✳️ The Spring Energy Influencer Debacle

On the role of influencer marketing in the running industry after Spring Energy.

Hey pals,

Work is forever growing so apologies to that i didn’t post last week. My frequency of posting will take a hit over the next couple of months, but I’m sure you’ll survive.

Spring Energy’s not so Awesome sauce hit a nerve this week and has consequences for a sport that has become more data and science led, influencers who are seen as the new faces of credibility and fledgling brands who rely on the influencer’s status to reinforces their claims of innovation.

Let’s discuss.

Hope you have a great week!

Matt

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The recent controversy surrounding Spring Energy's (not so) “Awesome Sauce” gel has rumbled the North American running community, shining a spotlight on an important but often overlooked category in the running space and the reliability of the nutritional claims made by popular brands.

The timeline of these activities is long, but the general summary is:

• People on Reddit began claiming the ‘Awesome Sauce’ gel contained significantly fewer calories and carbohydrates than advertised

• Spring didn’t respond

• Redditors got the gels tested which verified their claims

• Spring brushed it aside as an issue with the consistency in their manufacturing

• Jason Koop came flying in with more scientific tests and started swinging for his favourite coaches Sage Canaday and David and Megan Roche

• The Roche’s issued an apology

and now we’re left in a miasma of social media fury as runners and “experts” alike bang heads over the implications of this apparent deception.

At the heart of this controversy lies a fundamental issue: trust in functionality. Runners rely on brands like Spring Energy to fuel their performance, and many had faith in Spring Energy's commitment to transparency and quality, given their focus on "real food" ingredients. The discovery that one of their flagship products failed to deliver it’s marketed benefits has left many feeling Spring cost them their performance, caused injury and more generally betrayed and disillusioned.

This sense of betrayal is compounded by the broader context of the running industry, which often relies on bold claims and influencer marketing to attract customers. From AG1 to UCANN, brands frequently use hype and influencer endorsements to stand out and rapidly gain credibility in a crowded market. This strategy can leave runners navigating a confusing landscape of promises and half-truths, unsure of which claims to trust.

One significant aspect of the Spring Energy scandal is the growth in the role of influencer marketing in how products in running are marketed. As high-profile coaches and athletes have begun to carve out a social media presence for themselves, their unique trusted position and following makes their bodies, opinions and posts prime real estate for fledgling brands seeking a greater share in their market.

Influencer marketing has become a central tenet to any media plan due to the multifarious roles they can play at a relatively low price. Few channels offer the ability to both build influential reach amongst a primed audience, make non-customers reconsider their brand preferences and, ultimately, drive short term sales boosts. Many channels can do each of these aspects, some better than others, but the way people are influenced today has flipped on it’s head where individuals have as much or even more cultural cache than media businesses. To gain cultural credibility in your target audience at a low cost in a relatively short space of time, influencers have become the go-to vehicle for driving those perceptions.

Influencer partnerships can also bring valuable insights and credibility to product development. Experienced athletes and coaches understand the nutritional and performance needs of runners and can help create effective, targeted products. When these collaborations are transparent and based on genuine belief in the product, they can foster stronger customer belief in the functionality of the product.

However, the Spring Energy debacle exposes the potential pitfalls of influencer marketing. The overstated nutritional content of the gel has led to accusations that influencers were more focused on promoting the brand than ensuring the product's accuracy and integrity. This raises concerns about conflicts of interest and the potential for influencers to prioritise personal gain over the well-being of their followers. In the Roche’s case, they’ve made their position clear that they regret the partnership with Spring but ultimately weren’t involved in the product composition and haven’t actively promoted in for years.

(In an unhinged twist, Jason Koop thought this was a prime opportunity to get one up on other coaches. If you want to advance a cause, do it with open debate, not click-baity videos and ad-hominem attacks. )

This controversy hit a particularly sensitive spot in the endurance sports community as it grated against the growth of the data and scientific side of the industry. Following the likes of triathletes who maniacally use data in their quest for incremental training gains, ultrarunning has begun to see more scientific studies and data markers, such as HRV, that runners are implored to follow or forever underperform. As such, functionality, data and innovation have become ever more important for brands to market themselves by to cater to these spreadsheet warriors. Runners and coaches have tied their personality and online rapport to this to get an edge over others, spurring the Koop-Canaday debacle amongst others. When the basis for these claims is undermined, the sparks fly, and the community’s trust in the industry’s claims of functionality and performance are hit hardest.

The fallout from this controversy could have implications for how brands approach influencer marketing in the running industry. As more runners become aware of the potential for deception, they may grow skeptical of influencer endorsements and seek alternative independent sources of information and advice. Could we see a more scientific source of information for supplements?

This shift could pressure brands to prioritise other channels for communication of their functional benefits over the use of sparkly influencer marketing campaigns. But when few options give the same credibility boost that influencers do, i can’t see this proportion of spend changing, rather the demands and guidelines being tightened.

Ultimately, the Spring Energy controversy is a reminder of the complex and sometimes fraught relationship between influencers, brands, and consumers in the running industry. While influencer partnerships can drive product innovation and engagement online , they must be approached with care and transparency to maintain trust and uphold the industry's credibility.