Brand and creative direction for a global race series that turns every mile into a concert and every finish into a show.
Role
Creative Direction
Client
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
Scope
Identity · motion · apparel
Years
Multi-season series
The result
One brand system that scaled across a multi-city race series, from start-line arches to finisher medals to a six-part docuseries.
My roleI led brand and creative direction for the race series, from the identity system to the finish-line, apparel, and docuseries work.
01 · The ideaCampaign key art
The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series is not just a race, it is a moving festival: live bands every mile, a headline concert at the finish, and tens of thousands of runners along for the party. My job was to make the brand feel like that promise before anyone laced up.
Every touchpoint had to do two things at once, fire up an athlete and hype a music fan, from the start-line arch to the finisher medal. One idea carried all of it: joy at speed.
Find the one true feeling, then make every surface deliver it. For Rock 'n' Roll, that feeling was joy at speed.
02 · The brand
One system, city to city.
A flexible identity built to travel: a bold display voice, a high-energy palette, and a bib-and-soundwave motif that stayed recognizable whether it landed on a start banner, a jumbotron, or a finisher tee.
Wordmark
Rock 'n' Roll
Marathon Series · Est. energy
Palette
#E5142C
Crimson
#E9B64F
Gold
#0B1019
Ink
#FAF6EE
Cream
#2F9EE0
Sky
Typefaces
Anton
Impact display · headlines
Fraunces
Editorial serif · story
Space Mono
Labels & numbers
Runner bib
Rock 'n' Roll · Marathon
00214
Run · San Diego
Signature motif
Soundwave = the course. Every mile has a band.
Now playing
R'n'R
The finish-line concert
It never stops spinning.
Voice
LoudCelebratoryInclusiveMusic-first
Brand board: display voice, palette, bib, and the soundwave motif. (Recreated artifact.)
Brand, on every surface.
01
Event identity
A display voice and system flexible enough to headline any city on the tour without losing itself.
02
Course & signage
Start lines, mile markers, and finish arches that read at speed and looked huge on camera.
03
Motion & broadcast
Race-day motion graphics and hype content that carried the festival energy to screens.
04
Apparel & merch
Finisher tees and merch runners actually wanted to wear long after the medal came off.
03 · In the world
Live, loud, and on the street.
The system only mattered when it hit the pavement: a start-line arch at dawn, a full concert stage mid-course, medals worth the miles, and merch that kept the show going home.
Start-line arch, dawnFlame-and-guitar banners over a city skyline start
Mid-course concertFists up, band on stage, city at sunset
30+ events
A season of races, one traveling brand
Finisher medalsGuitar-pick series: red, gold, black
Milestones followed the season city to city: the runners chasing a personal best, the bands, the volunteers, and the finish-line moment that ties it all together. Six episodes, one running story.
Episode 01 · Where It BeganThe story behind running to live music
Episode 02 · The Sound of the StreetsEvery mile, another band
Episode 03 · Every Mile a StageThe course as a festival
Episode 04 · The Crowd Becomes the CourseFans, families, and the front row
Episode 05 · Crossing OverFirst-timers to the finish
Episode 06 · The Finish-Line EncoreThe headline show that closes the race
05 · Why running rocks
The campaign for the front row.
Why Running Rocks was the recruitment campaign for the runner who thought 26.2 was not for them. The cultural hook did the heavy lifting: this is not a race with a concert bolted on, it is a live show you run through, set to a band on every mile. The anthem film carried the idea, and social cutdowns of real runners and real crowds kept it loud past race day.
Why Running RocksCampaign anthem film
Campaign energy still
01
The hook
One reframe carried the whole campaign: not a race with a concert, a concert you run through. That line made the marathon feel like a ticket, not a training plan.
02
The film
An anthem film cut to the beat of the course, built to recruit the first-timer and make the veteran feel the front row all over again.
03
The cutdowns
Social cutdowns of real runners and real crowds turned the anthem into a feed that kept the energy running long after the tape dropped.
The film ran alongside a wave of social posts that put real runners and real crowds front and center.
The brand did not stop at the tape. A branded virtual run series let anyone race from anywhere and still earn the hardware: guitar-pick finisher medals and merch built to be worn long after race day. The reward for every mile was a keepsake that still felt like backstage.
Finisher medalsGuitar-pick series in red, gold, and black
Log the distance on your own streets, on your own clock. The tour, unbound from a start line, so no city and no travel budget can lock you out.
02
Branded tracking
A branded log-your-run flow turned every solo mile into a real, shareable finish, complete with the same voice as the live series.
03
Guitar-pick medal
The collectible guitar-pick finisher medal, shipped to your door the moment you cross your own line. Same hardware, same weight, same brag.
04
Finisher tee
A finisher tee and merch built to be worn long after race day: the show you keep wearing once the medal comes off.
The same instinct I bring to any brand moment: find the one true feeling, then make every surface deliver it. For Rock 'n' Roll, that feeling was joy at speed, and it carried from the start-line arch all the way to the medal.
Have a brand that needs to move people?
Identity, campaigns, and event creative with a real idea at the center.
Campaign key art
