P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Challenge

P.F. Chang’s China Bistro partnered with Elite Racing in 2004 to become the title sponsor of the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon and ½ Marathon. When the sponsorship was up for renewal in 2008, P.F. Chang’s increased their investment to sponsor the entire series of races spanning 14 cities throughout the US. Activate Marketing was brought in to provide strategic planning, implementation, activation and on-site representation for P.F.Chang’s sponsorship of the series of races.

P.F. Chang’s identified the following goals and objectives of their race sponsorship.

• Build the P.F. Chang’s brand in the endurance sports marketplace and maximize opportunities to reach consumers
• Establish and build relationships with the endurance sports audience
• Implement creative concepts to enhance presence at Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) events for maximum impact
• Manage CGI sponsorship assets to ensure consistency of message and relevance to audience
• Increase sign-ups for Chang’s loyalty CRM program “Warrior Cards”
• Increase distribution of “Chang’s Runner Gift Cards” to participants of CGI events
• Identify opportunities to introduce P.F. Chang’s menu items to existing customers and potential new customers
• Position PF Chang’s cuisine as a nutritional tool for both endurance and novice athletes to support training and recovery

Tactics

Based on P.F. Chang’s goals, Activate Marketing developed a comprehensive strategy involving pre-race communication, expo activation and race-day on-site presence in order to meet the outlined objectives, including:

• Expo booth presence at all pre-race health and fitness expos where local PF Chang’s employees would sign runners up for the CRM loyalty program, distribute free appetizer cards, secure online reservations and hand out runner themed fortune cookies.
• As an incentive for joining the CRM Warrior loyalty program, runners were given a motivational PF Chang’s wrist band that also provided access to a private post-race VIP party at the finish line. This was an exclusive area for PF Chang’s CRM loyalty members to relax post-race and eat free PF Chang’s food including: chicken lettuce wraps, dumplings, chocolate cake and drinks.
• Activated PF Chang’s street team to distribute thousands of branded Thunder Spirit Sticks and box ‘seats’ to spectators at the finish lines.
• Engaged existing CRM members that were participating in the race by emailing them prior to race day and inviting them to stop by the expo booth where a special VIP gift bag including running gear, gift card and an etched bottles of wine was waiting for them.
• Developed content for pre-race messaging promoting P.F Chang’s happy hour and suggestions for race training meals. Special recipes were featured on the race websites as well as on a dedicated PF Chang’s running website (CraveTheRun.com) developed specifically with the endurance athlete in mind.
• On-site announcements at the finish line of all races promoted post-race recovery and highlighted popular dishes that featured higher protein and carbohydrate content. Post race messaging via email and online reinforced message and highlighted the $10 gift cards that runners would receive in the mail.

Results

• 266,058 runners received $10 gift cards as a post-race thank you from P.F. Chang’s.
• 875,000 expo guests were exposed to PF Chang’s booth and staff at Expos throughout the country.
• $1 million in net sales generated from redemption of trackable $10 gift cards.
• 70,000+ new CRM customers registered for the Warrior loyalty program.
• 600+ PF Chang’s employees from 33 stores volunteered at the expo or served food at the finish line.
• 63,000 chicken lettuce wraps, 49,000 edamame dumplings and 42,000 Great Walls of Chocolate were served up to an estimated 56,000 runners.