BANK OF SCOTLAND GREAT SCOTTISH RUN 2012 EVENT NAME: BANK OF SCOTLAND GREAT SCOTTISH RUN SPONSORSHIP FEE: 120,000 incl. VAT BUDGET FOR 2012: 130,000 incl. VAT CLIENT INVOLVED: BANK OF SCOTLAND EVENT ORGANISERS AND EVENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN LEAD: GLASGOW LIFE AGENCY INVOLVED: MATERIAL UK CONTACT DETAILS CONTACT NAME: Sarah Cran, Senior Sponsorship Manager COMPANY: Lloyds Banking Group, 120 George Street, Henry Duncan House, Edinburgh, EH2 4LH TELEPHONE: 0131 260 0493 E-MAIL: sarahcran@hbosplc.com WEBSITE: www.bankofscotland.co.uk/sponsorship
BACKGROUND The 2012 Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run, delivered by Glasgow Life, set a new record for the biggest entry in the event s 30 year history. 24,091 aspiring runners registered for the junior and family events and 10K and half marathon road races across the weekend 1st and 2nd September. The race continues to raise well over 1m for many worthy charities thanks to its enthusiastic participants. The event has taken place in Glasgow every year since 1982 and has become Scotland s largest and most popular mass participation sporting event. Runners begin in the iconic George Square and run along a vibrant city centre route taking in some of the City s favourite locations, including the Kingston Bridge and Bellahouston Park, before finishing at Glasgow Green. The 2012 event marked Bank of Scotland s fourth year of supporting the event and third year as title sponsor. In keeping with the event s aim to involve runners of all ages and abilities an additional 3,000 Glasgow school children participated in the Bank of Scotland Schools Challenge that allowed younger runners to be part of the weekend and run through the same finish line area as senior runners. OBJECTIVES Bank of Scotland s title sponsorship of the Great Scottish Run continues its long standing heritage of supporting sport and to provide opportunities for young people to get involved in more sport across Scotland. Bank of Scotland s support since 2009 strongly underpinned its partnership with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the aim to inspire and support young people, colleagues, communities and businesses all the way to the London 2012 Games and beyond. The specific key performance indicators for the 2012 event campaign were as follows: 1. Provide opportunities for all ages and abilities to take part and encourage sport participation. 2. Increase participation among young people to 6,000 (5,000 in 2011). 3. Deliver 400,000 of positive AVE 4. Generate Lloyds Banking Group colleague engagement, pride and advocacy and link to the Charity of Year. 5. Build awareness of Bank of Scotland s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games partnership.
PLANNING The event annually undertakes a comprehensive post-event survey. Feedback from each year s survey is used as a direct input in to event format/delivery planning and the development of the marketing campaign for the following year. Following feedback from 785 respondents in 2011, they increased time between 10K and half marathon race starts to ensure a congestion-free start for all participants and to allow for travel time was retained for 2012. Following feedback from participants and building on the Bank s aspiration to get more young people involved in sporting activity, a parents and children combined event was introduced were families could run alongside each other and enjoy the event together. The inaugural Family Mile and Toddler s Dash was added to the programme of the Junior Race day which became known as Bank of Scotland Super Saturday for 2012. The participation of elite distance runners from around the world increases year on year to raise the stature of the race, improve on the quality of the field and to push domestic distance runners. Pace setters for the road races were introduced which assisted competitive runners to challenge themselves for personal best times. Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run race ambassadors were again recruited to take part in the race and meet with runners during race weekend. Ambassadors that inspire runners and promote registration opportunities have proven to be effective in garnering media coverage pre event and interest in on site activity on race day. For 2012 Scottish actor, TV personality and a well known charity fundraiser John Michie was recruited as race ambassador taking part in pre race media interviews to promote registration and participating in the 10K road race. In line with Bank of Scotland s London 2012 partnership, a number of Team GB athletes, who had participated at the London 2012 Games just a few weeks before the event, also made appearances throughout race weekend, starting the Junior and Senior Races and meeting with race participants after they had completed their event within Bank of Scotland s experiential finish line area. These ambassadors included Olympic Gold Medallist Tim Baillie, Eilish McColgan (a former participant), Eilidh Child, Euan Burton and Lee McConnell.
EXECUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION Enhancements to the Event Programme A key shared objective of the Bank and the organisers year on year is to provide more opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to take part in the largest mass participation sporting event in Scotland. In 2012 there was a strong focus on increasing participation amongst young people. For the first time, the Junior race day events were relocated from Glasgow Green and held in George Square a prime city centre location and the traditional start area for the Senior Sunday races to increase the profile of the races for the younger runners and give them the same senior race experience of road running. Additional events were added to widen the field of entries. The existing 3K and mile races for 9-17 year olds was joined by an Elite Mile of invited national youth distance runners, a Toddler s Dash and Family Mile. The inaugural Toddler s Dash and Family Mile were particularly popular as it gave an opportunity for all the family to become involved rather than just spectate. An almost capacity 438 toddlers were signed up in 2012. The Bank of Scotland Schools Challenge was again the opening event of the weekend with 3,000 local Glasgow school children completing a short run through the road race finish line and then taking part in come and try sports activities. This focus on activity to involve younger runners and families lead to a total of 6,596 registrations for junior and school events, with the Saturday event alone seeing a 128% rise in registrations (1,572 in 2011, 3596 in 2012).
