More than 3 million participants have crossed the Tough Mudder finish line, earning their orange headband, and becoming a member of our legendary team. That incredible year-round connection with our devoted and highly engaged community is what gives partners such a powerful, and unique opportunity to integrate their brand messaging in a real and meaningful way.
In my role as Vice President, Marketing for International markets I was heavily involved in working with brand partners including being a key member of the initial pitch process, partnership marketing ideation and working with partners to deliver engaging, authentic, and organic campaigns featured across Tough Mudder events, web, email, social and digital channels.
Below are some of the marketing partner campaigns that we developed with our awesome brand partners;
Samsung: To celebrate the launch of their new 360 camera, we partnered with Samsung to develop a hanging ring activation in the Tough Mudder event base area where participants could receive a 360 selfie. Based on customer insight that our audience were looking for social proof to share on their social media channels, the activation offered high value to participants and gave Samsung a platform to promote their new camera. The partnership was also supported through paid media, a dedicated CRM program and social campaign.
Jeep: As a partner for more than 4 years, we developed a number of creative and innovative partnership activations with Jeep including;
Launch of “JeepFest” featuring a live DJ booth performing from a converted Renegade to energise contestants progressing through the Mud Mile obstacle.
Launch of a limited edition Tough Mudder branded Jeep Renegade. With 100 co-branded orange Jeeps available, we developed a TV commercial to promote this exciting collaboration. The launch was announced through a cross-channel campaign including social media, paid media, CRM & PR.
Virgin Active: As Tough Mudder’s official fitness partner, Virgin Active signed a three-year deal to give Tough Mudder participants and gym members in-club training in preparation for their upcoming event. The new training program was launched with a PR announcement inviting journalists to train at Virgin Atlantic for an upcoming Tough Mudder event.
Soap & Glory: Soap and Glory came on board as a partner to sponsor Tough Mudder shower stations, featuring Soap & Glory products. Simple, but highly effective - customers were thrilled with the upgraded showering facilities, Soap & Glory were thrilled as it encouraged trial of their products.
Brewdog: As Tough Mudder’s official “finisher drink” partner, craft beer Bewdog came on board offering the ultimate finisher IPA celebration. Mudder’s wearing their finisher headbands at selected Brewdog bars were also able to claim a complimentary beer on arrival to celebrate the partnership, encouraging foot traffic into bars and trial of new IPA products.
Lucozade Sport: In partnership with Lucozade Sport, Tough Mudder developed a series of training content helping support Lucozade’s “Made to Move campaign” designed to inspire more than one million people all over the UK to get moving.
Britvic: Fruit Shoot: In partnership with Britvic Fruit Shoot, we created a Tough Mudder event designed for kids aged 6-12 years named “Fruit Shoot Mini Mudder”. The events in partnership with Fruit Shoot helped to deliver their health piller, by educating and encouraging consumers to make healthier choices. Each year we welcomed more than 20,000+ kids to the Mini Mudder event.
Help for Heroes Charity Partnership: As the UK’s official charity partner, Help for Heroes supports soldiers and veterans that live with an injury or illness sustained while active in the British Armed Forces. Through creative PR collaborations and content marketing, we were able to drive awareness and together fundraise more than £3 million.
Other partnerships include: Snickers, Olympus, Merrell, Volvic, Head & Shoulders, Lyft, Sky Sports, Kingstone Press, and Toyo Tyres.