A Cunning Marketing Plan From Mel

Mel, the fundraising queen for the Palm Beach Scouts, had a cunning plan I alluded to in a post a couple of weeks ago.

You see, the drinks station judged to be the best at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon wins $1,000 – and the Palm Beach Scouts had the responsibility for one of the drinks station.

Mel was after that $1,000 for the Scouts.

A Marketer’s Strategy

I don’t think Mel realises it but she’s a terrific marketer – what she did was this:

• she benchmarked against the competition (she found out what people had done in the past)
• she reviewed how to positively influence key people (i.e. the runners) (do a great job with the drinks, be organised, be colourful and be very supportive)
• she sought to understand the choice influences on the guy who decides the winner

Here’s a great example of something she did.

A Japanese Perspective

Mel looked at the runner profile.

She saw that 1,200 Japanese athletes fly into the Gold Coast for the marathon. Mel knows that the Japanese market is a tremendously important target market for race organisers.

So she knew Race Organisers would be impressed with a focus on these athletes.

So this was part of Mel’s strategy:

• Encouraging signs written in Japanese leading up to and away from the drinks station
• Laura (our daughter – that’s her in the photo above on the left) speaks Japanese – she trained the drinks station team of 22 people basic Japanese phrases to yell out in encouragement to Japanese athletes

And The Winner Is…….

And the winner is…..not the Palm Beach Scouts!

Mel and her team came 2nd. Great effort that contributes $250 to help the Scouts get equipment and training.

Fantastic stuff.

Mel’s already plotting next year – she’s trying to find out what the winner did to impress the judge!