Comrades Marathon Centenary Brand Identity
100th running of the Comrades Marathon brand identity
Comrades Marathon required a new look to celebrate the centenary running of the Comrades Marathon which would take place in 2027. The requested agencies to pitch and propse some logo concepts within the pitch. You guessed it, AlienNation was awarded with the task of creating an identity that would go down in history.
We weren’t simply being asked to create a commemorative logo. We were being entrusted with a piece of South African history. And that changed everything.
Creating a centenary brand identity demanded that we look backwards before we could design forward. The story of Comrades did not begin with a marketing campaign, a sponsorship or even a race. It began with remembrance.
It Started With One Bead
Our creative idea began with something incredibly small:
A single bead.
One bead.
One step.
On its own, a single bead has little significance. A single footstep changes very little, but bring thousands of beads together and they can create something remarkable. Allow billions of footsteps to follow one another over generations and they create an enduring legacy. That relationship became central to the identity.
Across Africa, beadwork has long been associated with ideas of identity, heritage, community and belonging. Individual beads—different in colour and character—are brought together to form something greater than any one piece.
We saw a powerful parallel with Comrades. Because there is no single Comrades story. The race has been built collectively by the runners, volunteers, organisers, supporters, families and communities who have become part of it.
Individual stories. Individual footsteps. One extraordinary legacy.
That idea gave us the visual language from which the Centenary identity could grow.
Before the Runners, There Were Other Footsteps
Creating a centenary brand identity also demanded that we look backwards before we could design forward. The story of Comrades did not begin with a marketing campaign, a sponsorship or even a race. It began with remembrance.
