With Bass Pro Shops, marketing is all about engaging the public, reflecting the spirit of a community and giving shoppers and potential shoppers an experience they won’t forget.
For the past six years, the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Marathon has capped off a two-month marketing initiative designed to encourage young and old to experience the outdoors. Though the marathon has been around much longer under different names and formats, these days it is a favorite arrow in the retailer’s quiver dubbed the Outdoor Fitness Festival.
The event marked a key opportunity for Bass Pro and dozens of local sponsors, such as Mercy Sports Medicine, Ollis & Co. and Hy-Vee, attempting to capitalize on the thousands of runners Bass Pro’s weekend of races bring to Springfield.
Organizers of the marathon and associated races say the events aren’t about making money directly, as all proceeds are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks. They are about making an investment in the community – to promote a lifestyle its products support.
“We have become a destination marathon,” said Martin MacDonald, director of conservation for Bass Pro, noting 4,700 runners from 42 states participated in the races held during the first weekend of November. “There’s definitely an economic impact related to that. And it helps to bring folks back the next time.”
According to Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau data, event visitors spend an average of $125 a day per person. Considering the Bass Pro weekend brought in an estimated 940 runners from more than 100 miles away, those individuals generated an economic impact of nearly $120,000 per day.
Melissa Bondy, coordinator of the Outdoor Fitness Festival, said participation in its running events, which include a 5K-relay, a half-marathon and full marathon, has increased by roughly 20 percent each of the last six years. This year’s half-marathon reached capacity at 2,100 people, and organizers are budgeting for a 35 percent increase next year.
The Outdoor Fitness Festival comprises several events from Outdoor Days at Lake Springfield, where families can camp and participate in archery or paddle boarding, to the Tour De Bass bike race and the Dogwood Canyon trail runs.
“We want to turn couch potatoes into folks who are roasting potatoes outdoors,” MacDonald said.
A team of runners with the Missouri Beef Council crosses the finish line together at the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Marathon on Nov. 3.
Amy Stokes, an assistant professor of marketing at Missouri State University, said Bass Pro’s marketing efforts could be summed up as creating customer experiences that take many forms.
In conjunction with deer hunting season, Bass Pro’s fish logo is splashed across restaurant chain Hardee’s food and drink packaging and website in an effort to catch the eyes and pocketbooks of seasonal hunters.
“Its marketing with Hardee’s is very experiential. (Hardee’s) isn’t talking about how satisfying the food (is); it’s about the experience, and it’s the same thing with Bass Pro,” Stokes said. “It’s about more than the products it is offering. It’s about the experience of being at Bass Pro.”
Given younger males are a key audience for Bass Pro, the retailer also has sponsored such brands as NFL Network and NASCAR, namely with its logo on the hood of the No. 14 Chevrolet driven by Tony Stewart.
“Hardee’s is pretty centrally located in the Midwest, and its push has been in smaller, rural areas, and with younger men – and that fits perfectly with the hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen who are targets of Bass Pro,” Stokes added.
While Bass Pro Communications Director Tammy Sapp declined to comment on the company’s specific marketing strategies, MacDonald acknowledged such initiatives as the Outdoor Fitness Festival have applications to other markets. The retailer plans to open more than 20 stores across the country through 2015.
On Nov. 13, Bass Pro held its grand opening of its Little Rock, Ark., store – its first in the Natural State – and MacDonald said plans are being drawn up to partner with the nearby Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to encourage outdoor activities there.
“When a store is built, it is the responsibility of the store manager to make sure that the store connects to the community,” MacDonald said. “In Bristol, [Tenn.], as an example, we will connect with NASCAR.”
Interaction is the name of Bass Pro’s game, according to Stokes.She referred to a trending retail category dubbed “retailment” that is catching on – including with another outdoor retailer, Cabela’s, and Florida-based Ron Jon Surf Shop – where companies combine retail offerings in an entertaining atmosphere, so customers might travel significant distances to visit their stores.
“Its classics – the Hunting Classic, the Fishing Classic – it’s all about the interaction of the brand. It wants to move beyond being just a regular retailer,” Stokes said.
