studies.”

Clean, measurable attribution.

Within a year:

• Hundreds of new customers per week

• Growing week over week

• Eventually ~5% of total weekly new customers

• CAC ~50% lower than average channel

• LTV:CAC around 5:1

That’s when I knew this wasn’t a tactic.

It was a channel.

Why It Actually Worked (And Why Most Brands Get This Wrong)

Most brands think race sponsorship equals:

Logo.
Banner.
Booth.
Hope.

That is not what drives acquisition.

Here’s what actually moved conversion.

1. Trial removed friction

A lot of people:

• Had heard of AG1

• Were curious

• Hesitated on taste or skepticism

• Didn’t want to commit to a subscription blindly

Sampling inside a trusted environment bridged that gap.

We heard it constantly:

“I’d been thinking about it for months.”
“I wasn’t sure about the taste.”
“Trying it made the difference.”

Trial in isolation helps.

Trial inside a trusted community multiplies.

2. The holistic package mattered more than the discount

Discounts alone don’t convert.

What converts is a cohesive experience.

We layered:

• Sampling

• Physical QR cards

• Strong offer

• Signage

• Branded gear

• Digital reinforcement when appropriate

The discount was not the hero.

The environment was.
The trust was.
The repetition was.

The CTA worked because the brand felt legitimate and present.

3. Full funnel, not just bottom funnel

This was not coupon spam.

We were running full-funnel activations:

Top of funnel:

• Digital inclusions from the organizer

• Branded gear creating repeated impressions

Middle funnel:

• Sampling

• In-person education

• Community endorsement

Bottom funnel:

• Unique QR codes

• Clear offer

• Trackable conversions

And we did it repeatedly in the same communities.

Frequency compounded results.

The Morning Run Club Moment

There was one activation in Charlotte with Morning Run Club that made everything obvious.

High energy.
Strong turnout.
Samples distributed.
QR cards in hand.
Incredible photography.
Tons of UGC.
Real signups.

They called it their best activation.

And we barely had to lift a finger operationally.

That’s when it became clear:

This could scale.

But Here’s the Hard Truth

This channel looks simple.

It’s not.

To do it well, you must:

• Source and vet events

• Negotiate sponsorships

• Print and ship materials

• Manage product and gear logistics

• Verify execution

• Track performance cleanly

• Prevent abuse

• Maintain relationships

• Know which events convert

• Know where to push harder

• Follow up consistently

At one point I was personally printing custom QR cards because even small improvements in execution increased partner performance.

This is not glamorous work.

It is infrastructure work.

Most brands try one or two race sponsorships.

They never build the system.

So they never see the channel.

Why It Was CAC Efficient

The efficiency didn’t come from “cheap.”

It came from structure.

• Trusted environment

• Trial reducing friction

• Physical CTA capturing intent

• Repeated exposure building familiarity

• Clean attribution validating ROI

When you combine all of that, you’re not buying attention.

You’re embedding inside it.

And that’s why CAC was ~50% lower than average and LTV:CAC was strong.

The Realization

After watching this grow for a year, something became obvious:

Brands are flooding into fitness communities.

But most are:

• Doing one-off sponsorships

• Not measuring properly

• Not standardizing activations

• Not building repeatable systems

• Burning time and budget inefficiently

The opportunity wasn’t “do more sampling.”

The opportunity was:

Build the infrastructure layer.

Why RunReach Exists

RunReach productizes what used to require:

• A full internal team

• Manual workflows

• Custom negotiation per event

• Disjointed measurement

• Endless coordination

We combine:

1. Network

A national network of fitness clubs and events:

• 5Ks

• Half marathons

• Large scale races

• Community fitness ecosystems

2. Know-how

Years of learnings around:

• What motivates organizers

• What creative performs

• How to design full-funnel packages

• How to structure offers that convert

• How to make partners excited to promote
  

3. Technology

A platform that:

• Stores event inventory

• Standardizes activation packages

• Automates communication

• Tracks performance

• Verifies execution

• Prevents fraud

• Enables seamless scaling

We don’t just enable sampling.

We build tailored, full-funnel activation systems that combine:

• Sampling

• Couponing

• Signage

• Digital placements

• Merch

• Repeated presence

So brands can drive both awareness and measurable acquisition inside trusted fitness communities.

Quickly.
At scale.
With clean ROI.

The Bigger Shift

Digital ads are easier to produce than ever.

AI is flooding feeds.

Attention is fragmented.

Trust is thinning.

Meanwhile:

• Peer-to-peer trust remains strong.

• Identity-based communities are growing.

• Race-day environments create legitimacy.

• Physical presence builds familiarity in a way pixels don’t.

The brands that win over the next decade won’t just buy impressions.

They will embed themselves inside communities that already command trust and measure the results.

That’s what we built at AG1.

That’s why RunReach exists.