A twelve-month engagement to build new cultural and lifestyle territory for Altra, alongside what specialty-run already does well. From the team that put four cultural moments in market with Altra over the last thirty days.
Altra's specialty-run and outdoor heritage built the loyal core that drove 35–38% growth and a $250M+ run rate. The blue-sky territory now is cultural. It's adjacent to what's already working, not in conflict with it.
"Culture, running, + wellness."
Altra's Global Brand President Jen McLaren has stated the brand's go-forward thesis publicly: invest at the intersection of culture, running, and wellness. The strategy is articulated. This proposal puts a partner in front of you ready to help build it in market.
"Fairly low."
"Our awareness is still fairly low as a challenger brand in the space, so this really allows us to reach new consumers." That's Jen McLaren in conversation with Footwear News, June 2025. Reported at ~10% in the US at the March 2025 Altra Investor Day. Reaching the next ten percent means going where specialty-run hasn't been built to reach: cultural and lifestyle audiences.
Specialty + lifestyle.
Altra's current wholesale footprint sits in specialty-run and outdoor. Those are the right doors for the brand's heritage, and how the loyal core was earned. Streetwear, concept-store, and lifestyle distribution is the parallel lane. Additive, not competitive. Curative is already operating in that lane.
In April 2026, Curative produced the kind of cultural cycle most internal teams take a year to mobilize. Four moments in market. Fifteen partners introduced alongside Altra. Real receipts.
Team ORUZU was invited to create a team for the world's most exclusive ultra marathon relay race, The Speed Project. Powered by Altra Running, ORUZU's TSP team was assembled to highlight runners of color. The team integrated the brand through their entire TSP experience. The pre-race welcome event featured a team shake-out run, with Pleasures providing a first look at their upcoming Altra collaboration, allowing the team to wear-test the product prior to and during the race. The welcome event highlighted event partners showcasing local POC-owned businesses, brands, and artists. The entire event was a model for what an integrated marketing release can look like: tying specialty SMU product to a marquee running event.
On April 10th, Pleasures partnered with Renegade Running to host a community run celebrating the launch of their upcoming collaboration with Altra Running. Team ORUZU showed up to support the launch while also capturing content for both brands.
A 5K community run plus wellness retreat at a $5M desert estate. Hyperice and LSD Running recovery lounge. Soulection DJs. Kase Real Estate hosting. The "intersection of culture, running, and wellness," operationalized. McLaren's thesis, demonstrated in real space, in real time.
Extended OASIS into a second activation: a trail run with the LSD Running team, capturing content showcasing their new shop tees. Zero cost to Altra. A visibility moment aligning the brand with one of the top specialty-running accounts in the country through cultural content. One event, amplified twice.
Specialty earned the loyalty.
Culture is the next territory.
We've already started.
Curative + ORUZU · Spring 2026
Curative didn't outsource any of this. Every partner above was sourced, briefed, and managed in-house by Curative and ORUZU. Strategy, production, content, project management. All under one roof.
ORUZU is an IYKYK cultural property: small in followers, dense in influence. The followers we have are the people other brands want. The community, not the count, is the asset.
ORUZU exists at the intersection of run culture, lifestyle, and people of color in ultra running. The mission is on the masthead, and on every kit.
It is aligned with brands like Pleasures and stores like Renegade Running and LSD Running — the cultural and retail anchors of LA run culture.
It comes with an in-house content engine, already producing cinematic delivery at every activation.
The followers aren't a vanity count. They are brand founders, creative directors, run-shop owners, photographers, and cultural operators across LA, NY, and Tokyo. The kind of audience other brands pay agencies to reach.
This is not a project engagement. It is a working relationship — already in motion — that we are now formalizing. Three distinct layers, each priced differently, each unlocking different value. They sit on top of each other and compound over time.
Always-on. A monthly retainer covering the strategy, content, community, partnership development, and cultural intelligence that justifies an ongoing engagement, not a project-by-project relationship.
Curative brought The Speed Project to the table. Altra is now in active conversations to become the pinnacle sponsor of both Chamonix (August) and Atacama (November) — two of the three TSP flagship events, in the same year. This is not a future ask. It is already in motion.
"If LALV is a house cat, Atacama is a tiger."
Nils Arend · TSP Founder · May 18, 2026
3 races. 1 IP.
TSP is the most credible underground ultra in the US. "No rules, no spectators." Three editions a year: LA to Vegas (April), Chamonix (August), Atacama, Chile (November). One name, three flagship moments.
Pinnacle.
Both slots.
Chamonix and Atacama are both available as pinnacle partner positions in 2026. TSP evaluates partners on creative freedom and cultural commitment — not checkbook size. Altra's challenger position and culture-first thesis are the strongest fit on the market.
Already
at the table.
Curative has direct relationships with TSP leadership. We made the introduction. We are managing the conversation. This is the output no agency pitches — it is already happening.
Concrete commitments delivered within 90 days of signature. Real moments, real partnerships, real artifacts. Designed to de-risk the 12-month commit by showing immediate execution.
Reviewed at the monthly business review and the quarterly retrospective. Failure on three or more KPIs at any quarterly review triggers a strategy reset, not a termination. Definitions and methodology documented below. Cultural Intel Memo sample available on request before signature.
The standard enterprise services architecture VF already operates inside. One MSA signed once handles the legal framework. Three Statements of Work flow underneath — each scoped to keep individual decisions inside your single-approval lane. The structure your procurement team already has templates for.
Cultural marketing's compounding return. Brand awareness, retailer demand, partnership optionality, content engine. None of these would exist as standalone purchases. The retainer makes all of them happen, simultaneously.
Cultural credibility, retailer demand, partnership optionality, content engine — all from one retainer. None of them would exist as standalone line items. The investment makes all of them happen at once.
Same structure, half the term, lower commitment. Designed to auto-convert to the full retainer if KPIs hit at month 5. One review. One decision. No re-pitch.
At month 5 review, if these KPIs hit, the engagement auto-converts to the full SOW 1 retainer ($30K/mo) for an additional 12 months, plus ongoing per-activation SOWs as scoped. No re-pitch required. If KPIs miss, mutual right to walk.
A senior, owner-operated agency working through one cultural property already in market with Altra. No layers. No account director who'll rotate off in nine months.
Richard Vaughn · CEO
Wally Vu · Creative Director + COO
A senior cultural marketing and creative agency, eight years operating. Two co-founders, both load-bearing on every engagement. Strategic capacity scales as needed via Team ORUZU members assuming project management roles per engagement.
A run culture team built to highlight runners of color, with an in-house content engine, a tested community network across LA and extended globally, and an active partnership with the city's best specialty run store.
Curative's work outside the Altra engagement. Eight years of cultural production across art, music, and tech-adjacent culture.
An immersive Underground Art Rave produced for digital artist FEWOCiOUS during NFT LA Week. Fog and laser-filled entry tunnels, multiple painting surfaces, custom sculptural elements, illuminated furniture, and a 20-foot LED wall. Built on a successful Art Basel collaboration the year prior.
An interactive "jail yard" themed retail booth and art installation for artist Slick at DesignerCon. Smart contract deployment, NFT minting, vinyl figures, resin sculptures, and apparel, all adorned on-site with prison-style flash tattoos as a complimentary purchase incentive.
More at thecurative.co/portfolio
Ready to formalize. Happy to review this proposal whenever you're free. Curative and ORUZU are ready to execute against every section of this document from day one.
Respond / wally@thecurative.co