London Marathon: Delivering Year-On-Year

There aren’t many running events (or events of any kind, in fact) that inspire a nation quite like the London Marathon does. And each year for the past five, we’ve been there for every mile and more, delivering social media support for race week.

Naturally, at an event of the scale of the Marathon, the output required is ramped up across all channels to inform, inspire, report and more. When we first pitched to London Marathon Events, back before COVID was a thing and the Virtual Marathon was something few would have thought would ever catch on, we were very much at the start of our journey as an agency, but knew it fit our ambitions to a tee. Working with the leading brands, events and teams in endurance sports to inspire others to be more active, whilst being inspired to work with these client partners ourselves.

The remit was simple yet comprehensive. Providing on-the-ground support for the social media content team and feeding into the broader content plan spanning a range of London Marathon channels, whilst remotely managing the communities engaging with the various event channels. With 35,000 runners and hundreds of thousands more supporting and well-wishing both in person and through the event’s broadcast channels, there’s a lot of conversation and questions to engage with.

On the ground, our activity has been focused on capturing content in keeping with the broader content strategy and partnership deliverables, whilst keeping an eye out for potential viral content. We’re getting better at celebrating when we go viral with content, but over the years we’ve delivered a number of moments across the event’s channels that still put a smile on our face - as well as millions of others. From capturing runners coming to grief on the travelator attempting to run at the speed of Kipchoge’s then World Record pace, to passionate young supporters along the road singing their hearts out for the runners passing by for hours on end.

Having been retained by London Marathon Events ever since, our remit has adapted over time to address the needs of the race, most notably pivoting during the pandemic to the inaugural Virtual London Marathon and the communication requirements around this new format.

Alongside the flexibility on the London Marathon, we’ve also taken on roles during ballot week - a time to share in the good news of thousands of successful applicants and to comfort the blow for the many more who sadly don’t get a place. The trust in us as a partner has also now extended to other events in the London Marathon Events portfolio, too.

The buzz we got back in 2019 on our first race week remains today, whilst the understanding end experience gained over the years has proven invaluable in expanding our events client portfolio, one that now also includes a number of the world’s biggest cycling events too, including the Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes and La Vuelta a España.

And we remain as inspired by each and every event as we did back in year one.