Leeds Building Society Partners With Parkrun
Leeds Building Society has announced a new, three-year partnership with parkrun UK.
Established over a decade ago, parkrun is a volunteer-led, not-for-profit organisation providing weekly, free running events for people of all ages and abilities. parkrun was named Participation Event of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2016, with its junior parkrun event shortlisted for Community Programme of the Year in association with The Supporters Club earlier this year.
The partnership was agreed with the support of Pitch Marketing Group, who worked with Leeds Building Society to identify the opportunity and will be delivering the ongoing activation campaign, with Female Sports Group representing parkrun.
To help engage the parkrun community in the partnership, the launch was accompanied by an animated video (below) explaining parkrun’s story and how it impacts on communities, and why Leeds Building Society is now partnering with the events.
Nick Pearson, parkrun CEO, said: “We are delighted to be working with Leeds Building Society, who we feel we have a real synergy with and the same dedication to supporting communities. They are owned by their members and put a huge amount of time and effort into good causes, particularly through volunteering. Working with such a well-established and nationwide organisation will help us reach out to more communities and help bring more people together, as well as ensuring parkrun stays free for everyone forever.”
Nikki Marsh, Leeds Building Society’s director of customer and digital, said: “Our new research shows that across the UK there’s a real desire for people to meet and get to know others in their neighbourhood, but one in four of adults don’t feel close to anyone at all in their community.
“We believe parkrun, which offers free weekly runs and volunteering opportunities in over 450 locations across the UK, really helps bring communities together. It’s a brilliantly simple way for adults and families to join a local initiative whilst getting fit and active at the same time.
“Like us, parkrun was set up to improve the lives of its members and through our partnership, we’ll be helping more people get involved and supporting projects and programmes that we believe will bring a lasting benefit to those involved, our members and their wider communities, as well as helping ensure parkrun stays free to everyone.”
