First running apps campaign checklist

A first running apps campaign at founder scale. Numbered so you can stop lying to yourself about which step you skipped.

Confirm a live listing whose first screenshot is time, distance, and a map you can keep private actually closes. Creators cannot fix packaging.
Write the avatar in a sentence: US English, 25-38, already bounced off Strava kudos anxiety and a Garmin they cannot afford to replace, watches ‘I hate Strava now’ and easy-run-is-still-a-run videos after a dark 5pm loop.
Write the problem in their mouth: I wanted to record a slow loop and instead I got a comment from someone I see at the grocery store.
Write what they already quit: Strava they muted, Nike Run Club they opened twice, and a Garmin whose charger is in another bag.
Write what they watch: Strava kudos anxiety, easy-run defense, ‘my watch died at mile 2’, couch-to-5k restarts.
Write the reject: the sub-3 marathoner whose grid is race photos and who will not talk to a 12-minute mile.
Write adjacent so the phone does not smear: walk breaks, dark-after-work loops, not Boston qualifying.
Put that sentence into the brief
Scroll as them on a fresh Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube account. Example to look for: someone turning off Strava flybys because a neighbor commented on an easy run. Signal: the same easy-run defense face two weeknights in a row.
Keep a 50k average-view floor. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink.
Skip #runningapp as a roster method.
Email. The contact is usually in a bio next to a training-plan PDF or a shoe storefront; say this is an app post. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number.
If they won’t give a number, move on. Shoe affiliates quote apparel rates because that is the real deal.
On the call, Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Talent extra.
Send the contract while the yes is still warm. Scout $1,500 / Outreach $2,500 / Dealmaker $5,000.
A working GPS log they can take on tonight’s loop.
Tell them what to film: start the run, take a walk break, save it as private. That is the demo. Do not ask for a PR montage. Ask them to log a walk-break run and keep it private on camera.
Give each creator their own code. Unique App Store codes, not a Strava screenshot with your name in a comment.
Do not run a launch day on the same morning if you wanted isolation.
Two follow-ups, then stop. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.

Doing the scroll by hand is kind of soul-crushing. Like one Boston-qualifier video and the phone will leave the 12-minute-mile people. No demo. No download guarantee. You approve every creator and every rate.

Easy-run defense already has the audience; a log that does not publish to a feed can be the relief.

First running apps campaign checklist

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