The Army Ten Miler: Leader of the Pack

Stretching Out

The Army Ten Miler is America’s largest and most successful ten-mile race. Part of that success has come from a willingness to examine its market’s needs and take action to meet those needs.

In 2005, race director Jim Vandak approached Performance Strategies to analyze data from its annual runner survey, in order to more fully understand the market and make the race more successful. While the race sells out every year, Vandak and his staff wanted to understand how to further increase positive perceptions of the race in order to attract additional sponsorships. He also wanted to know to what extent the race field was made up of repeat runners, and whether racer retention should be an important part of his marketing strategy.

Sports Science

The Army Ten Miler surveyed its entire field of starters (roughly 13,000 runners) and received a response from approximately 5,000 participants. The survey asked questions including:

Race history: How many times had runners participated in previous Army Ten Milers? What other races do they run?
Race experience: How did runners find out about the race and what perceptions did they associate with the race (such as patriotism)? What parts of the race were most enjoyable? Which were most negative? What activities surrounding the race did they become involved in, such as the Race Expo, the on-line newsletters, and the pre-race pasta dinner?
Lifestyle: Do runners define themselves as “runners” or as “fitness buffs” or as neither? Do they run for fun, for competition, or for camaraderie? What other activities are important to their lifestyle, such as other sports, travel, etc? What publications and web sites do they subscribe to?
Demographics: Are runners military or civilian? Male or female? Where do they live?

Sorting Out the Packs

Once runners had answered this host of questions regarding their familiarity and interaction with the race, their lifestyle, and their demographics, Performance Strategies was able to take the survey data and group respondents based upon their similarity to each other. Rather than grouping solely based on demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, or military status, we were able to group the audience based on psychographic characteristics, such as associations with the race, and lifestyle characteristics, such as the importance of running.

We divided the audience into 5 “clusters” or target audience groups:

Lifers: This group runs the Army Ten Miler over and over again. It is an annual event, with the average racer having run the race 8 times in the past. This group is heavily active in their local running community, and most likely to spread positive word-of-mouth. Our objective would be to reach this group through running publications and presence at other races to foster word-of-mouth.
Casuals: In contrast to the lifers, this group consisted of mostly first-time runners. Members of this group don’t consider themselves to be runners, but beginning fitness enthusiasts who signed on to the race as a challenge. This group was “on the fence” for retention. A positive race experience would encourage these runners to run again.
Gripers: This group was most likely to spread negative word of mouth because of a bad race experience. This group was small, but had the potential to damage retention through word of mouth, thus making them a target for an “attitude change” strategy.
Hooah Heroes: This group was made up of mostly military members who ran for camaraderie or at the behest of a superior. This group was likely to have run the race only once, and may not return, however, given the right conditions, could be moved up the ranks into the “lifer” category. Encouraging this group to run again would involve creating a challenging experience where runners could perform at their best.
Recruits: This was a group of 2nd or 3rd time runners who are just on the verge of considering themselves “runners.” Members of this group were seeking increasing challenges, and represent the most ripe target psychographically for the race. A new communications strategy positioning the race as an ideal challenge for a nascent runner would be in order.

Survey results also showed that runner retention was important. Those groups which had the highest repeat race rates had the most positive perceptions of sponsors. So increasing retention was not only important to ensure a continued sell-out of the race, but to attract sponsors as well.

Once the target audience was divided into these groups, we were able to devise a messaging and media mix strategy that would appeal to each of these groups. We developed a new tagline for the race: “Challenge Yourself” which appeals to the two primary targets – Recruits and Hooah Heroes. In addition, the mix of advertising was changed to reach these two audiences. Rather than advertising in strictly military publications, civilian lifestyle publications were added which could reach potential “Recruits.”

The race also made several logistical changes which would enhance the race experience and thus increase retention. A training program has been added which will help newer runners prepare to run a better race and thus have a better experience. The starting corrals have been modified to make the race more appealing to “Lifers” and more experienced runners.

These recommendations were then tested in focus group settings, and the results were borne out.

The Results

In 2006, the Army Ten-Miler set new records, growing the race from 20,000 to 24,000 and selling out three weeks earlier than the year before. This year, more than 5,800 runners signed up on the first day of registration, up from 2,700 the year before. The race sold out by the middle of May, despite adding 2,000 more runners to the field, selling out more than a month earlier than in 2006!

Without adding any marketing dollars to their sales efforts, Army Ten-Miler executed the recommendations from Performance Strategies. The results have been a staggering success.