Active Overwatch 012

Here’s what we got this week in the business world of health, fitness, & wellness:

🗞️ The Story - Ladder announces integration with Strava.

📈 The Strategy - 2XU & District Vision’s Badwater 135 Ultramarathon collab.

🛍️ The Product - Satisfy Running partners with Crocs to launch trail running shoe.

The Story

Ladder announced their newest app integration with Strava.

Members of Ladder can now connect to their Strava account via the Ladder app.

So now all of your strength training workout stats from Ladder will be shared to your Strava community (currently only available on iOS).

Founded in 2020, Ladder has been climbing the ranks quickly and currently ranks #51 in free health & fitness apps.

While Strava has been around since 2009 and sits at #9 in the rankings.

Great integration by the newer kid on the block with the seasoned vet.

I have 2 takeaways from this for you:

First - Many newer companies are closed off to the idea of working with adjacent companies in the space.

One of my biggest gripes with fitness apps is they may solve a specific need of mine, but they rarely speak to each other.

I have to track lifts, runs, eating, sleeping, etc… All in separate apps that don’t integrate with one another.

This causes extreme app bloat on my phone.

And in turn, makes me delete apps because they aren’t worth it.

Swallow your pride and partner with other companies in the space.

A rising tide lifts all ships.

Second, which follows a similar line of thinking to above - Too many companies try to be everything for everyone.

The Apples and Microsofts of the world didn’t start off with their full suite of products.

And even at the individual product level within those companies, the iPhone didn’t start out as complex as it is today.

Nail ONE thing for ONE customer.

Be so perfect that the one customer you are targeting can’t say no to your product.

Then layer on integrations from other apps to expand your offering.

Then in the background you can work on in-house versions of those integrations.

But don’t be too stubborn and slow expansion efforts because you want to build everything for everyone in house on your own.

The Strategy

Death Valley, California hit 128 degrees last week, one of the hottest days ever recorded on earth (134 is the hottest).

And the two brands, District Vision & 2XU, turned this weather moment into a one of a kind collaboration.

So this historically hot day in Death Valley, just so happens to be the location of the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon taking place on July 22nd.

And these 2 brands came together and asked:

What kind of apparel not only helps you compete in this weather, but also just simply survive?

This question was the inspiration for a collab capsule by District Vision and 2XU, driven by performance, design, and modularity.

Specifically designed for these grueling conditions.

And specifically designed for the upcoming Badwater Ultramarathon.

They put together 9 pieces of apparel including tops, bottoms, and accessories.

And will be outfitting athletes at this race to showcase the potential life and death difference that gear can make.

Sure, that may sound drastic… But in conditions like this, it certainly can happen.

This is a sweet collab, and also a great example of how brands can take relevant news and create products + marketing opportunities that align with their brand.

The Product

Satisfy Running partners with Crocs to launch trail running shoe.

A foam clog that “offers the fusion of rugged durability and effortless comfort”.

Built for post-run, pre-run, or any adventure in between.

It blends the Croc signature look with the high end fashion design from Satisfy Running.

My quick thoughts:

The popularity of stylish foam shoes in the activewear space has grown quite a bit in recent years.

From brands like Kane, Hoka, Oofos, and Stand.

But the brands above have all focused on foam shoes built for recovery.

Nobody has come out with something for running.

Until this Satisfy Running and Crocs collab.

Now the benefits of a foam structure shoe is the breathability, cushioning, and they typically have a wide toe box.

And with foot comfort and support being so crucial for running, I can see the argument that foam running shoes could be good for shorter distances.

So it’ll be interesting to see how these shoes perform.