CHALLENGE
• Firmly position Lucozade Sport as a credible sports performance brand by making it an integral part of the Virgin London Marathon experience for all those running
• Build brand saliency amongst Virgin London Marathon (VLM) runners of all abilities
• Increase propensity to purchase and consumption amongst runners
• Use the 2012 Virgin London Marathon to help amplify Lucozade’s new Faster. Stronger. For Longer. communications campaign
SOLUTION
• Lucozade Sport Marathon Hub (Digital and Social Media) - Essential running information was made available through the Lucozade Sport Marathon hub on http://www.lucozade.com/perform/running/marathon-hub/ offering detailed training plans, downloadable pace bands, nutrition and hydration advice and a host of top tips from the Lucozade Sport Performance Team.
• Lucozade Sport Performance Zone at the VLM Expo – Team of Lucozade Sport Scientists on-hand to offer last minute advice to runners, product relevance education, pace bands distributed to help runners pace an even race, running essentials given away e.g. Vaseline pots, safety pins and ponchos.
• Lucozade Shop at the VLM Expo – full product range available for runners to purchase as well as an exclusive Lucozade Sport Marathon Survival pack (MSP) developed to provide the optimum mix of products to help runners fuel, hydrate and recover on race day.
• Race Day Activation - five fuel stations delivering 160,000 bottles of 330ml Lucozade Sport Body Fuel and two Lucozade Sport Carbo Gel stations delivering 60,000 carbo gels to ensure runners were properly fuelled and hydrated for their entire race, additional on-course activity included a gospel choir and samba band at mile 23 to keep runners motivated and energised all the way to the finish line and at mile 19 a live outdoor broadcast was set up with talkSPORT, Lucozade’s 2012 media partner which amplified the brand’s race day presence.
RESULTS
A sponsorship tracker, commission by Lucozade, was undertaken by Havas, the results of which indicated:
Building Brand Saliency
• More sports participants and runners were aware of Lucozade Sport’s London Marathon Partnership than any other sponsor aside from title sponsor Virgin and ahead of higher investing partners such as adidas.
Building brand credibility in running
• Perceptions towards the brand were highly positive as a result of its contribution to the London Marathon partnership
• Lucozade Sport was perceived as an integral performance partner by runners only just behind Nike & adidas.
Increase propensity to purchase and consume
• The Havas sponsorship tracker indicated a genuine sponsorship effect, with those who were aware of the partnership far more likely to purchase and consume Lucozade Sport as opposed to its competitors
• In the 3 days before the race itself, the Lucozade brand store at the Expo sold over 1,000 Marathon Survival Packs.