A picture of a female Impact Runner running an Impact Marathon in Guatemala. The runner is running downhill from the Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala.

Impact Marathon

Rebranding • Graphic Design • Digital marketing

Impact Marathon is a UK-based organization working in different countries around the world, using the power of running to uplift communities.
Year
2021
Credits

Client: Impact Marathon
Art Direction & Design: Christa Ponce
Strategy & content: Liza Ponce
Photography: Impact Marathon

the challenge

Impact Marathon is a global running series with races across 4 continents, based in the UK. However, their business model is different to a standard race organisation. They focus on the social impact of each event, combining volunteering with running. Their clients, or 'Impact Runners' as they are known, are extraordinarily mixed and diverse as they attract runners from each of the local communities they serve, as well as international runners. 

Due to Impact Marathon’s fast business growth, the branding lacked continuity and a clear identity. Their templates and designs were made for each local market, usually under the time constraints and pressures that come hand in hand with event planning. For this reason, they wanted to bring all the branding together with a more professional, consistent, and energised branding.

A visual summary of the rebranded logo for Impact Marathon. The brand is also applied to Impact Marathon's Instagram. The Instagram feed displays the general look and feel defined for the brand, including use of photography, logos, and color palette.
our approach

As they had been successfully growing for 5 years, this was not intended to be a full rebrand, we were tasked with taking concepts such as their 'impact runner motif', which enjoyed a loyal following and strong brand recognition within the running world, and building the rules to cross platforms and cultures.

At the core of each race is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We wanted to bring that back to the core of the brand, this is what Impact Runners are running for. Each race has a primary SDG and the logo colour palette represents this. By adding these vibrant colours into the branding, we created a framework that would keep the core imagery the same, but identify the races not according to location, but according to Impact. 

We took some time to professionalize the 'impact runner motif', bringing the runner into a better physical alignment and enclosing within the hexagon to give context and a strong brand stamp. 

We continue to create branding that crosses multiple platforms, from their race tees, to their Instagram. From their website, to their team handbooks. Due to their wide ranging geographical locations our brand concepts must represent Nepal, as well as Guatemala. Malawi, as well as the UK.

An image of a person sitting on a red couch while reading the Sunday Rundown, Impact Marathon's weekly mailing of recommendations by Impact Marathon's founder Nick Kershaw.
An image display a series of 4 Impact Marathon's posts on Instagram for Guatemala by Impact Marathon early in 2022. The posts display the different routes and elevations for the 10k, 21k and 42km marathons around Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala.An image of marketing material design of the launch of Scotland by Impact Marathon, the first United Kingdom event from Impact Marathon in 2022. The image shows a mobile phone with one of the mailings the runners who signed up received and a series of 4 designed posts for Instagram following the branding for Scotland's race.
Our client's thoughts

Bonito took a massive strain off of me! I had a clear vision for what I wanted us to represent: our values and our energy – but how does that look visually? The team approaches all their work with genuine care for our dreams, I feel supported.

Nick Kershaw
Founder & CEO of Impact Marathon
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