Nate DeMercurio Portfolio

Not far from the bustling city streets of the Metroplex, a welcome refuge awaits cyclists. Dallas has maintained a deservedly poor cycling reputation, and while that may be improving with new paved trail extensions and future planned connections, the facts remain there is a pitiful amount of bike lanes, the roads are littered with cracks and potholes, and the general commuting population doesn’t embrace sharing the road with cyclists. Sure, there’s White Rock Lake which provides an accessible urban outlet for times in need, but it can be dangerously crowded on days when fair-weather riding is optimal. There are the group rides to Duncanville and the locally infamous South Loop, though both feature plenty of highway access road and the same sketchy conditions with traffic and surface hazards. (Those can do wonders for bike handling skills, however...) The best attributes Dallas has to offer a cyclist is the sunshine and mild weather that make riding outdoors year-round very appealin...

A few years back I was racing Ironman 70.3 Boulder and wanted to make it more that a race. I had the idea to create an i ntimate and unforgettable experience through the convergence of endurance sports and delicious food to a benefit worthy cause . I partnered with Pizzeria Locale in Boulder, a fantastic and authentic Italian restaurant with a James Beard-award-winning and former pro cyclist owner, Bobby Stuckey. He served as the host of the event which featured 3-time Ironman world champion Mirinda Carfrae and her Ironman champion husband Tim O’Donnell. The event proceeds benefitted World Bicycle Relief, an outstanding organization that recently eclipsed the 500,000 bike donation mark to African communities where the mobility of a bicycle makes a significant life impact.

This is a capstone digital marketing project I completed recently for a course through the University of Vermont. We covered all prominent areas of digital marketing, though not all were applicable to this particular project (ex. SEO) as it was focused specifically on increasing trial for a new Honey Stinger product. Hopefully this will illustrate my understanding of digital strategy, the tactical roles of the platforms throughout the funnel and my ability to thoughtfully create and execute a presentation. Enjoy! Digital Marketing Capstone Project: Honey Stinger

A lot has been made of a recent Peloton holiday ad, depicting a husband gifting his wife a Peloton bike for Christmas and her subsequent year-long video diary. Daily news outlets and late night talkshows have all had something to say. While some ads are intentional about walking social or political tightropes hoping the virality of their stance garners additional exposure, this certainly doesn’t seem like the case for Peloton. It’s a rather common, if not mundane and cheesy holiday ad promoting a fitness product. So why all the added attention? Let’s look at it from a few angles. The nature of television advertising is to create a compelling piece of content in a very short window. Often brands will try to tell a story within 15 seconds to a minute, eliciting some sort of emotion, subtly (or not) detailing product information, and including some sort of call to action. Not a lot of time to do all that, let alone build a backstory for the actors and actresses, so if we really wa...

Nearly a week after the start of the Tour de France, US viewers will begin tiring of the same advertisements playing repeatedly through NBC Sports Network's 4-hour daily coverage of the world's most famous bike race. Too bad there are still two weeks left. Regardless, there are a number of new commercials that debuted during the opening week. Let's take a look at a few: Cannondale SuperSIX EVO . The ad speaks to the technology and performance of the specific model and features riders from Team Liquigas-Cannondale (who have had tremendous early success with Peter Sagan). Road ID . Playing off the humorous and quirky Bob Roll commercials from a year ago where he couldn't find anyone to ride with, Bobke is back and trying desperately to meet up with professional cyclists and triathlete to go for a ride. Honestly, the ads are corny, but after an eye roll, they get the point across that even when heading out alone, the Road ID should be along for the ride. This is one of man...

As the first Wednesday of the month, June 6th was proclaimed National Running Day , an effort spearheaded by the New York Road Runners. A number of iconic running organizations partnered to promote this effort in a variety of ways and further participation in the sport across the country. Major running groups, like the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA), Boston Athletic Association (BAA), Atlanta Track Club (ATC), Running USA , USA Track & Field and of course the New York Road Runners (NYRR) were involved on some level. Also involved were some major events that leveraged the day to provide registration discounts and capitalize on a contrived promotional opportunity, for lack of a better term. Competitor Group and Rock 'n' Roll Marathon called out to runners everywhere to submit miles run on June 6th (over 23,000 miles were logged online), in addition to offering race discounts to select races, like the Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon . Competitor Group so...