Race Across AMerica
The Race Across AMerica (RAAM) is the most grueling bike race on the planet. Athletes race 3000 miles from the warm sands of Oceanside, CA to the salty breezes of Annapolis, MD stopping only a handful of hours each day to rest, eat, and change equipment. RAAM plays a large role in the endurance cycling segment of the bike race world. As such, they are committed to growing the sport by providing a series of satellite challenge events for athletes to test their mettle at longer distances. The RAAM Challenge Series events also act as qualifiers for full RAAM and its sister event, the Race Across the West.
As part of the contracted team providing marketing and development support for RAAM, I developed a strategic growth plan for the challenge series. The plan involved four primary stages:
- BRAND – We began with a reflective branding exercise and slight redefine that helped galvanize and guide the event series, and enable the race promotors to play to their property’s strengths. The branding included revisiting the offering, as well as a slightly altered visual scheme.
- LOW HANGING FRUIT – From there, we identified specific segments of existing bicycle enthusiasts (outside of our primary demo) as key targets for conversion and growth.
- COMMUNICATION – A broad, comprehensive campaign is then rolled-out to bring attention to the series and educate the market.
- REACH – The final element involves grassroots championing, by establishing and leveraging strategic relationships with community influencers, starting at the local retail level and spreading the word outward from there. This targeted reach happens in each respective series event’s community several months leading to each race.
Chris Mesigian 