Building a Global Brand with a "Nothing to Lose" Mentality | David Allemann (Co-Founder, On Running)

What happens when you combine Swiss engineering, an ex-consultant, an advertising expert, and a garden hose? You get On, one of the fastest-growing sportswear companies on the planet.

In this episode of The Business of Creativity, co-founder David Allemann pulls back the curtain on how a tiny Swiss startup disrupted global athletic giants to become a publicly listed powerhouse. David breaks down the exact frameworks they used to balance high-level creative design with brutal functionality, why traditional market research would have killed their iconic logo, and how they turned a standard athlete endorsement with Roger Federer into a massive co-entrepreneurial win.

ABOUT THE SERIES The Business of Creativity is hosted by Sir John Hegarty, one of the most awarded creative minds in advertising history. Each episode brings together founders, entrepreneurs and creative leaders who have used creativity to build category-defining businesses and reshape industries.

Learn more about The Business of Creativity at: https://businessofcreativity.com

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🕒 TIMESTAMPS 02:24 — The "Boy Group" Dynamic: How assembling co-founders with completely distinct, non-overlapping skill sets creates the perfect entrepreneurial alignment. 03:24 — The "Vis Tech" Framework: Why visible technology beats heavy marketing every single time, and how to make your innovation immediately scannable to the consumer. 06:26 — Deciding to Leap (The "What If" Mindset): How the co-founders used a mountain hike to flip their perspective from "what's the risk?" to a "nothing to lose" mentality. 12:50 — Stripping It Back to Basics: Navigating the creative tension between form, fashion, and functionality without letting decoration compromise your product's core integrity. 16:17 — Defeating the Consumer Committee: Why relying too heavily on traditional market research leads to a "bland leader" instead of a "brand leader"—and why leaning into your product's "weirdness" is your ultimate moat. 17:54 — Capitalising on Macro Timing: Launching out of a crisis (the post-financial crash era) and using industry stagnation to trigger massive, disruptive innovation. 19:52 — Flipping the Athlete Endorsement Model: The inside story of the Roger Federer partnership—turning a traditional, passive sponsorship into a genuine entrepreneurial investment. 21:30 — Scaling Globally Without Losing Your Soul: Inside the strategic decision to IPO, and why retaining majority voting control is crucial for playing the long game over hitting quarterly targets. 27:51 — The Cost of Delaying Category Expansion: David shares his biggest strategic regret—waiting too long to branch from footwear into apparel—and how category anchoring affects brand perception.

#entrepreneurshipbusinessowner #BrandBuilding #MarketingDisruption #businessofcreativity #CreativeBusiness #OnRunning #businessofcreativity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices