Crafting a new tone of voice for Runners Need

The brief was to create a new tone of voice for Runners Need. The existing voice sounded robotic, clichéd and written-by-committee, but it needed personality to stand out in a sea of big players.

I started with researching the audience and the culture around running. Running had stopped being just a way to get fit. Powered by the likes of Strava, Runna and parkrun, it was forming its own communities: people running with friends, making new ones and getting fitter together. And it's super accessible. Decent shoes, and you're away.

Over the last year or so the scene had become so social that people started comparing run clubs to dating apps. Some were even joining clubs to meet the one. That comparison was the way in: Sole-searching ends here. The wordplay let us frame running as something you fall in love with, and Runners Need as where that love story starts.

From there the voice turned flirty and tongue-in-cheek, leaning into modern dating culture. Find your new partner at the run club; find your new shoes at Runners Need.