The future remains ours to make

In just over a month the Covid-19 crisis has hit the endurance sports/mass participation event sector like a wrecking ball. Even for an industry that plans for dozens of different scenarios, based on thousands of variables - the sheer scale of the outbreak and the speed at which things have escalated has consigned every contingency plan to the bin.

Many of my peers have captured in LinkedIn posts and media articles the devastating impact that the virus is having on long standing events, start-ups, suppliers, charities, freelancers and many other businesses. But as it did after shocks such as 7/7 and the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the industry is pulling together to try and support each other. Chris Robb has offered his huge experience to support companies via his Mass Participation World platform and Nick Rusling of Human Race has pulled together many promoters of some of the UK’s biggest mass participation events to support each other and our wider industry.

Plans are being re-drawn and events re-scheduled for the Autumn in an effort to get ahead of the unfolding news. At Limelight, our team have been incredible despite the challenges they have faced and the uncertainty that is now a part of everyone’s lives. Having spoken to many of my peers it seems a common theme that what has happened over the last few weeks has really pulled teams together. It is during the tough times that you see whether your business really does have the culture and ‘engaged’ employees that you believe and they won’t get any tougher than this.

Whilst there is still much work to be done to deliver many events during a truncated and very busy ‘event season’ in the Autumn and much more contingency planning for the scenario of an extended lock-down, my attention has started to turn towards what a post Covid-19 future might look like for Limelight and our industry. 

I believe that there are many reasons to be optimistic:

1.    Are more people becoming more active?

When announcing the tighter government controls on Monday 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that exercising was one of only four reasons to leave your home. Whilst only being able to do this once a day will have curbed the activity of some of our more active and experienced participants has it increased the number of people who are now exercising and the number of times per week that they do so? 

A recent survey by RunRepeat.com would suggest this is the case:

• People who normally exercise up to 1-2 times/week have increased exercising by 88% on average
• People who normally exercise up to 3 times/week have increased exercising by 38% on average
• People who normally exercise 4+ times/week have decreased exercising by 14% on average

Will they still be exercising by the end of the lock down? And will they continue when restrictions are lifted? Could our audiences be growing? 

Also, will we ever take being able to go for a walk, cycle or run for granted ever again? The answer for most is 'probably', but we should look to make our events as accessible as possible to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the people whose behaviours have been changed forever.

2.    Will we crave physical contact and community?

Over the last month we have all seen so many examples of innovations to keep us connected and inspirational stories of communities coming together virtually. The ability to connect with multiple people through technology will probably change the way we communicate forever. 

However, does it replace our need to connect physically, our desire to be part of a group or just something bigger than ourselves? Sport and mass participation events have always provided this feeling of community. An old parish Vicar I knew once described the scene of the gathered participants at one of our events as “a swarming mass of humanity”. 

I believe that having missed the opportunity to do it for so long, people will not take the opportunity to interact for granted ever again.

3.    Don’t put off until tomorrow…

Having lived through such an extended time of uncertainty about the future will people make more plans and be more motivated to see them through? 

How many people in the UK have always said that they would do something one day? Will they make sure that day is set rather than just being a pipe dream at some distant point in the future? Will this be an opportunity for us to ensure that we can cater for them if one of their bucket list items happens to be a physical challenge?

Also, we're biased, but we know events are special. They give meaning to all of that extra physical exercise. Anyone who has ever completed a triathlon, marathon or other challenge that they have set themselves knows that when their goal is reached – they are never the same person again.

4.    Brands will need to be more relevant and more purpose-led than ever before

Engaging brands as partners in mass participation events has been increasingly challenging over the last few years and it is important that we don’t shy away from the fact that we haven’t done enough to change the way we operate. Amongst other things we all need to fully embrace digital, build data and uplift the consumer experience. We lag far behind many other consumer-centric industries.

However, on the positive side what we do really matters to our participants. It is an important and major part of their lives and often is inherent to their character and gives them purpose. By understanding them more and making our offer more personalised and relevant to them, we can ultimately deliver a more engaged audience and valuable opportunities for brands to build a relationship with their audience.

5.    Are we recession proof?

All of the forecasts indicate that post-Covid-19 we will see a significant recession and with less money in everyone’s pockets the logical conclusion is that our industry will be impacted along with most other consumer industries.

However, there is anecdotal and some more scientific evidence that suggests that endurance sports and mass participation events actually hold up well during recessions. One of the key reasons cited for this is that during recessions and periods of uncertainty, that preparing for and participating in challenges offers an escape from reality and/or a feeling of greater self-worth. In reality of course, we will be affected by a recession for lots of reasons but perhaps less impacted than other industries?

I believe therefore that there are many reasons why we should collectively be positive about the future and it is vitally important that we use this hiatus to pro-actively challenge ourselves and our thinking. We need to increase the rate at which we adopt technology and re-imagine our relationship with our customer, the participant. We need to re-invent our business models so that it is fit for the future. We all need to be ready. So that we can capitalise on the opportunities that WILL come.

Our friends and clients at the Eden Project, who know a thing or two about regeneration and repurposing, have an ethos and a saying that I believe fits our challenge ahead perfectly…The future remains ours to make.