Turn Content Into Conversions With Emotion-Packed UGC

Last year, we helped a client break their PB yet again.

Our sister agency, DataSauce, has been partnering with IMG and the Nike Melbourne Marathon for close to half a decade – but since we started managing their content pipeline with quality UGC centred around participants’ stories, performance has only gotten stronger.

In 2023, tickets for both the full and half marathon events sold out a whopping 14 weeks before race day. There were enough runners to fill the MCG (and then some — 17.5K eager participants were on the waiting list), with tickets sold at an impressively low CPA of $2.98.

The Campaign

We’ll be honest. The Nike Melbourne Marathon (*being the iconic event it is) has never had trouble selling tickets for the full marathon, with Aussies being increasingly into running following health fads and a love of the outdoors after Covid-19 lockdowns.

But the true test lies in rallying registrations for the shorter distances within the festival — specifically, the 10km, 5km, and 3km races.

Given that many can finish them in under an hour, we must look at what value there is outside the distance itself. What would make individuals pay to run a 3km route when they could just run a couple laps any other day?
Our content messaging thereby had to be extra convincing…

How We Did It

Emotions. Tapping on them, capitalising on them, and genuinely conveying them when our vetted content creators produced UGC assets sharing about their personal experiences.

The Nike Melbourne Marathon offers powerful emotional draws — the exhilaration of crossing the MCG finish line and vibrant camaraderie alongside thousands of fellow runners.

Utilising IG Reels and TikToks developed per storytelling principles, we briefed our UGC creators to emphasise what they felt during their training and the race.

After all, emotions drive decision-making more than rational thought. And by seeing themselves in creators that were so keen for the run, more and more participants grew eager to join in.

Forward planning was also integral to the content development for the Nike Melbourne Marathon, with our UGC supplementing the phase-by-phase strategies that DataSauce’s digital marketing experts constructed for the campaign.

In the Early Bird stages, content for socials were designed around building hype, gauging event popularity and initial audience responses.

But contrary to popular belief that awareness pieces aren’t built for conversion objectives, our early stage content helped generate 57.7% of total Meta attributed revenue.

And closer to the big day itself, we shifted messaging to more ‘Urgency’ focused angles. This kept momentum going, since the thought of missing out at the very last minute really gets people over the line…

tldr; pacing your content messaging is just as important as pacing your race.

The Winning Content

You can find these live posts here, and here.

More of a data person? Our campaign results were as follows:

• For the first time in history, all five races (incl. 10km and 5km distances) sold out.
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• We didn't just sell out 38,600 tickets. We sold out over 40,000 tickets instead. Both full and half marathon events actually sold out 14 weeks before race day, and with 17.5K people on the waitlist, it’s safe to say this campaign generated tremendous demand.
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• The campaign achieved 14.92 ROAS on Meta – nearly three times the initial target of 5 ROAS. And this figure could’ve been even higher, noting that the event hit capacity.
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• 66% increase in YoY sign-ups at 28% lower cost.

And in terms of content metrics, TikToks on the brand’s account generated hundreds of thousands of views, showing up on target audience’s FYPs through algorithmic powers.  

With our experts managing the entire content pipeline, we had access to thousands of vetted creators in our database that could effectively and closely resemble any persona of runner – making our search for the perfect creator easier than finishing a race.

This overwhelming success has led the IMG team to start advertising efforts even earlier in 2024, and as of mid-January this year, tickets are already selling out FAST.

The half marathon currently boasts an 80% capacity despite nine more months to go, whilst the full marathon is completely sold out.

Summary

If one of your 2024 New Year’s Resolutions involves running those 42 kilometres, we might have taken a race off the roster, but the Nike Melbourne Marathon waitlist is still open for registration (*so get in quick!)

If your brand’s 2024 resolutions involve smashing sales and KPIs, our Sticki superstars’ omnichannel marketing efforts are ready to help.

Connect with us today.