Tough Mudder
ZSC EMBEDDED INTEGRATED MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA RIGHTS CONSULTANCY
Tough Mudder, the leader in Obstacle Course Racing, tapped ZimStrategies to embed in-house to provide integrated marketing, communications and media rights strategic guidance to C-level executives and execution as the brand sought to expand from its core OCR race offering into a leading global sports brand, as well as elevate the reputation of the brands CEO and other executives.
During the course of the consultancy, ZimStrategies was instrumental in the promotion of the launch and continued marketing for four brand event extensions – Tough Mudder 5K, Tougher Mudder, Toughest Mudder, and Tough Mudder X resulting in the company hosting more than 130 events across nearly a dozen countries annually. ZimStrategies advised on and assisted in media rights deals with CBS Sports (Tough Mudder X and World’s Toughest Mudder) ,The CW Network, Facebook (Tougher Mudder), Amazon and ABC News. The Tougher Mudder series streamed on Facebook Watch was one of the first sports events to be streamed live online and averaged 3 Million Views and 5 Million+ engagements per event. The agency also launched the brand’s studio fitness chain Tough Mudder Bootcamp.
ZimStrategies was also tasked to oversee the establishment and oversight of Tough Mudder’s PRO Team that included leading OCR athletes such as Ryan Atkins, Lindsay Webster, Stef Bishop, Hunter McIntyre, and Amelia Boone. The team served as ambassadors and social media influencers for the brand. Additionally, to raise further awareness for Tough Mudder and its various events and extensions, the agency executed and oversaw Influencer Marketing deals that featured leading Grey’s Anatomy cast members such as Camilla Luddington, Giacomo Gianotti, and Jason George, as well as Instagram and YouTube star Matt Steffanina, DTWS’ Noah Galloway, Walton Goggins and more. Additionally, ZimStrategies arranged a strategic marketing partnership with Disney/Marvel and Tough Mudder for Captain America: Civil War and the kickoff of the 2016 Tough Mudder season. Other initiatives included executive thought leadership, and charitable initiatives and partnership development.
With the elevation of the brand, ZimStrategies positioned CEO, Will Dean as a leader in the sports obstacle course racing and live event engagement. The brand was awarded Fast Company’s “The Most Innovative Companies,” with Dean named to Sports Business Journal’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award and was featured in such media outlets as Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg News, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, New York Times, Entrepreneur, the Drum, Cheddar, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX Business. Additionally, brand extensions, initiatives, and activity was featured in a myriad of leading media outlets including Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Access Hollywood, ET, E! News, Deadline, Variety, New York Post, Inc. Associated Press, and many more with a reach exceeding more 13+ Billion Impression Formulated brand and marketing plans yielded a 145% engagement increase, 23% brand lift, 21% sales and 17% revenue increases consecutively YOY.
