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RUNNA: CHOOSING RELATABILITY OVER CELEBRITIES
Why real stories beat polished ads — and how Runna made it look easy...
Niall Ratcliffe
April 27, 2025
Morning!
I’m writing this on the double bank holiday weekend. I’ve set myself the goal to sleep in 4 days in a row, and so far, it’s safe to say I couldn’t feel more refreshed. Life hack: Actually get some sleep.
Talking of life hacks, today I’m breaking down the marketing strategy of one of the fastest-growing running apps on the planet. It feels like everyone is talking about their recent acquisition, but I’m talking about their very impressive marketing strategy.
Let’s get into it!
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
It seems like every Tom, Dick, and Harry is on a running kick at the minute.
Everyone is out running.
Everyone is doing a marathon.
Everyone is posting about it on socials.
And if I’m being honest, I feel like I completely missed this whole running craze. I ran the Porto marathon back in November 2023 and then didn’t run for over a year.
All of the cardio I’d built up? Gone. I couldn’t run a tap. So 6 weeks ago, I decided it was time to get back running and I set myself the goal of a sub-20-minute 5k (whilst only running 2x/week).
So, as any normal person would, I asked Chatgpt for a training plan, screenshotted it, and off I went.
But the deeper down the running route I’ve been going, I’ve had more and more people tell me that I need to get this app called “Runna”. My Mrs was telling me about it, then people in the office talked about it, then I started seeing it more and more on my socials.
The next thing you know, I see that Strava acquired Runna in a “multimillion-pound” deal.
At that point, I had to ask myself:
What the hell is this app doing that I’m not seeing?
From the outside, it was just another running plan app. Yet this one had seemed to manage to build one of the largest communities of runners on the planet.
And the more I dug in, the more I realised that this wasn’t luck. It was a beautifully executed marketing strategy.
So this week, I’m breaking it down:
Here’s how Runna built one of the most admired, adopted, and obsessively shared brands in fitness:
Step 1: Using Employees As Influencers
Most app marketing playbooks look something like this:
Pay lots of money to famous influencers → force them to post videos with the product.
But Runna completely flipped the script when it came to their marketing. Instead of spending millions on famous influencers and celebrities, they started by turning their own team into the creators.
Their running coaches? They’re all over their social media giving tips and tricks.
Their marketing team? All going on their own fitness journeys and documenting it all on their socials.
The people building the product are the ones showing up on social, using it, and documenting the process.
Take Izzy Hill, for example.
She’s a marketer at Runna, but also a runner who trained for her first-ever marathon using the Runna app — and shared every step of it on Instagram.
She documented where she was at before. Why she wanted to do it. She even videod the entire journey while on the marathon.
No fancy cinematic visuals or a Kardashian pretending to go on a run, just a team of runners… running.
That’s the difference between Runna and their competitors.
Runna isn’t a tech company trying to bolt a brand onto a product. It’s a product built by the exact kind of people it’s for.
And that’s exactly why it works:
It builds real trust - When your team lives the lifestyle, it’s tough not to get behind them.
It humanises the brand - There’s no distance between the company and the customer. The people building the product are the customers.
It creates organic distribution - Employees each become their own content channel - and when it’s genuine, it scales without spend.
Most companies hide their team behind a logo. Runna puts theirs at the front. More brands need to be like Runna.
Step 2: Long-Term Influencer Arcs
Most brands use creators like billboards - quick hit, high reach, onto the next.
But Runna uses creators like storytellers.
Their strategy isn’t about landing a single polished influencer post and it going viral. Instead, it’s all about embedding the product inside someone’s actual running journey and letting the story unfold in public.
Take @cchungy_ for example. He was a content creator from NYC who decided he wanted to run his first-ever marathon. So Runna partnered up with him and he documented his entire process using Runna to train for the race.
It wasn’t just one forced post, it’s this long story arc that Runna is able to play a part in.
That’s the power of a long arc.
It gives the viewer time to build a connection.
It makes the creator feel human.
