Today we’d like to introduce you to Kari and Emily.
Hi Kari and Emily, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Kari: As a kid growing up in Oregon, I was always super competitive. I loved the intensity and fun that sports offered me. Pushing my physical and mental limitations was something I craved and eventually, it gave me the opportunity to play softball professionally.
After playing as a division 1 athlete and a professional in Europe, I wanted to find a career that would allow me to stay close to sports and fitness. I needed to transfer my knowledge and leadership skills as an athlete in the business world. After my softball career ended, I went on to manage fitness clubs where I learned the ins and outs of the fitness club business. After that, I was hired by Gatorade to play a variety of marketing roles where I had the privilege to lead marketing teams and learn from some of the best and brightest sports marketing minds in the game. After working for Gatorade for six years, I returned to my fitness roots and started working for the largest fitness equipment manufacturer in the world, Life Fitness. At Life Fitness, I focus on leading global teams to create digital fitness experiences for cardio equipment in multiple languages that are used in fitness facilities around the world.
With all these experiences, I have a unique and in-depth understanding of the sports and fitness market – specializing in how brands differentiate themselves. This led me to the founding of Sweat Marketing Lab. I created Sweat Marketing Lab to help sports and fitness brands stand out, and to teach up-and-coming brands how to tell their stories and leave their mark on the world.
Emily: I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania where everyone knew each other and small town sports consumed Friday nights. As I graduated high school, hung up my soccer cleats for the last time, and headed off to Penn State, I knew I needed to find an outlet to fill that competitive spirit I had grown to love on the soccer pitch.
At Penn State I took their course on becoming a fitness instructor while also interning for the Penn State Football team in the marketing and branding department. This is where my love for being a part of the experience that sports and fitness are finally became a reality.
I spent countless hours racing between the fitness building and the football building (and sometimes going to class – sorry mom and dad).
After graduation I knew that being a fitness professional would need to be a part of my life as I continued on as a marketer. Since my days at Penn State, I have moved across the country for several jobs in marketing while teaching for Equinox on the side. There is something so powerful about sports and fitness and the way you tap into people’s most emotional side during these moments. It’s a marketers dream to be able to sit between the two worlds and help develop life changing memories for people.
Kari and I met a few years back and hit it off immediately as we realized the parallel paths we had in our careers, our shared love for sports and fitness, and our vision for how we could help more people and brands bring their sports and fitness brands to life. And so, Sweat Marketing Lab was born.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Kari: Obstacles and challenges are part of the game. In softball, striking out is part of the game. In fact, if you are successful and get on base 1 in 3 times at-bat, you’re an all-star. This means you’re failing most of the time. One thing I’ve learned is the more focused you can be, the sooner you can bounce back after failure. The faster you get your head back in the game – the more successful you’ll be.
In college, I had shoulder surgery, which forced me to re-learn how to throw a softball. Something that had always been so natural to me suddenly was painful and slow work. However, I learned to be patient and trust the process. Eventually, after months sitting on the bench and spending mornings and evenings rehabbing my shoulder, I was able to return to the game.
Business is not that much different than sport. I’ve had my fair share of adversity in business, whether being laid off, missing sales targets, or being passed up for a promotion. Through my failures, I’ve learned how to be resilient, remain focused on the goal at hand, and to pivot when necessary to continue moving forward. At the end of the day, if you are not failing, you’re not learning. If you’re not learning, you’re not getting better.
Now, as I work to build and scale Sweat Marketing Lab as an entrepreneur, failure is absolutely part of the game. The ability to be gritty and keep going even when it’s hard is a prerequisite in being a business owner and building a brand. Fortunately, I’ve experienced some tough lessons that have taught me how to keep going, even when times are challenging.
Emily: Challenges and failures look different to different people, and they can even look different across different life phases. One of the things I was taught early on about facing failures is to brush them off, sure, but more than anything, learn from what got you to the failure, brush off your knees, and get back out there to try again.
My parents are entrepreneurs so our household was filled with stories of both successes and failures. I am forever grateful to have been raised in a household where failures were deemed as feedback, not as fatalities. I face challenges every day, most people do, business is no different. As we look to create this brand, I am reminded often that the passion we bring to the table (ok, and a lot of stubbornness from both of us) is what propels us forward when things get tough.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We help sports and fitness businesses build powerful athletic brands and market themselves. From Gatorade and Nike to Fitbit and the NFL. We’ve been in the trenches with the best marketing minds in the game. Sweat Marketing Lab is our never-ending quest to chase our best in the gym and in life. We know what it takes to make a brand go from idea to iconic. We design customized sports and fitness marketing and branding strategies to help brands take their game to the next level.
First, we align on your brand identity, vision, and goals. Next, we design a brand strategy that will set you apart from the pack. The foundation for any successful business is to get crystal clear on who you are as a brand. What do you stand for as a brand? Where do you want to go?
Once we solidify your brand strategy and identity, then we create a marketing plan with the specific marketing tactics and targets that will set you up with the action items you need to make your mark and take your brand to new heights.
Services Include Marketing and Brand Strategy Consulting, Workshops, and Media kits.
Coming Soon! We will be launching an online brand-building course in the Fall.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Some of my favorite books are 1. Shoe Dog, Phil Knight. 2. Can’t hurt me, David Goggins 3. Rise of Superman, Steven Kotler 4. Born a crime, Trevor Noah. 5. Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert 6. Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation, Idirs Mootee
Favorite Podcast: Finding Mastery
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sweatmarketinglab.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sweatmarketinglab
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sweatmarketinglab
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sweat_marketing
Image Credits
Kristen Karhio
Karhio Creative
