YOURMTB.COM EVENT PARTNERSHIP

24 Hours of Conyers - Georgia - May 19-20, 2007.

www.yourmtb.com/24hoursofconyers

The annual 24 Hours of Conyers mountain bike endurance race is part of the 24 Hour National Point Series, operated by Granny Gear Productions.

Granny Gear's races, like Conyers, are a big deal in the MTB racing world, but typically they do not get a lot of coverage by mainstream media. In the week following the 2007 Conyers race, a search on Google News turned up no stories even mentioning the 24 hour race.

The 24 Hours of Conyers Grassroots Channel on YourMTB.com provided the most extensive coverage of the race -- by the participants themselves. Meanwhile, mainstream media virtually ignored the popular event.

The Opportunity

Grassroots Channel content embedded in the Granny Gear website (Click to enlarge)

24 Hours of Conyers organizers recognized that if media outlets wouldn't adequately cover their event, there was an opportunity to get coverage themselves online. Racers and their support teams bring digital cameras and video cams to the race, and they have plenty of stories to tell about their weekend of fun.

They just need to be enticed to share.

By partnering with YourMTB.com and creating a 24 Hours of Conyers Grassroots Channel, Granny Gear got extensive coverage -- and were provided with a digital archive of the weekend's racing excitement and festivities, which became a powerful marketing tool.

The Program

Here's how the Grassroots Channel program worked:

• YourMTB.com:
  • Created a 24 Hours of Conyers Grassroots Channel and announced it to the YourMTB community.
  • Prepared several contests -- best blog entry, best photo, best video -- for anyone posting to the Grassroots Channel (including the correspondents). Prizes were donated by Nite Rider.
  • Recruited 3 "correspondents" from the YourMTB.com membership who were planning to attend the race. These people received free entry to the race and a YourMTB.com t-shirt in exchange for blogging about the event and shooting photos and/or video.
  • Selected contest winners, after the festival.
• Granny Gear/24 Hours of Conyers:
  • Sent out e-mail announcements to its mailing list.
  • Assisted YourMTB.com in finding sponsors for the contests.
  • Handed out flyers promoting the Grassroots Channel at the event.
  • Announced the Grassroots Channel from the stage during the event.

Results

Pre-event. The 3 YourMTB correspondents were asked to blog about the event in advance of it. Two did so, and other race participants also posted photos from last year's Conyers race.

During event. One of the correspondents blogged during the race itself -- using a laptop and wireless Internet access available at the venue -- posting descriptions of his team's performance accompanied by photos.

Post-event. Submissions from 24 Hours of Conyers participants and the 3 correspondents flowed onto the Grassroots Channel during the 2 weeks after the event. Correspondents and festival attendees posted:

• 26 photos
• 1 slide show
• 4 videos
• 13 blog items

From the Event Organizer

Granny Gear president Laird Knight

Laird Knight, president of Granny Gear and race organizer: "I had a sense that YourMTB.com was on to something but like most new technologies there's a lot of room for unexpected surprises. We've been surprised by our racers' response and the demand to become Grassroots Correspondents. Likewise the quality of the content that is being posted has come as a pleasant surprise. It's been great. There are so many stories created from our 24-hour races and now there's a place where they can be shared and preserved as a permanent part of each race's history."

Get a Grassroots Channel for YOUR Event

Want this kind of enthusiastic participant coverage of your race or event?

Please contact Yann Ropars, director of business development, at 303-543-7810 or yann@enthusiastgroup.com