Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
Event Marketing Case Study
CLIENT SITUATION
The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is held annually in April to commemorate the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Candor was engaged to generate event awareness and drive race registrations for the 2023 #RUNtoREMEMBER via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
PLANNING & EXECUTION
The Marathon goals are to drive registration nationally and spread awareness of the event’s mission — to celebrate life, reach for the future, honor the memories of those who were killed and unite the world in hope.
To build buzz and encourage participation, Candor partnered with the Marathon Communications Team on a seven-month social media campaign, starting with a registration launch in September 2022. To build off the popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels, a vertical video campaign was used to create excitement for 2023 registration. The series showcased popular areas of Oklahoma City, including Scissortail Park, Wheeler Park, Uptown and the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
Paid social ads were strategically targeted nationwide using custom audiences, interest-based keywords and behaviors. The ultimate goal? Beat the previous race’s registration and restore results back to 2019 levels (pre-COVID).
RESULTS
Primary evaluation methods centered on registration data, social media metrics and how metrics compared to the previous Marathon.
Nearly 19,000 registrations (up from 13,250 the previous year)
Over 12 million social media impressions (including over 3 million just on Race Weekend)
More than 90,000 link clicks
