The Color Run: Racing to Maintain and Grow Their Market Share

Keywords

market share, social media, concept development

Abstract

In 2012, The Color Run had a goal of hosting 15 untimed, 5k fun runs across the United States for 100,000 runners. Their unique race concept was to douse participants in colored powder during the run. The visual nature of the experience made it custom designed for social media "postability" and participants' pictures soon went viral on Facebook, Instagram, and other outlets. Instead of the hoped-for goal of 15 races and 100,000 runners, The Color Run hosted more than 50 races for over 600,000 runners in its first year. The Color Run is now the largest event series in the world with over 170 events in 30+ countries during 2013. Due to The Color Run's amazing initial success, copycat color runs and other themed fun runs were inevitable. Now the organization is grappling with how to maintain and grow market share in an increasingly saturated niche event sector.

Original Publication Citation

Ward, Peter, Mathew Duerden, Brian Hill and John Conner. 2015. “The Color Run: Racing to Maintain and Grow Their Market Share.” Journal of Parks and Recreation Administration, 2015: 76-86.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2015

Publisher

Journal of Parks and Recreation Administration

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Experience Design and Management

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Link to Full Text

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