What Makes Marathon Sponsorship Attractive For The Corporates?

Marathons have become quite popular over the past couple of years. These marathons and half-marathons may be expensive and time-consuming but they are definitely in-demand and that is the reason why marathons have been able to attract substantial corporate sponsorship from companies which spend money on races either for their reputation and brand image. Today, there’s a marathon for everyone and even when participation fees are rocketing upwards, more people are keen to participate in marathons than ever before as more people are embracing the healthy benefits of running.

Marathon sponsorship can be substantial because on race day enough resources are needed to set up the course with water tables, food tables and portable toilets along with salaries for the staff. Staffing expenses are inclusive of having a medical team on site along with cost of security to ensure crowd control. Organized road racing is estimated to be a $1.4-billion-and-growing industry which benefits a lot of beneficiaries including a $3 billion running shoe industry and that’s perhaps why athletic shoes, apparel, wholesale athletic shorts and sports drinks are among some of the biggest sponsors of marathons around the world. Other major sponsors include the likes of Health care, automobile, banking, insurance and financial institutions.

Here are a couple of reasons which explain why marathons are so attractive for corporates around the world.

Better Brand Engagement

Running is an extremely personal activity where the participant is extremely engaged, way more than other sports which see a lot of sponsorship but the masses are relegated to mere spectators. This becomes directly proportional to the participants’ engagement with the brand as they experience a more complete sense of fulfillment. There is enough stronger connect and recall value in marathon sponsorship for brands to capitalize upon.

Social Engagement

Marathon sponsorship is considered as a very desirable public activity. For health care and sports fitness companies, it also is very integral to their ethos and ideology to be the driving force, in letter and spirit, for such events. Marathon sponsorship provides a lot of opportunities for social engagement with the target community for the corporates.

Media Coverage

Marathons are a hit in most parts of the world and in other places, the interest is slowly yet steadily picking up. Since more people are jumping on the fitness bandwagon, there is enough incentive for the media to pick up the story for itself which augurs well for the event and especially for its sponsors.

Brand Reputation

Races that are run in the name of a charity can attract big sponsors who want to give back to the community and benefit from supporting a good cause. It significantly enhances the brand reputation of the sponsors as they are seen by the masses as the driving force of a good cause.