The World Marathon Majors have chosen Infront Sports & Media as long-term partner to support their marketing operations. Infront will exclusively handle the first-ever integrated sponsorship platform across the intercontinental series, consisting of the six most aspired marathons - Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York. Infront will also contribute its international know-how and expertise in the active lifestyle segment to build the World Marathon Majors brand, alongside an impactful commercialisation strategy.
Global and year-round engagement platform
The World Marathon Majors series is an aspirational goal for runners from all over the world, hoping to secure one of the limited 240,000 slots annually. Participants consist of a unique community from over 125 nations that regard running a lifestyle choice. While the runners prepare for and engage with WMM and its events on a year-round basis, they are cheered on by 7.5 million live spectators on race day.
As of 2015, the integrated World Marathon Majors sponsorship platform offers ownership of an intercontinental and year-round digital communication gateway to a high-profile, engaged demographic. The association with the WMM brand and its touch points ensures strong global exposure, while tailored on-site and promotional sponsorship assets at all six events generate reach in the world’s largest consumer markets.
Strengthening a consistent WMM brand
Alongside the commercialization of the integrated sponsorship opportunities, Infront will support World Marathon Majors in establishing a more cohesive position for the series as the benchmark in running and participatory sports.
Mark Milde, Race Director of BMW Berlin-Marathon, said: “Offering in-depth Active Lifestyle know-how and network, Infront transpired to be the right partner in helping us develop and market the first World Marathon Majors sponsorship platform – which allows brands to associate themselves closer than ever with top-level endurance sports. With its experience and global sales power, Infront not only helps us to exploit the marketing potential of the overall series, but by doing so also further manifests the leadership of our six events, both on the brand and sportive side.”
Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront, commented: “With the World Marathon Majors we are adding a core sports right to our growing global Active Lifestyle portfolio and we thank the organisers for their trust in our capabilities and track record. Mass participation events are surging in popularity and growing faster than any other sports segment worldwide. The integrated sponsorship opportunities for WMM deliver an exclusive opportunity for brand association across the most prestigious marathon series worldwide alongside valuable engagement opportunities and media reach on a global scale.”
Reaching out across all media platforms
The international reach of each event in the series is huge, with television coverage distributed for broadcast in over 190 countries. Online there are 32.8 million page views and up to 8 million unique visitors on the World Marathon Majors events’ websites. Social media communities are also vast and highly engaged with over 475,000 fans on the official Facebook pages and to date 212,000 Twitter followers. World Marathon Majors and Infront want to further develop the digital footprint of the series, impact the running community at large – both on- and off-line. The new integrated website – www.worldmarathonmajors.com has been launched in June.
Leading the Active Lifestyle sector
Infront has been developing the mass participation and active lifestyle segment of its sports portfolio consistently over the past few years. It comprehensively handles the media and marketing rights as well as media production for the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON – as one of the six World Marathon Majors events. In addition, Infront is the owner of the corporate running series B2RUN, which is set to expand across Europe. Furthermore, in the endurance sector, it has a partnership in place with the World Triathlon Corporation for IRONMAN – applying a centralised approach that brings sponsorship sales and media assets under one roof. Through the latest agreement with the World Marathon Majors Infront fully complements its existing properties and is strengthening its position as a leading player in the fastest growing segment of the sports industry.
Remaining 2014 WMM events:
• Chicago – 12 October
• New York – 2 November
2015 calendar of events:
• Tokyo - 22 February
• London - 26 April
• Boston - 20 April
• Berlin – 27 September
• Chicago – 11 October
• New York - 1 November
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