Warren Mauger, founder of Spike Productions, and more recently known for long distance running has won the coveted Healthspan Excellence in Marketing
Award with running partner Philip Smith, for their campaign promoting the 7 marathons in 7 days challenge they took on in August 2014
The Judges were impressed with “how in a very short time the 7in7 brand has gained island-wide recognition and admiration through the clever use of Twitter and local public relations.”
The 7in7 Challenge, running seven marathons in seven days, was created to raise £20,000, split between two charities, which would change lives and raise awareness of those charities.
The challenge was to do something that would cut through the noise of a busy charity sector by doing something that had never been done in Guernsey before.
The strategy was to create awareness and momentum in the lead-up to the event and to transfer this into action during the week – the main period in which we expected to raise funds.
This was achieved through the use of digital platforms, primarily Twitter, driving the campaign, supported by traditional marketing collateral such as posters, fliers and wristbands.
The event also engaged with the running community, many of whom participated and became ambassadors for the cause.
Early in the process we met with all the mainstream media to discuss how we could help them cover this effectively; this dialogue was essential in gaining widespread coverage, enabling us to get a significant cut-through rate.
The challenge succeeded by exceeding the fundraising target of £20,000, with over £2,000 of this total being handed directly to Philip and Warren as they ran.
The campaign had to be bold enough to capture the community’s imagination and to convert awareness into donations. Using a highly integrated digital and traditional campaign, we were able to effectively engage all age ranges and demographics.
The strategy included:
- • Social media
- • Community engagement
- • Blogging
- • PR
- • Poster sites.
End of Seafood Sunday treadmill marathon
We regularly updated social media whilst running the marathons and responded to those engaging with us. A GPS tracking platform enabled our progress to be tracked live.
Our Twitter stats from 11th-25th August included over 588,000 impressions, over 1000 interactions, 528 mentions and 499 retweets.
We sent out a blog regularly pre-event and daily during the event.
We engaged with the community running a marathon on treadmills during Seafront Sunday and using the OSA Pop-Up Shop. On both occasions we spoke to people about the Challenge and handed out branded collateral.
The relationship with the print and broadcast media was also essential. Prior to, and during, the event we received extensive coverage from:
- • Island FM
- • Guernsey Press
- • BBC Radio
- • CTV
The start and finish locations of all seven marathons were chosen to maximise exposure. Finishing with the Guernsey Marathon was also key in ensuring our event stood out in the community.