Besides the Olympic Games and the World Cup in Soccer, there is no more internationally branded sports event than the traditional Marathon. This is an excellent, untapped opportunity for marketers and brand builders. At 42.195 kilometers, or 26 miles and 385 yards, the Marathon is usually run as a road race and was born as a commemoration of a Greek Soldier who ran with a message from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The first marathon in modern time occurred in 1896 at Olympics and today over 500 Marathons are arranged around the world. Five of the most prestigious races in the Marathon world are Boston, New York City, Chicago, London and Berlin. These races attract hundreds of thousands of people and are media staples running up significant news coverage, media coverage, footage and print for weeks at a time. Marathons are often isolated events from city to city, so a local coordination of sponsorships and marketing efforts is often possible. Most participants of a Marathon race are not running to win, but running for the accomplishment. The strategy is often to run from water stop to water stop where water bottles are available. The brand building opportunities surrounding a Marathon are many. Firstly, you have the runners themselves, who are in fact walking, jogging or running as billboards and could be wearing your brand or slogan on their backs. Secondly, you have all the functional staff surrounding the Marathon working on arrangements and coordination. Official staff counts in the thousands and many of the officials are media spokes people who will be getting face time with film cameras and journalists. Thirdly, Marathons are major tourist and crowd magnets. For some of the larger Marathons, spectator crowds count in the hundreds of thousands lining up along the streets and taking part of the festivities. There is a high level of street vendor culture surrounding a Marathon and often times merchandise is being sold to commemorate the event with T-shirts such as "I was there, Chicago 2006 Marathon". Besides from T-shirt the most important aspect of a Marathon is staying hydrated. In the average Marathon time of 4 hours, 32 minutes and 8 seconds runners will have to replenish their water supply several times to be able to finish the race. Water stations are placed throughout the Marathon route with Water Bottles. While the drinking of water from Water bottles has to be leveled out with intake of salt to prevent hyponatremia, a Marathon runner will drink about 4-6 ounces of liquid every 20-3o minutes of the race. Often times, the water stations are also covered by media and a large on watching crowd so the stations are ideal for promotional branding and branded Water Bottles.
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