Community building, self-optimization, digital gadgets and lifestyle aspiration, all targeted on the mass market. As an amateur sport, running combines every aspect of creating brand relations in a modern way and serves as perfect role model for other sports categories.

After Louis Vuitton’s men’s Spring Summer 2020 show, Virgil Abloh appeared in front of the cameras in an unexpected electric blue Arc’teryx Rush Jacket underlining the boundary-blurring between sport and fashion, between performance and lifestyle, and bringing outerwear, luxury fashion and streetwear under one umbrella.

As the internet economy grows, so does the importance of last-mile delivery, which is the final step in the increasingly competitive and costly process of moving items to customers’ homes as quickly as possible. Quick commerce (“q-commerce”) offers significant growth potential expecting to reach a global market size of around Euro 448 billion by 2030.

The world’s leading brands in sports, gaming and technology starting to come together to give players and fans a more connected experience. Emerging technology is changing the way we engage with sports and converts supporters into avid fans through unique digital experiences and hyper-personalized content. As more immersive experiences become available, sports are attracting more people to experience it live and in the virtual world.

In the midst of the pandemic, and with people coming up with all kinds of challenges, I decided to run a 100 kilometer around Englischer Garter in Munich on Good Friday. It was a spontaneous undertaking, inspired by Elisha Nochomovitz running a marathon on his balcony and Jan Frodeno, who set out to complete a full Ironman at his home in Girona the following day. I had written about the importance of supporting your local before, and I kept thinking about what I can do to help my favorite businesses that are serving my daily cup of espresso. During my Thursday run, I came up with the idea of running 100K to raise funds for two my favorite locals - Morso in Munich and Cafe Kraft in Berlin.

Zalando continues to push its Connected Retail program and has signed its first partnership with a mall specialist. The mail-order company has signed an agreement with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (“URW”), which is Europe’s biggest mall owner after its acquisition of Westfield around three years ago.

Humankind is facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. To stop Coronavirus, we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our children, take care of our family. We all want things to go back to normal quickly. But what most of us have probably not yet realized is that things will not go back to normal after a few weeks, or even a few months, of staying at home. Some things never will. Facing such realities, it is tempting to press pause and question how we got here, but it feels prudent to retrace our moves in hopes of unearthing some explanation in the past. Hitherto, COVID-19 offers opportunity and reminds us of something we have lost long ago. This time gives us a chance to rebuild the broken parts of our world and create a life less hurried, but more conscious.

Companies like Rapha, Ryzon, or Soho House have managed to create communities that speak to the human need for belonging. From nature, us humans are social species. People desire an identity and are motivated to become part of a community.

Everybody has their favorite banana bread recipe. It is a common food-of-choice among athletes. It is easy to digest and offers a quick source of energy. I like it to start the day, or fuel up during running with a couple of slices.

Things are changing fast with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. While the The New York Times, Die Zeit, El País and all other media outlets continue to offer a wealth of information, this is my personal take on the situation. I am not a doctor, and the following post is not medical advice. It is, however, a summary of what I have researched, as well as I am sharing my thoughts on the current crisis that we are going through. If you do not have the time to read this post, the key takeaway from this piece of writing is to isolate yourself as good as you can, stay at home and follow further notice by authorities and governments.

Mailchimp, an all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses, has acquired Courier Media, a London-based media company. Courier produces a bi-monthly magazine and newspaper full of educational and inspirational content for modern entrepreneurs and small enterprises, as well as a newsletter, podcast, and events.

Less than two weeks to go until I will embark on an adventure that is beyond anything that I have done to date. Less than 14 days until I will take the first step away from Los Angeles’ Santa Monica pier towards Las Vegas. 550 kilometers lay in front of the team and I until we reach the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.

Pancakes are always great, especially following a nice long run on the weekend. There are super easy and quick to make. In this recipe, I have added banana to the pancake batter, but you can also swap it for other fruits, such as mixed berries or mango, or even combine these with the banana. Also, make sure to add chia seeds to help thicken up the texture and some almond milk to improve the flavor and texture.

Golden Goose, the Italian brand whose deliberately scruffy-looking trainers sell for as much as GBP 1,000, has been sold for just under Euro 1.3 billion from The Carlyle Group to Permira, the private equity firm that also owns Dr Martens and recently acquired Reformation. Permira will buy the business from the US buyout group, which acquired the firm for Euro 400 million just three years ago.

As I have been preparing for The Speed Project in recent weeks, I was especially excited to use the Christmas break to log some longer long runs (pun intended). I completed a few sessions in the hills around our house, being reward with beautiful vistas across the lake and a number of wonderful sunsets. Yet, I aimed to have at least one 100 kilometers run.

Ultra-Trail Cape Town has been one of the most breathtaking and thrilling trails I have had the privilege of running to date. The course was pure bliss and the vibe throughout the weekend was incomparable. Above all, for whatever reason, I have been put a South African flag on my big, which I like to refer to as my second motherland, filling me with additional pride to run the course.   

The 20-time Grand Slam tennis champion is taking a big step toward life after tennis with On Running, a Swiss running brand with a cult following and global ambitions. Despite stressing that he is far from finished playing on the World tour, Federer has started to look at what comes next as he has become an investor in On, which was started in 2010 in Zurich.

Apple’s Research App will allow anyone to opt into research studies and may help the company cement its place in the health ecosystem in the long run. The new app is a part of Apple’s big push into healthcare. Researchers have made no secret that they see big opportunities to learn about human health through all the data being collected by technology devices, such as Apple’s iPhone or Apple Watch. But rather than doing one-off studies, which Apple has done in the past, the Research App allows the company to operate multiple studies at once for a variety of organizations.

I have read “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coehlo for the first time while I was travelling around South East Asia in 2014. Ever since, his words have become a guiding piece to my journey through life, especially the word “Maktub”, which means “it is written” or “it is meant to be” in the Arabic language has had a significant impact on me and my believes. It implies that in life things happen for a reason and correlates to Steve Jobs’ famous Commencement Speech at Harvard in 2005: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

In 2015, I visited Chamonix for the first time and witnessed the start of Ultra-Trail Du Mont Blanc (“UTMB”) - an experience that has changed my life ever since. Hooked by the atmosphere and the magic of this event, I turned UTMB into my life goal. I left the French alpine resort with the ambition to complete the course, turning this endeavor into a part of my everyday life.