Bruce Franke, Former President of MarathonFoto, Rejoins the Company as a Senior Advisor

February 4, 2020

Boston, MA – February 4, 2020 – MarathonFoto, the world’s largest publisher of amateur endurance sports photos, today announced that Bruce Franke has rejoined the company as a Senior Advisor. Franke will serve as a member of the senior management team, focusing on new initiatives in marketing, sales and client relations. Franke has spent more than 30 years in the event photography industry with MarathonFoto and its predecessor companies. He formerly served as the President of MarathonFoto before departing two years ago to pursue other initiatives in the endurance industry.

“We are very excited to have Bruce back on our team,” said Brad Kroll, Senior Vice President of MarathonFoto. “His passion for our industry is just as strong today as it was more than 20 years ago when we first began working together. Now that we are an independent company once again, Bruce will help ensure that we stay at the forefront of innovation and customer engagement.”

MarathonFoto had operated as a division of Iconic Group until November 2019 when it was spun out and merged its operations with Gameface Media Inc. The combined company provides more than 15,000,000 digital images to athletes every year and more than 30,000,000 digital page views every month during its race season.

“It has been a true pleasure to help reignite the energy at MarathonFoto, now that our primary focus is back on endurance sports,” said David Lavallee, Co-Founder and CEO of Gameface Media. “As we look to the future of building and improving upon the legacy platform MarathonFoto developed, we realize that the key ingredient is people. We have a great core team, but to meet our vision we need to enhance that group with a few more great people and I am very happy to have Bruce join our team.”

“I’m thrilled to be re-joining Brad and the MarathonFoto team,” said Franke. “David is a visionary with an entrepreneurial spirit. His energy gets everyone around him motivated to be their very best. I am happy to be working with such a great team to take MarathonFoto to a new level of engagement with our event clients and their participants.”

The combined company will offer a range of solutions for athletes including photos for sale at major marathons and free digital photos at many smaller events across the country. Gameface launched a new model for amateur sports photography five years ago by providing its photos for free to athletes through an innovative sponsorship model. MarathonFoto has been the gold standard for offering photos for sale to athletes for more than 35 years. All endurance sports photos in 2020 and beyond will be provided under the MarathonFoto brand name, although the revenue model will incorporate elements pioneered by Gameface.

Lavallee will continue to lead digital media engagement for the combined company, connecting amateur endurance athletes and leading brands. Past digital photo sponsorship clients include Nike, New Balance, John Hancock, Michelob Ultra, Reebok, Strava and the U.S. Army. Lavallee will also continue to edit and publish Six Minute Mile, the fastest-growing endurance sports email newsletter in the U.S. launched by Gameface in 2018.

About MarathonFoto

MarathonFoto covers more Abbott World Marathon Majors than any other event photography company in the world. For more than 35 years, MarathonFoto has been synonymous with high quality photography services for event owners and amateur athletes. MarathonFoto is a subsidiary of Gameface Media Inc., an innovative media company providing digital marketing engagements that connect brands to amateur endurance athletes. The company’s marketing services routinely deliver significantly higher levels of engagement than standard ad formats. Major global companies like Nike, Reebok, Jeep, JP Morgan Chase and Anheuser Busch have leveraged Gameface’s photos to achieve a wide range of marketing objectives. Gameface’s Six Minute Mile email newsletter provides weekly updates on top news, training and nutrition for endurance athletes.

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Contact:

David Lavallee
Gameface Media Inc.
Co-Founder & CEO
617-901-7172
david@gamefacemedia.com