Mizuno Running app benefits Back on My Feet: Prepare to pass your digital baton

May 19, 2014

Starting today, May 19, Android and iPhone owners can download the Mizuno Baton app, log as many miles as they can in one week, and help Mizuno Running raise money for Back on My Feet, a nonprofit that promotes the self-sufficiency of homeless people by engaging them in running to build their confidence and self-esteem.

After downloading the app at either the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, users must activate it to begin the countdown. They then have seven days to run as many miles as they can. After each run, which is tracked by the app, Mizuno Running donates $1 per mile to Back on My Feet. If users click “Pass the Baton,” they can choose to share their donation total, uploaded photos and information about the app through Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS. “This share functionality is the ‘baton’ or relay component of the app,” explains Project Leader John Sokolowski. “It generates an automatic Twitter or Facebook message encouraging others to take the baton.”

The desktop and mobile microsite IfEverybodyRan.com is the hub for the program, where anyone can see the miles run and dollars raised to date, as well as leaderboards for individuals and states. The photos users upload after their runs are posted there, too. August 18 is the last day to activate the app, and the program ends seven days later, on August 25.

“We wanted to make an app that Josh Souter, the creative technologist behind the Mizuno Baton, called ‘wicked simple’ — in design and in functionality,” said Senior Producer Megan Wade. “Run, donate, share. That’s it.” She gave the client kudos, too: “They are always willing to hear our ideas and are very easy to work with.”

Because both Mizuno Running and Back on My Feet believe that running can lead to personal transformation, the partnership is natural. During the six-month program, those experiencing homelessness attend early-morning runs with volunteers three to four times a week, participate in community-building exercises and take three financial literacy seminars. When finished, they have access to partnerships formed by Back on My Feet, including access to training, employment and housing resources. Mizuno will donate up to $100,000 during this program.

Between May 19 and August 18, the app and nonprofit partnership will be promoted via print ads in Runner’s World, Flash banners and bus shelter OOH ads in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. If you’re logging some miles near Central Park this summer, you may run right past one.