A world-renowned marathon that attracts athletes from all over the world needed a multi-site website to bring them up to speed.
The Honolulu Marathon is one that runners around the world look forward to, since 1973 the picturesque views have been the backdrop of the USAs fourth largest marathon.
Thanks to our approach to user experience (UX) design, web development and paid ads we worked with the Honolulu Marathon team to build a site to showcase the marathon and generate more competitors.
Such an event needed a website that would reflect the grandeur of the event, however, the existing website didn’t reflect the event.
Therefore, we set about understanding more about the challenges they were having with the existing website and understanding the direction of travel. This led to a collaborative decision to undertake a visual and technical overhaul of their existing website. In addition to this, we agreed that the website should be developed in such a way that it allowed the Marathon, to stand alone from the other 2 events which attract a different group of competitors.
The objectives for the project were to drive online registration numbers, to promote the marathon across the world, and welcome a more diverse range of competitors.
First and foremost we sought to understand the objectives of the project by getting to know the organisers and what they envisioned – a key part of any project that we undertake.
Initially we built a responsive WordPress site which was fully aligned with the brand guidelines, transferring all historical data from the old site in the process. We integrated MailChimp to assist data capture and the sending of targeted emails, and designed bespoke email newsletter templates.
The new site incorporated a range of engaging features including live Marathon countdown timers, animation and video. We also added Google Analytics and the Facebook Pixel to track traffic and measure the effectiveness of the PPC campaigns.
After the first website, we continued to work with the team to produce two further websites to cover all three events that are hosted – the Honolulu Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k. Each of these sites could work together to reflect the specific event’s brand and entice runners to sign up. Additionally we planned and implemented a brand new PPC strategy to drive awareness and sign ups. We now create, optimise and report on a number of campaigns across Google Search, Display, Retargeting and Programmatic.
Taking prior knowledge of the demographics that were interested in the marathon we were able to target key audiences in the locations that traditionally drove the most sign-ups including the USA, Australia and New Zealand. This encourages runners to take the trip of a lifetime and run in the marathon, with great pictures to show off their achievements thanks to the beautiful views!
Following on from this we developed YouTube ad campaigns and were appointed to run digital marketing for the marathon’s sister event, the Hapalua Half Marathon.
Since the new site was launched we’ve seen a boom in engagement, including:
We continue to support the group of websites and drive signs ups to the fourth largest marathon in the US.
We have worked with WebBox on a range of projects including PPC Management, Programmatic campaigns and 3 website builds. WebBox is very approachable and has been instrumental in creating our digital presence. Thank you and we look forward to working with you on the next project!
Fredrik Bjurenvall, Honolulu Marathon
