Intro (00:00):

Welcome to The Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas, and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

Alexa (00:17):

Hello, I'm Alexa Gonzalez and welcome to The Taylor Ten. I'm here with Morgan Derrick, MVA from Guardian Life and fresh off of running the 2025 New York City Marathon. And we're going to unpack which brands really showed up for runners and what marketers can learn from 26.2 miles of culture, community, and creativity in only 10 minutes. So to kick things off, are things first, congratulations. How are you feeling now? You crossed the finish line.

Morgan (00:41):

Good. It was really hard at first, but now feeling back into the swing of things, back into my more normal schedule, not waking up at 5:00 AM or earlier before work to go for runs.

Alexa (00:54):

That's amazing. Well, I know I was there and the energy was insane and we were so proud of you. But I guess to start off, what's one moment from the race that will really stick with you forever and what did it tell you about how powerful the event this year and always it really is,

Morgan (01:09):

As you know, I got hurt while I was running and one of the things going into the race this year that I was the most nervous about was the infamous Queensboro Bridge running over that. I was like coming into that, it's going to be the part that breaks me. It's one of the hardest parts of the race, but I'll never forget, I sort of stopped running a little bit, tried to stretch out my leg, tried to just walk it off a bit, and I had multiple runners coming up behind me. Are you okay? Do you need anything? How are you doing? It was just that community, that spirit that you really felt. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced because not only did I see that for myself, I saw that when I was looking around to other people, it wasn't just me who was experiencing that, it was other people checking in on runners pushing you. And then it was also from the crowd too, checking in, making sure people had what they needed and it was just one of the most incredible experiences that I've ever had.

Alexa (02:05):

It definitely is something that's become larger than life and it's this huge cultural moment, not just in New York, but beyond. So that all being said, you saw everything up close who actually showed up for runners this year. Were there any brands that understood what the day was really about or activated in a way that was impactful?

Morgan (02:21):

I think one of the most interesting ones for me was actually a collab. So one of a recent brand that has really kind of gone off recently in the running community and the running space is Shokz. So they make open ear headphones, which I have definitely bought, but they're great because you can hear what's going on around you and not just be locked into your AirPods or Beats or whatever other headphones that are kind of in your ear. So you have more spatial awareness and especially when you're out running 20 miles in training, you kind of want to hear and have awareness of what's going on. And especially when it comes to the marathon, you want to hear the crowd, you want to feel it. So Shokz partnered with Pop-Up Bagel, it was actually really interesting. So Shokz did a ton of different activations. They ran a few giveaways and they did a bunch of things sort of around that, around the expo.

(03:20):

But one of the things that they were doing is you could go to the expo, get a card, and then I think go to Pop Up Bagels and redeem it for a free bagel the next day on Medal Monday or bring your medal, something like that. And so there's a lot of co-branding there, but it was just one of those things where it's like these are two brands who are in completely different lanes that would never have any crossover. So I just thought that that was really interesting and something that I wouldn't have thought of, but it definitely really resonated in terms of runners love, carbs, we love fuel, we love to recover, and we also love these headphones. A lot of people have really gotten onto the Shokz bandwagon.

Alexa (03:58):

We've seen a huge rise in run influencers and creators documenting their marathon journeys. If I had a dollar for every time I saw something pop up on that Monday, it's like mile one, mile two. But that being said, is there anyone who kind of stood out to you as doing it right or a creator that was really influential in your journey that you followed along with? Or the opposite too?

Morgan (04:20):

So I would say there's been a lot of discourse around running influencers, especially in peak marathon season. So that's kind of like the end of the summer or beginning of fall. There's a lot of big marathons in that timeframe. I would say one of the things that I saw was a lot of people getting upset that marathons or sponsors or brands are giving some of these influencers just free bibs to run because it's really hard to get them. You have to enter the lottery, which most of the time I think the highest chance you have to get into any of the world majors. So six World Majors is 3% through the lottery. And New York specifically, I think it's 1% chance. And I've entered before and I have never gotten it. I ran with Team for Kids, a wonderful charity sponsored by the New York Roadrunners. I raised $3,000 or just over 3000, I think 3000 was my goal.

(05:17):

So it was hard. I worked my tail off to raise the money to reach out to my family, my network, my friends, and to have the opportunity to run this marathon. And so a lot of people in similar situations to myself were upset that there are these running influencers who just get these bibs and don't really seem to work for it. I think there's kind of two sides to it. So one of the things we have to remember is this is their job. They are working really hard for something and a lot of times it is that. So it might not be in the same way that we are as people who are working full-time jobs and running part-time. That is kind of one of their goals to do. So they're putting in work. It might look different than how we traditionally would think of it, but then I think there's the sensitivity part to it where if all of these influencers are getting bids to multiple world major marathons every year, it's kind of like, what's going on here? And it is different brands reaching out to them and listen, if someone came up to me and said, Hey, here's a bib to go run Chicago next year, I'm not turning it down. So I understand both sides of it, but I definitely think there's sensitivity within the running community around that, and I think brands need to kind of take that into account.

Alexa (06:37):

So to shift it back to brand marketing a little bit, if you were advising a brand, how would you tell 'em to work with creators differently around the marathon season? Is it really just kind of being more choiceful and maybe even transparent about the fact that they're getting their bibs to the sponsorship to even the playing field a little bit?

Morgan (06:56):

Yeah, I would say be more transparent. And then there's also this other side of things where I did a 20 week training program that's five months of my life that I am pouring into this just like blood, sweat and tears, canceling plans, changing how I eat, changing how I work out, waking up, like I said earlier at 5:00 AM before work to go for a run. So it's a huge lifestyle shift and I think a lot of times with running influencers, we only see that part at the very end where it's like, surprise, I'm running the New York City marathon, even though they just ran a marathon a couple of weeks before. First of all, that's not easy. That's crazy. If anyone can do that, I'm still not even ready to run yet. I'm giving myself another week before I get back into it. That aside, we're seeing sometimes this last little bit where it's like, well, they didn't even really train for it.

(07:53):

Well, they didn't put in what I put into it. So I think that that sometimes hinders how it looks, right? So it's like, well, they didn't work as hard for me and all of a sudden work as hard as me, and all of a sudden now they're getting this huge opportunity to go run. And they didn't even train the way that I did. They didn't spend 20 weeks of lifestyle adjustments saying no to things and making compromises because not only was it compromising for me, but even for my fiance, I can't even tell you how many times I thanked him for staying in with me or helping me out do different things, doing more chores and cleaning because I was just too tired to do it. So I think brands being more mindful in that sense to making it more relatable and realistic.

Alexa (08:39):

If you were advising a brand new to the marathon scene, they're just investing their dollars into this massive, massive market, what's one thing you would tell them not to do?

Morgan (08:49):

I would say don't just kind of come into this and start, just throw money and give someone a bib. Do it the right way. Have someone work with someone throughout their training plan, sponsor them through their recovery. Don't just have it be day of, have it be their entire journey because that is much more meaningful and impactful.

Alexa (09:09):

Who do you think actually won the 2025 New York City marathon? Was it brands, creators or the runners? Well, obviously the runners, but the

Morgan (09:16):

Runners a hundred percent. I think brands and creators, they were all along the journey with us. I think there were a lot of things that really stuck out, but I think at the end of the day, it was the best experience of my life, the best experience of a lot of people's lives. And it was fun to see a lot of the different marketing activations along the road, but nothing beats coming off that post marathon like crossing the finish line.

Alexa (09:41):

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for sitting down for The Taylor Ten. It was really exciting, and I know there'll be more marathons in your future, so we'll need to hear how they stack up to New York. Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

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