Run up a spiral car park? On turns cities into playgrounds

Swiss sportswear brand On is doubling down on community-led marketing with the launch of a global race series designed to turn urban running culture into a platformed brand experience, rather than a one-off campaign.

Called the "On squad race", the initiative will travel across major cities including Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo, London, Mexico City, Sydney and Singapore, before culminating in a world final in Los Angeles in September.

The move signals a continued shift in sports marketing towards experience-led and community-first strategies, where participation and cultural belonging are prioritised over traditional product-centric messaging.

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The series kicked off in Beijing on 11 April with a relay-style competition held in a multi-storey car park, a format that will be replicated across global stops. Each event will bring together 40 to 60 local squads of four runners, competing in a four-lap relay built around a spiralling course concept known as “The spiral”, where athletes run down and back up ramped structures before passing the baton.

Beyond the competitive element, the format is designed to embed teams into a shared identity, with squads competing against both time and each other. The fastest team from each city will secure a place at the global final in Los Angeles.

To extend participation beyond race day, squads will receive a limited-edition “On squad race” performance T-shirt, styled after concert tour merchandise, positioning the item as a symbol of belonging rather than just apparel.

The brand will also integrate product trial into the experience, with participants testing its Cloudmonster 3 running shoe on-site, effectively blending community activation with product sampling at scale.

The Singapore edition of the "On squad race" will take place on 13 June at Perennial Business City, with registrations opening in April 2026.

Karl-Johan Bogefors, senior director of brand experience at On, said the series is designed to elevate the role of community within run culture. “With On Squad Race, we're creating more than just a competition; we're building a global platform to celebrate the crews and individuals who are at the heartbeat of run culture,” he said.

He added that the format is intended to connect local communities while reinforcing a shared global identity around running.

The activation reflects how brands are increasingly moving away from isolated campaigns towards recurring cultural platforms that generate sustained engagement across multiple touchpoints. Adidas for example, is also leaning into micro-communities as a core growth strategy, focusing on smaller, high-intent groups such as run clubs and emerging racket sports communities in Singapore, it told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE in a separate interview.

Rather than relying on broad, mass-market activations, the brand is increasingly shifting towards more grounded, everyday spaces where participation already exists organically, from neighbourhood courts to weekend running routes and informal community groups. The focus is less on creating new audiences and more on activating existing ones, turning passion-led communities into long-term brand ecosystems.

Food and lifestyle players are also moving into the space, using shared activities as a way to build emotional relevance beyond their core product. Shake Shack Singapore for example has launched a run club called "Shack track club". In a bid to extend its brand into fitness-led social experiences, Shake Shack is positioning itself not just as a dining destination but as part of a wider urban lifestyle ecosystem where movement, community and consumption intersect.

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