Singletrack

Jordan Hamm | How Brooks Running Is Building Their Trail Running Team

Aug 12, 2022

01:01:31

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Jordan Hamm is a Sports Marketing Specialist and serves as the Trail Athlete Manager at Brooks Running based in Seattle, WA. This is another episode in our mini-series providing insights to the athlete-sponsor relationship in trail running.

Discounts:

Rabbit - use code Singletrack20 at checkout on their website (https://www.runinrabbit.com/discount/SINGLETRACK20) to get 20% off your next order
HVMN - use code Singletrack20 at checkout on their website (https://hvmn.com/SINGLETRACK20) to get 20% off your next order

Links:

Timestamps:

(4:36) - how Jordan got started at Brooks Running and became their Trail Athlete Manager
(7:23) - market trends that have led Brooks to invest more in trail running in recent years
(9:59) - what a typical day looks like as a Trail Athlete Manager
(12:03) - how important athletes are in the marketing a shoe brand
(16:53) - the process of scouting for and recruiting athletes to the Brooks team
(21:55) - monitoring Strava segments to scout for and recruit runners
(24:54) - how much emphasis Brooks places on athletic performance versus social media performance
(29:15) - whether Jordan would recommend aspiring sponsored trail runners to focus more on athletic performance or personal brand building
(30:52) - breakdown of full-time versus part-time athletes on the Brooks roster
(36:35) - whether there's enough or some publicly available information for trail athletes to access and use as part of their negotiation with brands
(43:41) - distinction between athletes as independent contractors and employees
(46:56) - whether contract NDAs hurt or help athletes and the brands
(48:48) - whether the presence of NDAs indicates that athletes are getting a bad deal
(50:18) - whether Brooks will experiment with building a co-located trail running team in the future
(55:45) - Brooks events and athletes to watch out for in 2022 and beyond
(57:43) - Scott Jurek's current role at Brooks

Additional Episodes You May Enjoy:

#106 - David Kilgore | How On Is Building Their Trail Running Team
#99 - Robert Muecke | How Adidas Terrex Is Building Their Trail Running Team
#98 - Steff Gardner | How Salomon Is Building Their North American Trail Running Team

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