• by Michele Campbell , June 17, 2013

If you are paying attention, I’m sure you’ve seen new local events sprouting up all over the place that bring runners together for a good cause. Since the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, the running community has stepped up to help victims and families, and show (expletive deleted) jerks that we are stronger than the destruction and violence. You’ve probably seen “Last Mile” and “Run Boston” events, no matter where you live — each and every one important and doing its part to help with fundraising, healing, and community building.

One event goes beyond the local 5k — 3,296.9 miles beyond to be exact. One event covers 3,300 miles in 300 stages. One event has 1,000+ runners racing across 14 states, from Los Angeles to Boston to raise funds for The One Fund Boston. This event is the One Run For Boston. And I am excited to join hundreds of runners on June 30 to complete the last leg of this national relay, from Newton to Boston, where we will cross the Boston Marathon finish line.

Three folks from England are the driving force behind the relay: Kate Treleaven, Danny Bent and Jamie Hay. The press release went out in April with the goal of finding runners to fill each leg, some spots able to accommodate groups of runners. People are still registering to run now, even though the event started on June 7 at 10 a.m. PST.

For those of you working in charity events and cause marketing, I encourage you to look at this event and its marcom efforts closely. For one, getting enough runners in time to complete this massive undertaking needed a Herculean effort and a smart marcom plan. Here’s what One Run For Boston did well:

• Web site engagement: One Run For Boston’s site is exciting and interactive; a ticker tells you when runners sign up, and which leg they registered for; it’s fun to see the names of people I know sliding across the home page. The homepage and other pages have clear CTAs and bright buttons to click. The site is well integrated with social media: “tell the world” points at social media icons, inspiring people to share. Live updates are available for news, donation total and current number of registered runners. Photos appear on the site daily, a mix of original and user-generated content via Pongr. The “Run” section has tabs for each state, showing all legs and GPS coordinates. Earlier in the campaign it was easy to identify legs that needed runners, so the effort to fill empty spaces became viral. And, my favorite feature on this site, the thing that keeps me coming back multiple timesdaily is the live runner tracker. I can see where the runners are and how far they have progressed because the baton has a GPS (great idea!). Does your web site have reasons for people to return and actively participate? Does it inspire people to act, share and recruit?

• Social media immersion: As soon as I registered to run I was invited to a closed Facebook group filled with like-minded people that are dedicated to this cause. There is a public Facebook page, too. They serve different purposes. The closed group gives users a sense of exclusivity. We are all in a special club and can speak with one another in ways that we might not want to on a public page. This closed group is a never-ending stream of encouragement, storytelling, sharing and camaraderie. I love getting the alerts and engaging with fellow runners. There is a true sense of “we are all in this together,” because we are. The public page encourages registrations and donations, shares photos and updates and is for anyone interested in the event. Twitter and Pinterest are in play, too, and the activity for both is also good. What’s happening on your social pages? How can you improve engagement?

• Targeted marketing efforts: How did I find out about One Run For Boston? Event founder Danny Bent sent an email to our running club president (and to countless other clubs I’d imagine). That email then went to our 300 members and was forwarded to countless others. Instantly, many of us signed up to run a leg; it was like a game of tag. Then we helped promote the effort to other runners via email and social media. I’m glad that I had a direct hand in getting runners in CT, OK, and MA to sign up. This became a viral effort that started with a very specific segmented communication. It worked. Now runners are alerting local press about the relay and getting exposure in various media outlets. How are you talking with your donors and participants? Are they inspired to help you spread the word?

• Great sponsorships: Lead sponsors for the relay are StrideBox, Goodwear, and energybits — all great partners for an event like this. These sponsors are also highly engaged in the promotion of the relay on several channels. All runners received a free cotton shirt from Goodwear (with option to buy a tech version for charity, and I did) and when the delivery arrived I also received a sample from energybits. When I tweeted about One Run For Boston this week, energybits immediately followed me and engaged with me directly. Turns out they are running the last leg with me on June 30. Pretty cool. Do your sponsors help promote your cause and engage with your constituents?

• Accessible leaders and participants: From the beginning of this campaign, the founders have made an effort to make personal connections with more than 1,000 runners. They are visible and participate on social media; gave us cell phone numbers in case we need assistance; sent emails to personally connect on Facebook, and more. Danny and Kate are out on the course sending updates and taking photos of runners at each leg. Personal connections, with both the event founders and fellow runners, make this massive event work. I love these guys and I don’t even know them. I want to be a part of this amazing event because their dedication and enthusiasm are genuine. How are you making connections?

What I love most about this event is that the founders were not afraid to think big. Some people might have been overwhelmed by the mere thought of plotting a relay race across 14 states, getting 1,000+ runners on board, travelling across the country in unfamiliar territory, etc. But these three took on the challenge. They inspired me, and thousands more, to get involved and show the world that the running community has a collective big heart, and is strong — Boston Strong. I just checked the web site again and runners are trekking through New Mexico. “Big” is an understatement. This is epic.