And it actually makes people become Runna customers.
But the real genius in this strategy is the fact that these arcs mirror the structure of the product itself.
Every Runna plan is a journey - week 1 to race day. So when a creator follows that format, their content becomes an echo of the experience the app promises.
It’s not an ad. It’s a trailer for what your life could look like.
Such a simple yet great way to make people want to get inside the app.
Step 3: Relatable faces over elite athletes
Most fitness brands aim to have the “best of the best” when it comes to ambassadors.
Nike have got Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Michael Jordan. The true best to ever do it. So you’d think when Runna chose their ambassadors, they’d want:
World-class runners
Olympians
Sub-3 marathoners.
The kind of people who make training look effortless. But Runna deliberately chose the opposite route.
They didn’t want perfect runners. They wanted relatable ones.
A great example is @schoonerscorer - best known for downing pints on the internet, not breaking records on Strava. Yet they partnered with him as he trained for the Paris marathon and then downed a pint immediately after.
And it worked because it showed the world that Runna isn’t just for athletes. It’s for anyone who wants to give running a go.
That became a consistent theme in Runna’s influencer strategy. Most of their collaborators aren’t elite. They are in the middle of their first-ever 10K, returning from injury, or juggling training with a full-time job.
The result? A brand that felt inclusive without trying to be.
There was always someone you could relate to. Someone who looked like you, trained like you, or worried about the same stuff you do before a big run.
It’s a subtle shift in positioning, but one that has played a huge part in building their cult following.
Step 4: Building a share loop that actually loops
Most brands hope their users will share wins. But Runna designed their product to make it inevitable.
Every part of the experience - from completing your first week to hitting a race PB - is framed around milestones. And every milestone unlocks something visual, personal, and easily shareable.
A progress update.
A training summary.
A race-day recap tile with your name, finish time, and the words “Trained with Runna.”
No referral code. No sales language. Just a moment that feels worth documenting.
It’s subtle, but powerful. Here’s how the loop works:
User starts a training plan
They hit visible milestones (first 10K, fastest pace, race day)
They get a clean, well-designed asset to share
Their friends see it and ask what app they used
New user joins → the cycle restarts
This creates a network effect without needing a network. Because every user becomes a distribution channel, not by promoting the product, but by being proud of their progress.
And that’s what makes it stick.
It’s not “Look at this app I used.” It’s “Look at what I did.”
And Runna just happens to be in the corner of the screenshot.
Step 5: Website Quiz Funnel
When you land on Runna’s site, you can’t just pick a plan and go.
Before you see any options, you’re asked a series of questions about your running experience, goals, upcoming races, how many times a week you want to train, and what pace you’re comfortable with.
It’s structured like a quiz.
But what it actually does is reframe the entire sales experience.
You’re not just browsing products. You’re being coached before you’ve even signed up.
That subtle shift is doing a lot of strategic heavy lifting:
It anchors the product in personalisation. The moment you answer a few questions, the experience starts to feel made for you, and that makes the eventual price point much easier to justify.
It simplifies choice. Training plans can be overwhelming. By removing the burden of picking, Runna reduces friction and increases the likelihood that someone actually gets started.
It creates commitment. Once you’ve spent 60 seconds telling the app about your goals, you’ve taken a psychological first step — and that small act of effort makes you more likely to follow through.
From a CRO perspective, it’s a smart move. But from a brand perspective, it’s even better.
Because when your first interaction with a product feels like someone asking how they can help (not what they can sell) you remember it.
And they appreciate it.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
1/ Employees as Influencers
2/ Long-Term Creator Arcs
3/ Relatable > Elite
4/ Sharing Built Into the Product
5/ Quiz Funnels That Convert
I feel like most people treat running like a hobby and forget it’s become a massive movement - Runna didn’t. They didn’t just jump on the wave either, they designed their whole product to ride it better than anyone else.
Very impressive marketing, great community building. Fair play Runna!
If you found this breakdown useful, please share it with a friend :)
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
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