The influencer conversation is always a hot topic because it plays such a big part in so many marketing decisions. I met Regan at TRE and we had a great conversation where I learned a ton. I wanted to make this convo more public for us all to absorb and discuss.
First a couple quick things.
LA Fires. To all of the people affected by the fires in the LA area; it is a deeply traumatic experience. The parallels to the Marshall Fire that affected my neighborhood, friends and family have been chilling. Please don’t think twice about reaching out if it might help to hear about my experience with our children, insurance, home repairs, donations, fundraisers or just persisting anxiety on windy days.
Auteur Sportif. I had a breakthrough this past week and my vision is becoming crystal clear. It’s a lifestyle born from running that emphasizes craft, effort and process. We embody intentional living in a digital world that wants an algorithm to decide our interests. Now it’s time to tell the story. Let’s gooo!
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Now back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .
Regan Cleminson is the CEO of Coastline Creatives which manages some of the most popular digital creators in the running space. She ran track & field in college but after a scare at the Boston Marathon bombing was inspired to embark on her journey from “ice cream to influencers”.
Coastline works with creators in food & lifestyle, cocktail & beverage and sport - the running industry in particular. Within running they work with Erin Azar (@immrsspacecadet), Mike Ko (@Kofuzi), Alex Hermanson (@Herm.runs), Courtney Kitchen (@court.marathon.runner), Tommie Runz (@tommie_runz), Vanessa Fraser (@nessafraser) and many others.
Regan describes the essence of her role as making connections between brand and creator stories. The magic is in that overlap/intersection and good things happen when relevant product stories are embedded within a creator’s journey to achieve their goals.
Here are my notes and takeaways:
Collaboration across industries (16:00). Success has come from running brands pushing outside running to other areas (like food & beverage) and working with creators there. She sees the beauty & travel industries starting to reach into running for creators and is hoping for more crossovers to come about this year.
What a successful creator strategy looks like (19:25). Kofuzi is winning because of his transparency. It creates trust and loyalty that brand marketing could never. The balance between his gear reviews and storytelling is a masterclass. His audience “comes for the specs but stays for narrative.”
Brand/creator opportunities (23:00). Body diversity falls way short in running. Not just with shoes but apparel too. There’s an opportunity for brands to capture feedback from newer runners that don’t feel experienced enough to do so.
Athletes as creators (31:05). Social media has made athletes into creators. The opportunity is to connect with an audience around aspects of their story beyond sport. Pursuing this opportunity is a non-negotiable for financial longevity. As a result of this athlete/creator evolution we now see hybrid agencies popping up like Be Engaged. Coastline currently doesn’t have any certified sports agents on their team . . . yet, but athletes are now being held to a standard as a creator as well. In a sign of the times Regan is now NIL certified just like other sports agents I know.
Female athletes will lead the creator transition (33:35). Women are particularly well positioned for the athlete/creator crossover because they have always needed to be diversified to succeed within a traditional model that undervalued their athletic talents. This is driving the energy in women’s sports and will give it staying power long into the future. This is so spot on!
The Matt Choi situation at the NYC Marathon (37:25). Influencers must remember they are representing not just themselves but their audience and brand partners too. In this case Choi’s ambition reached too far and he lost partnerships as a result. But these moments don’t define the entire industry. Mistakes happen but a creator can’t make the same mistake twice. The creators that listen and adapt will thrive going forward.
2025 predictions (42:30)
This is the year of deeper more interactive engagement including in-person activations. Regan cites Burberry’s “Wrapped in Burberry” campaign using top customers like this couple from Nebraska that has been wearing nothing but Burberry for over 20 years. It’s a story of brand fanatics.
Regan loves the surprise and delight strategy and empowering influencers to do so on behalf of the brand. Creating and amplifying these moments is a big opportunity to build loyalty.
The rise of Instagram broadcast channels. Regan has leveraged these in brand pitches. Because people have opted into them the engagement is sky high.
Strava could be a huge opportunity for running but they need to be less mysterious about how influencers can leverage community there. It’s hard to calculate engagement without any API integration. Tommie Runz gets 1400 kudos on a tempo run and has 20k followers.
Thank you all for reading! I’d greatly appreciate your help to grow this space by sharing or subscribing. And, as always, let’s continue the conversation in the comments and the chat.
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