Nate DeMercurio Portfolio

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...

Image: Ironman As the final selection of videos nears for the " Kona Inspired " promotion and the winners are chosen for their spots in the World Championships, Ironman is asking athletes to submit letters (and artwork, photography, lyrics, etc.) detailing what makes Ironman a part of their daily lives. This submission request is to help celebrate the 35th anniversary of Ironman in 2013. Like the Kona Inspired promotion, this will generate plenty of emotional content that can later be used in advertising and other promotion. See more about promotions and contests from Ironman on their Facebook page.

At the end of April, the brand formerly known as Athletes HoneyMilk changed names to a more generic " Core Power ." The intent is to be able to expand into other product lines, presumably other recovery forms, perhaps even energy and hydration options that round out the sports nutrition portfolio. It's interesting to see the different strategies as sports nutrition brands maneuver through the market.  Gatorade has done a great job of marketing the nutrition occasions - before, during and after - which seemingly has helped the rest of the industry more easily take advantage of separate opportunities. In this case, Athletes HoneyMilk saw an opportunity to offer a more natural ready-to-drink product option for the "after" occasion than competitors like Muscle Milk (which has a parent brand, CytoSport ) or EAS . Chocolate Milk is capitalizing on this as well, but the business structure doesn't translate to product line expansion. Companies like Clif Bar , GU E...

Travel and tourism continues to be one of the largest economic impact factors of endurance events, which has led organizations and events to look at ways to capitalize. In other cases, travel companies tied to endurance brands and events are evolving vacations for athletes looking for unique experiences of a lifetime. Star Events  - producers of cycling, triathlon and running events - recently launched a travel division, Star Travel  offering accommodation packages exclusively for Star Events. Benefits for using this event-hosted service is described as accommodation in preselected hotels, private apartments and villas all in walking distance from the start and finish line, insider information for training facilities, cozy restaurants, and attractive sites worth sightseeing. It's not surprising to see an event series branch out and offer it's participants travel packages and could be a likely brand extension for a series like Rock 'n' Roll or Ironman, provided they t...

Photo: Edward Reed/NYC Mayor's Office Citi recently announced a $41 Million partnership with New York City's bike share program, to be called " Citi Bike ," as well as a campaign to activate their sponsorship of the US Olympic and Paralympic Team called " Every Step of the Way ." They are promoting both through Facebook ( Citi Bike , Citi Every Step ) and Twitter ( @CitiBikeNYC , @CitiEveryStep ), and have released viral videos and advertising spots for Every Step, including featuring Team USA marathon runner Meb Keflezighi: Another Every Step viral video features Team USA triathlete Gwen Jorgensen: It will be interesting to keep an eye on Citi and their increased investment in the active lifestyle space as a supplement to other sports marketing initiatives.

It's refreshing when a company as large as Nike listens to their environmental conscience. Changing even the smallest things in certain business practices can translate exponentially to a massively reduced carbon footprint. Nike Better World is a global campaign to accomplish two objectives: become more environmentally responsible and better the world through sport. Succinctly put, "redefining performance and innovation to serve the athlete and the world." In typical Nike fashion, this campaign is vast and all-encompasing with regard to initiatives, tactics and outlets. The online web presence extends to multiple sites and pages portraying the efforts Nike is taking to streamline waste and inefficiencies through their products, packaging, supply chain, energy usage, etc. The " product " page has an incredibly innovative and unique user experience depicting images that appear to be on different layers and move at different rates as you scroll down. Ni...

Endurance sports can push athletes beyond limits they thought never thought possible, and yet while fulfilling, these accomplishments can be intrinsically lonely and create a yearning for more. Longer distance, tougher challenge, faster finishing times and so on, but endurance sports also allow athletes to use their passion to help others. Through solo efforts or with a team of other athletes, much can be accomplished in the way of charity by going a great distance and causes can be significantly enhanced by a strong social media plan. Staff members from the Rev3 Triathlon Series recently ran continuously, distance-relay-style across the country from California to Washington, D.C. to "Run Across America" in support of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The endeavor took the crew 21 days and covered over 3,000 miles as they updated their progress via Twitter and their event website blog . They managed to raise $40,000 for their charity. A group of friends from Wales an...

Still rising in popularity, Pinterest was recently named the third largest social media platform behind Facebook and Twitter. While many brands are experimenting and still determining exactly how to go about maximizing Pinterest's marketing potential, Brooks jumped on board with a promotion tied to their existing brand campaign called "Pin Your Run Happy." The promotion ran for 30 days and encouraged athletes to create a Pinterest board expressing what it means to them to "Run Happy." The boards were required to be submitted through Facebook with a written description, with the winner receiving $500 in Brooks shoes and apparel, and helping launch Brooks' Run Happy Pinterest board . See the Brooks promotion page here: Pin Your Run Happy .

Now that Facebook is converting everyone to the new "Timeline" format, it's interesting to see how the endurance community is reacting - are they using the large profile photo for promotion or marketing, using dramatic photos to stir emotion, or are they letting the opportunity go by the wayside? In this case, are they appropriately leveraging their content. This is merely an image gallery (in no particular order) of updated Facebook timelines, the last in a five-part series. Some are creative, some are strategic and some could use work. It's important to remember the primary benefits of having a Facebook page in the first place - allowing a publication to reach, interact with, and learn from athletes through a comfortable medium. Today's focus is on:  endurance publications and resources .