The Challenge

Montane approached Brandwave to activate their title sponsorship at three key trail running events for 2021/22 (The Lakeland 50 & 100, Dragon’s Back Race & Winter Spine Race), with an aim to inspire a wider audience and gain further brand awareness for Montane.

The main objectives were as follows:

• Create and install physical presence at each of the events
• Raise awareness of Montane as a brand
• Entice qualified traffic to the Montane site
• Make the solutions reusable/scalable

The Result

After strategising with Montane, it quickly became clear that there were a lot of moving parts to each event. With a number of separate races within each event, there were also multiple start and finish locations, across multiple dates to manage. Therefore, we needed to be mindful of managing time and resources efficiently and effectively.

In order to make the activations cohesive, we created the campaign ‘Montane Moments’ to celebrate the unique and memorable moments that are experienced during such mammoth challenges. Through ‘Montane Moments’, we fulfilled the brief through the following physical and digital elements:

• Produced a physical branded event kit to promote Montane at each of the events, including inflatable arches, feather flags, inspirational signage & deck chairs.

• Activated at the events with a ‘Spin to Win’ wheel where competitors, family & friends could win Montane prizes and discount codes.

• Set up a video booth to interview competitors pre and post-race to get an idea of what it takes to complete these events. We captured some of their memorable moments alongside some epic race footage and edited it into a short clip for each event to inspire future runners & promote Montane.

• Created a Strava challenge for The Dragon’s Back Race, which was pushed to the UK and US markets, that challenged entrants to run 5k a day for the duration of the race (7 days), while promoting the chance to win a full Montane race kit.

• We designed and built Montane’s own post event bar within the grounds at Cardiff Castle, named the Monty’s Inn, where competitors and spectators from The Dragon’s Back could refresh and catch up.

• We branded and filled goody bags for competitors of the Winter Spine and The Dragon’s Back. Working with partners such as Grangers, Luchos Dillitos & Red Bull, we filled the bags with items that would help them and their kit recover from the gruelling challenges they’d completed.

• Worked with the online dot watching company, Open Tracking, that digitally tracks the runners, to make the platform look and feel more Montane. We also included competition pop ups and banner links to promote blogs and kit builders, that helped drive traffic to the Montane website.

• Branded prizes for kids running the kids 1km at Lakeland.