Endurance marketing with hawkeye Sports and Entertainment (hSE) can expose your brand to a demographic that is affluent, active and influential. One excellent example of the potential that endurance marketing has in capturing the attention of a highly relevant audience is The North Face® Endurance Challenge.
70 million adults are actively engaged in some form of health, fitness or wellness activity. They represent a growing movement that has established a new and very powerful segment within lifestyle marketing. With the growth in popularity of adventure sports, so has grown the effectiveness of endurance marketing. Because of demanding lifestyle choices, the expanding number of adventure activity enthusiasts is proving to be one of the most challenging groups for marketers to credibly and successfully engage.
Luckily, brands seeking to identify and take advantage of endurance marketing opportunities can rely on the professional services and unique resources of hSE to position their products in a way that attracts maximum, targeted consumer attention.
One such opportunity that hSE is proud to highlight is the 2008 North Face® Endurance Challenge, a series of five events held across the nation that showcase both the determination of thousands of running enthusiasts and the compatibility of The North Face® brand with their lifestyles.
Staging multiple events at all five scenic locations, including a 10K race, a half-marathon, a 50K race and a 50-mile race at each, hSE leveraged the natural enthusiasm of the endurance runner for extreme courses against the equity already enjoyed by The North Face® brand. This successfully associated North Face® with endurance running in the minds of a legion of dedicated runners, who may have previously only considered the brand as a viable product for other adventure sports, such as camping, hiking and rock climbing.
In addition to conceptualizing the series of events as an anchor for a nationwide product showcase, hSE utilized a number of vehicles to support the endurance marketing campaign, including press releases, an in-depth website that serves as a registration and informational hub for participants, and on-site promotional materials.
Fostering broad appeal within a niche audience
Though calling any audience consisting of 70 million potential consumers “niche” may seem dubious, the unique, specific interests of the growing adventure enthusiast market provides unique opportunities to target the collective with a message tailored for an individual.
For instance, the website specifically designed to support the North Face Endurance Challenge targets both advanced runners and beginners, including valuable information that appeals to both groups. This includes course ratings in easy to understand language, and step-by-step guides that walk new runners through every step of preparation and the race process.
The events allowed The North Face® brand to connect with athletes and spectators on many levels, including encouraging participants and potential customers to join The North Face® Running Club, sign up for newsletter updates for further touch marketing and the distribution of high-retention promotional materials, including:
- The North Face® technical performance shirt
- The North Face® technical sock
- The North Face® water bottle
- Reusable drawstring race bag made from recycled materials/fabrics
Events were strategically planned at venues across the United States to maximize the national exposure of the campaign, including:
- Bear Mountain, NY
- Seattle-Bellingham, WA
- Washington, DC
- Madison, WI
- San Francisco, CA
The endurance marketing landscape is ripe with opportunities for savvy brands to reach out to an active consumer base through traditional and innovative new methods, and hSE is the agency that delivers effective customer activation solutions that connect brands with consumers through their true passions.
To learn more about the impact of The North Face® Endurance Challenge endurance marketing campaign, or to explore endurance marketing avenues for your brand, contact hSE at (214) 451-1900, or by email.
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