The Demo Site

At least they are if you’re running the New York City marathon. “They/Big Brother” is the athletic apparel maker Asics. The company is organizing a “shoe count” team to see how many NYC Marathon runners are wearing their brand.

They’ve done it the last two years. Here’s what they found:

2007 55%
2008 51%

According to the company they collect the info by having employees count one specific brand of footwear each during the 2.5 hours after the winner crosses the marathon finish line. I have no idea how they can claim any “accuracy” with these results but I do appreciate the effort.

The shoe count team will be back at it again this year, so if you are running New York this year and see someone staring intently at your feet at the finishers area, it’s probably them. Or just a New York city nutcase. Either way don’t make eye contact and just keep moving.

In other Asics news, the company commissioned a study of 80 million European runners. It seems they are all in a New York State of Mind. 15.2 million Europeans say New York is the top of the list of marathons they wish to run.