RaceNation
RaceNation is a platform for event organisers to manage registration, participation and fundraising in mass participation sporting events. They joined Sussex Innovation as tenants in 2016 and fast became a valued part of our community – even hiring two of our work placement graduates in full-time roles along the way! Director Will Golder oversaw steady growth for the technology start-up over several years, but 2020 brought a fresh challenge for the business, as it did for many in the events sector.
The Challenge
As lockdown began in late March 2020, we called our members for a chat, to understand better how the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic were affecting their business. During our call with Will, he told us about the upheaval faced by RaceNation’s clients, with all sporting events cancelled until further notice, and little likelihood of mass participation events like marathons and bike rides being able to restart soon, without significant changes to their format. Will explained that the business needed to understand more about their customers’ plans to adapt in light of these significant challenges.
Our Solution
Our Insight team developed three surveys for RaceNation’s user base, designed to gather specific feedback from event organisers, participants and charities. They built upon RaceNation’s CRM lists with other relevant contacts sourced through desk-based research, and oversaw the distribution of the survey to as wide an audience as possible.
The insights gleaned from this research project would inform the company’s sales and marketing strategy in two ways; informing the rapid development of new products and services in response to the crisis, and providing the basis for a PR campaign that would showcase the depth of RaceNation’s awareness and understanding of their customers’ needs. The Sussex Innovation researchers carried out the work of analysing the data to draw out headline insights for the campaign.
The Outcome
The survey had a fantastic response, and was completed by more than 2,700 people. The headline findings were reported in industry-leading publications including Third Sector magazine and Sport Business – key titles for some of RaceNation’s biggest potential clients.
RaceNation has grown from strength to strength as mass participation events have returned, acquiring other events management businesses and positioning themselves as thought leaders in the industry.
Are you looking to inform your business decisions with better market insights? We can help with that, as well as helping to develop and test new business models and create lean marketing strategies for your products.
“We were delighted to work with Sussex Innovation to produce an industry survey during lockdown. The survey served multiple purposes for us – not only helping to inform some pending business and key product decisions, but also informing our whole industry as to the status, mindset and impact caused by recent events. We were extremely pleased with the way the team took the time to understand our industry and the terminology in depth, producing a detailed survey that really felt like it came from us.”