Nick Bare and the Hybrid Athlete Cinematic Universe
Creating a brand moat in a wildly competitive industry
As a marketer, I am mostly skeptical of marketing. You build an immunity to it after spending so much time working on it. When marketing does work, I perk up. It’s a sign a company is doing something especially right.
Something that caught my attention recently is Nick Bare, Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN), and specifically, their recent Go One More Backyard Ultra. I’ve been following Nick Bare for a while and he has influenced my training (more runs), but the recent Go One More Backyard Ultra seemed like a culmination of their efforts and clarified what’s so smart about them.
They sell an identity, work with influencers to model that identity, and then channel attention towards a defining event. This breaks through the noise and competition of the fitness and supplement space and enables them to build a moat in the massively competitive supplements industry.
Here’s how they do it:
1. Sell an Identity Rather Than a (Supplement) Product
Supplements are one of the most competitive consumer markets. There are tons of companies selling products very close to the raw ingredients, basically entirely differentiated by brand and marketing.
One of the areas of differentiation they do find is features. Some products are tasty, vegan, natural, made from different (clean) ingredients, seed oil free, promote gut health, and countless others. Convincing someone that your feature is better than others is a lot of work and there seemingly aren’t many new “features” left untapped.
The other main way of selling supplements is influencers and endorsements. This has been the case for about as long as people have been famous. All kinds of people, from bodybuilders to reality show stars to podcasters, have their own brand of supplements.
This is an indirect way to sell an identity. The promise is that if you buy a supplement, you’ll be more like the influencer you admire.
BPN is the next evolution of this. They take a more direct approach and sell the identity itself.
I see that identity broadly as the “hybrid athlete.” This is someone who lifts (heavy) weights and runs far. I would say the expanded definition also includes people who challenge themselves to do extreme physical activities (”do hard things”, “go one more”).
Selling the hybrid athlete identity is core to what BPN does and their supplements are along for the ride. It turns out, when done well, identity is a much better differentiator than the abstract features of supplements. You don’t need to understand what the supplements do, you just need to aspire to be a hybrid athlete.
The added brilliance of the hybrid athlete identity is that it expands the market. BPN can provide products to both runners and lifters, where other supplements only really appeal to one or the other.
2. Provide Models for Hybrid Athletes
In a classic influencer structure, Nick Bare would act as the model of the hybrid athlete lifestyle (and he does), but BPN takes it a step further. They include and promote other athletes in multiple ways to create a sort of “hybrid athlete cinematic universe.” They do this in multiple ways:
Sponsoring athletes who are either hybrid athletes or “do hard things” like ultra runner Sally McRae or powerlifter Russel Orhii.
Featuring other athletes in Nick’s videos like Jake Dearden, Dan Churchill, and Ian Fonz.
Having a separate BPN YouTube channel that creates content for other athletes (and performs shockingly well for a secondary channel).
Being the model and providing a blueprint for content in the form of “challenges” like fast marathons, HYROX, The Speed Project, and many more.
This provides a multitude of benefits:
There is constantly content about being a hybrid athlete, validating the lifestyle. The definition (and reach) expands further and further. People who want more hybrid athlete content, get more.
Rather than people following an individual like Nick, they feel like they are part of a movement. This again increases the potential reach.
Content creators can also ride this wave by identifying as hybrid athletes and following the template Nick provides. Searching “hybrid athlete” uncovers many others with a similar style and structure of video. This ultimately leads to more hybrid athlete content.
All of this powers the hybrid athlete cinematic universe (and sells more supplements along the way).
3. Channel Attention Into Crossover Events
Like any good cinematic universe, crossover events are what really excite people. When channeled, these break through the noise and reach people they never would have reached.
Although Nick sometimes includes other athletes in his videos, hybrid athletes train together, and some may attend the same events, getting the full power of the crossover requires manufacturing. BPN did just this with the recent Go One More Backyard Ultra.
The race featured 125 runners from around the globe completing a 4.2 mile loop every hour on the hour until one person remained. Yes, this means people ran hundreds of miles over multiple days. The race actually ended in a tie after 2 days and 235 miles, finishing in a huge storm.
Multiple members of the hybrid athlete cinematic universe like Truett Hanes, Lucy Davis, and Jonny Davies participated as well as people adjacent like Zach Pogrob. Both the participants and the brand got content, attention, promotion, and followers both leading up to the event and coming out of it.
But ultimately, BPN is a business and they care a lot about the money. So how did they follow up this burst of attention? The launch of a new product, a pre-workout for endurance athletes. This perfectly aligns with the event and with hybrid athletes more broadly.
This is how a brand becomes a moat. Few are going to have the patience to build up a brand over years, attract such a dedicated following (who will run 100s of miles), and then coordinate a huge event like this (and do it repeatedly). It shows that the BPN athletes aren’t the only ones who are committed to doing hard things, the business is too.
Dude, yes. I was glued to the screen watching the G1M backyard ultra and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.