Case studies/ Red Frog Events

Putting Warrior Dash on the map

Red Frog Events
Client details Services
Overview

Navigating the course & mapping out the plan

Red Frog Events produces top notch experiences all over the country—from music festivals, to beer events, to the longest running obstacle course race (OCR) in the business. And all these events require a ton of planning, preparation, in-market and out-of market promotion to be successful. Red Frog faced an additional challenge: identifying a strategic approach and a channel mix that would drive the most event registrations for Warrior Dash. Red Frog wanted to find brand advocates—the people who could help them stay ahead in a very crowded market.

The approach

Putting our methods to the test

We set out to figure out the best strategy for Warrior Dash. That meant collaborating with internal teams, identifying opportunities, developing a plan, testing, retesting, and then putting the right strategy to work. We started with some paid search, and then layered in paid social and programmatic display and targeted audiences at all stages of their consideration process. With those initial learnings we were able to nail down what was getting folks to register.

Testimonial

“Working with Red Frog was excellent. They trusted us to experiment, test, retest, and because of that we were able to find efficiencies across the various media channels–and create a framework to move forward with. ”

Matthew Elliott Matthew ElliottDirector of Account Services, Envisionit

The work

Plotting the course

When we saw the results of our initial paid search, paid social and programmatic ads, we layered in tests with specific media partners, networks and in-market vs national awareness promotion. These tests helped us understand what types of audiences were engaging with us, and what types of messaging were they were responding to.

Not all markets are equal

Different markets required different content and creative to spur targets into action—like running promotions that inspired people to register themselves and their friends to run the obstacle course as a group. We were able to find out what resonates and does not resonate across all markets. Some markets took to certain channels for conversion, while others were more traditional and motivated by iconic creative and ad placements.

Avoiding the scenic route

Campaigns in multiple markets can be a lot of work, so we looked for efficiencies to make sure we could continue to test, optimize and convert. We reduced lead time, streamlined creative development, and figured out the most effective window for conversion. Coupled with a test of in-market only promotion vs. national awareness, we saw that audiences that lived outside the in-market areas were interested in registering for events that weren’t necessarily near them.

The results

The perfect mix

We helped create much leaner campaigns that drove high return on ad spend across all channels, and we found that shorter timelines with a strong national campaign were the most impactful for Warrior Dash. In 2018, our paid media and social campaigns saw over 300% return on ad spend. And the paid search campaign came in over an astounding 1,500%.

+300% Return on paid media
+300% Return on paid social
+1500% Return on paid search
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