Bank of Scotland branding was visible across the event activity - on every participant s race bib and 88 separate branding installations carrying the event logo on race course branding including start and finish gantries and route direction. Marketing Campaign and Media Activity Bank of Scotland implemented a supporting ATL campaign across greater Glasgow with national up-weight across pre and post event national press, radio and outdoor sites. This included sites on race routes, underground outdoor sites, high impact city screen, Glasgow city centre branch external facing window posters, and large format adverts with a strong single minded proposition Good luck to all the runners and supporters coming together for this year s Great Scottish Run. During the period of the ATL campaign relating specifically to the Great Scottish Run, Bank of Scotland brand consideration showed an upward trend and the campaign contributed to an uplift of 13,481 in total sales during this time. This in unison with event branding, all race materials, race bibs, route branding and start area/finish area experiential sites lead to extremely high brand awareness - 94% of survey* respondents were aware of Bank of Scotland s involvement. Press coverage started with the launch in March and maximised the continuing National media partnerships - arranged by event organisers Glasgow Life - with the Scottish Sun newspaper, Bauer Radio Group and STV. This ensured that
the campaign to recruit participants reached areas around the country but also had a tailored impact in each region to achieve cut through an ever increasing event space. Bauer Radio were able to enhance race profile with broadcast reach across all FM stations across Scotland with key hosts taking the role of race ambassadors and a nationwide outside broadcast live on site on race day. Coverage was carried from the launch in March 2012 to event weekend in September. For the first time BBC Scotland broadcast a highlights programme of the event, which was broadcast the day after the race. Press coverage across national and regional outlets totalled an AVE of 1.63million and programme viewing figures of 58,000. Digital Online entry through www.runglasgow.org continues to be the most utilised method of entry and the expansion of the Glasgow Life s use of social media including Twitter conversations and Facebook updates have allowed for more dialogue between runner and organiser not only around race weekend but throughout participants training programmes. The event Facebook page has reached 7,000 likes and posts reached an online audience of 95,000 - an increase from 19,000 in 2011. The event twitter account (@GreatScotRun) now has over 1,700 followers. On Site Experiential Brand Activation Bank of Scotland s visibility as title sponsor was enhanced across race weekend with on-site experiential activity. The Bank of Scotland London 2012 Celebration marquee was installed in George Square in the heart of Glasgow city centre for the Bank of Scotland Super Saturday and at the finish site within Glasgow Green for the Senior road races. The marquee acted as a platform to engage runners and spectators with Bank of Scotland s support of the race but also their tier one partnership with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Olympic Torch Relay.
Runners had the opportunity to learn more about Bank of Scotland s school and young athlete flagship initiatives (National School Sport Week and Local Heroes) that underpin their partnership with London 2012. Participants and their families also had the chance to meet Team GB Olympians and medallists who had competed at the Games and over 1,200 people had their photograph taken with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Torches. Photos were uploaded and available to view and download from the Bank of Scotland facebook site. The page received over 13,200 likes - an extremely high return compared to other previous Bank facebook initiatives. Over 3,500 people visited the marquee across the weekend and post-race evaluation* shows that two thirds of participants felt that Bank of Scotland did the most to support the Great Scottish Run event and enhance their race day experience. 500 Lloyds Banking Group colleagues volunteered, registered to run or took advantage of discounted places across all race events. LBG colleagues raised over 20k for their charity of year, Save The Children. Marketing Campaign Content Content/Branded materials Quantity BBC Scotland coverage 60 minute highlights programme broadcast on BBC2 Scotland on Monday 3rd September (58,000 viewers) STV advertising campaign 150 ad placements across 7 days (5th 11th March) Bauer Radio campaign (media partner) 69 promotional ad slots March June. Full live outside broadcast from event on Sunday 2nd September Scottish Sun campaign (media partner) 10 advert placements March September. 6 additional editorial article including 4 page supplement at Launch and 20 post race results supplement. Additional trade and event publications advertising 22 adverts placed March June Sponsor branded Promotional posters and leaflets Senior and Junior events 167,775 pieces of collateral distributed to sports centres, clubs and schools Sponsor branded Email alerts 15 alerts sent to event database of up to 25,000. 14 additional emails sent to database of relevant associations (Jog Scotland, Young Scot) RESULTS 1. Largest ever entry in the event s 30 year history with 24,091 registrations for the events held on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd September. 48% were 1st time runners which highlights the appeal of the event in a saturated market. 2. Participation in Junior events, including the Friday Schools Challenge, increased to 6,596 (Saturday Junior races alone up 128% from 2011). 3. The estimated Great Scottish Run AVE was calculated as 1.63m. Approximately 522,000 positive Bank of Scotland specific AVE was achieved. 4. 500 colleagues volunteered or registered to take part through free or discounted places. 5. Bank of Scotland London 2012 Celebration marquee engaged more than 3,500 people.
SUMMARY Bank of Scotland have established excellent profile and awareness of the brand and has been able to demonstrate increased participation over its 4 year partnership with Scotland s largest mass participation sporting event. As a proud partner, the Bank will continue to maximise its title sponsorship of the Great Scottish Run in 2013 and 2014; strengthening and adding value to its relationship with race organisers and developing further opportunities for more people to get involved in more sport in Scotland. 2014 is an extremely exciting time for Glasgow, the country and for sport. This event aspires to create a pathway for runners and an increased interest in sport as we all look forward to the Commonwealth Games 2014. *Post-event survey conducted by Research Resource on behalf of Glasgow Life in September 2012 with 725 respondents.