New York Road Runners, the nonprofit that puts on the TCS New York City Marathon and dozens of other races every year, is hitting the ground running with a new look.
This week, the organization rolled out a new logo and brand platform, its first rebrand in 15 years. The new branding, a shift in emphasis from the initialism to the full New York Road Runners name, was introduced on digital platforms Monday, and its IRL debut will show up at the 2026 United Airlines NYC Half in March.
The rebrand for the organization, which was founded in 1958, comes as running, marathons, and other fitness competitions climb to new heights of popularity around the country, and the new design is meant to position NYRR and its races as more accessible and inclusive.
“We’re excited to be able to really launch it and bring it out into the public when running is so hot,” Juliette Morris, chief marketing and digital officer at NYRR, said during a press briefing about the rebrand. “We want to lean into that [growth] and make sure we’re making it clear [that] all are welcome.”
Run one, run all: The rebrand process technically began a couple of years ago, shortly after NYRR updated its NYC Marathon branding and logo, CEO Rob Simmelkjaer said during the briefing. From there, his team started looking into a refresh of the entire NYRR brand platform, eventually tapping Yard NYC, the creative agency that also worked on this season’s NFL Shop campaign, to help with the process.
The resulting platform and tagline is called “Believe in Every Step,” and will replace NYRR’s previous tagline, “Run for Life.” The new wording is meant to celebrate movement of all kinds, Morris said during the press event.
“It opens up the aperture to people who don’t necessarily consider themselves, today, [to be] runners, or see themselves as runners,” she said.
Torch it: The other major change rolling out this week is to the NYRR logo, which for the past decade-plus depicted a lone male figure mid-stride in between the prominent “NYRR” wordmark. The new logo features three abstract orange shapes that create a symbol inspired by the Statue of Liberty torch, with the organization’s full name, as opposed to its initials, to the right.
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The new design is meant to be “more representative” of the NYRR organization, and of running as a whole, Morris said.
“When you have a singular figure, you can’t communicate that level of inclusion and diversity,” she said.
The torch iconography is inspired by the New York City Marathon’s logo that also depicts the Statue of Liberty, according to Sagi Haviv, partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, the brand consultancy behind the new visual identity.
Marathon and more: NYRR is introducing the new look on its digital platforms beginning today and is set to kick off a yearlong campaign in the spring that will run across NYRR-owned channels and events, as well as on paid media, Morris said.
In addition to its aim to position the organization as more welcoming, the effort is designed to help more people understand what exactly NYRR does, which is inclusive of, but not limited to, putting on the marathon. In a recent survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of NYRR, only about one-quarter of respondents said they were aware NYRR is the organization behind the marathon.
“It’s really important for people to understand what we are, that we are a nonprofit, that we’re more than just the marathon, that we are making an impact in New York City all year long,” Simmelkjaer said. “This new logo, along with the new brand platform…we think really do a better job of reflecting our mission and our vision of creating healthier lives and stronger communities through the transformative power of running.”
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