Reviving the Bataan Memorial Death March

Background

The campaign grew out of a need to revive the marathon, which traditionally brought in an average of 4,000 racers and over 30 sponsors. The race had dwindled to 2,500 racers, and over 40% of our sponsors either stopped support or drastically reduced support for the march due to two consecutive cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately this was negatively impacting the bottom line for the installation’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs and services which directly affected Soldiers and their family’s way of life on the remote installation.

The aim of this campaign was to revive racer registrations and sponsorship support and navigate a new identity as the final survivor of the BMDM reached 104 years old. Thus, the installation was also on the brink of losing a gravitational figure that drew participants and supporters of the march.

The new marketing strategy that was pitched and accepted was drastically different than what Command Leadership had seen before. The plan addressed the need to evolve to meet the changing environmental and economic conditions they faced for success moving forward.

Execution

After researching audience data and discovering that traditionally, our racers were 18-54 years old and from the local region (Texas and New Mexico), used Facebook as their main source of info on the race, and were split 31% female and 69% male, we focused on this segmented target audience to craft messaging, strategic timing and placement for that messaging to gain the most exposure and engagement to funnel into conversions to the race’s official website and sign-up landing page.

In addition to this, the campaign was structured in three phases across six months, bolstering interest and
conversions by rewarding former participants with discounted loyalty pricing and discount codes for early registrants. This plan also tackled exposure and messaging by harnessing multiple social media platforms by holding recorded community discussions about the event and how to prepare for the race, which were published on YouTube and shared on social media to generate anticipation and excitement. In participation with our 3rd party website developers, created and managed scarcity with cut-off dates and virtual countdown clocks with limited ticket availability shared on the race’s website and blasted in email marketing campaigns to those showing interest by signing up on our email list.

Sponsors were engaged with new and innovative sponsorship opportunities, including BMDM fact signs that dotted the trail, swag bag options handed to racers as they finished, an appreciation plaque personally given to them by the White Sands Missile Range Commanding General, and logo placement opportunities on all BMDM apparel from t-shirts to bags and hats.

Results

The marketing plan outperformed projected ROI results by 20%.

Social media engagement increased by 300%, and registrations through email marketing increased by 70%.

Racer participation resulted in over 5,000 racers, a 50% increase from the previous year.

Sponsorship donations increased by 30% from the previous year.

“To see White Sands Missile Range come to life for the race was truly amazing. I am impressed with the team that put this on and everyone who showed up today to participate in the march. I can’t say enough how proud I am,” said White Sands Missile Range Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Jamal N. Latore.