We developed the 5ASIDE5K concept end to end, from brand design to key partners, PR and press, and worked with Brooks and Sports Direct for more than four months to bring it to life on Saturday 3 August 2024 at the flagship store on Oxford Street.
To legitimise our positioning and tease our partnership with Brooks, we first launched Atleti Capitan, a seasonal sub-brand and fictional football and run club that let us play in the space.
5ASIDE5K meshed the worlds of running and football in a way that we had never seen before. At first glance, it's a fun bit of wordplay on top of a team-based 5K. But there's more to it than that.
A football-coded 5K race against the backdrop of the Olympics and the Euros, at a time when running is a rapidly rising cultural practice around the world. 5ASIDE5K is of its moment, while also signalling how running and sport in cities can continue to evolve.
For us, 5ASIDE5K was a cross-cultural collision that responds to the current clamour for running but is energised by the eternal spirit of play that football brings out in people. We began asking the question: is the equivalent of cage football for adults in cities a football-coded 5K run? Perhaps. Running a team 5K is far easier in 2024 than playing 5-a-side, thanks to busy schedules and the sheer busyness of London's urban spaces.
For more granular insights on the activation and collaboration with Brooks, download our case study on 5ASIDE5K here.