Guest Blog by Victoria Waldman and Theresa Lewis of Fueled Insights.
Highlighted in Fueled Insights’ previous article “The Fight for Runners’ Recreational Dollar,” household income is flat, entry fees are on the rise and there is an abundance of fitness activities. Runners’ disposable income and time are being squeezed. Therefore, it’s important to understand the reason(s) participants choose your event and to optimize your event’s positioning by highlighting its key differentiators in a way that is relevant to your target audience.
The following Personality Perceptions By Event Type is just an excerpt of a larger study conducted by Fueled Insights which offers a glimpse into the perceptions of participants of various event types among runners. The nuanced differences affect how you message your event. For example, while “color” run and obstacle/mud run participants are perceived as equally fun and extroverted, the latter are perceived as significantly more driven, competitive and successful. If your obstacle/mud run event is going head-to-head against a “color” run, emphasize the challenge of your event in your marketing in order to peak the curiosity and interest of this ambitious group. Another hypothesis that can be inferred from the data is that themed runs are bringing newbies onto the scene because they are perceived as attracting less serious people than road races.