Study reveals significant growth and spending on the sport despite economic climate

Participation
Overall, triathlon is a vibrant, growing sport. By and large, survey respondents not only expect to continue their participation, most also expect to increase the number of races in which they compete. Triathletes’ commitment to the sport is also evidenced by the fact that most respondents report that they are planning to enter longer-distance races in the future. The health of the sport is broad based, with regardless of number of races, tenure in the sport, or many other sub segments. Triathletes are also very active in other types of endurance races,
including medium- and long-distance running events and specialized multisport races. They reported unusually high rates of participation in certain off-season sports, and many show a willingness to travel to races, including races that require an overnight stay. The many companies and organizations that serve triathlon have the opportunity to grow with the sport, even in these trying economic times. Participants are looking for new and varied experiences, and their enthusiasm, in and of itself, creates opportunity. Companies should focus
on activating triathletes’ intent to increase and diversify participation.

Triathletes, as a group, are advanced socioeconomically. Most notable is the mean income of triathletes, of $126,000 and the very high percentage of professionals. Additionally, the triathlete’s average age is in the late thirties. Older athletes also do more races. Triathlon appears robust, and the potential for future growth is quite promising, even in a down economic period.

Segmentation
While responses vary greatly by segment, almost all the triathletes who participated in this research said that they participate in triathlon for “the personal challenge.” The study identified seven “segments” of triathletes on the basis of how they approach triathlon, why they compete, and what they get out of it. The above results vary by segment. For instance, 44 percent of all respondents indicated that they prefer to spend discretionary income on triathlon. In terms of the seven segments, however, more than 65 percent of three and nearly 80 percent of another said that they would prefer to spend discretionary income on triathlon. Understanding these nuances is critical to understanding how to foster continued growth in triathlon and serve the needs and wants of triathletes.

The seven unique segments of triathletes buy, behave, and experience the sport in different ways.

Targeted approaches to reaching and inspiring them will make a difference.

Taken together these findings enhance the understanding of how connected triathletes are to the sport and the strength of their commitment. For companies and organizations that serve triathlon from USAT; race directors, sponsors, and product companies that provide equipment; as well as food and nutrition companies, this information is critical to meeting participants’ needs, keeping participants’ engaged in the sport, and growing the overall participant base.

Buying Behavior
Triathlon-related spending is a tale of good news and bad news. In the midst of an economic downturn of significant proportion, triathletes on the whole remain highly committed to the sport and expect their participation to grow. The good news is that on an overall basis, spending on triathlon is not expected to change dramatically. In fact, there are more triathletes who expect to increase their spending on triathlon than who expect their spending to decline. The bad news is that it is clear that triathletes, like most other Americans are trying to find ways to cut back on their spending. The detailed research on specific product categories shows that
year-to-year spending in some merchandise areas will fall significantly in this downturn, while others may see modest growth. Race fees and nutritional supplements are two categories that can expect increases in spending.
These findings reinforce the expectation that participation in triathlon will increase, suggesting also that even in a down economy, consumers with high socioeconomic standing spend on items and activities that promote their health and well-being.

Taken together, these findings show that triathlon is a beacon of opportunity for many product
manufacturers. For those selling necessities such as athletic shoes, fitness clothing, or nutritional products, the next 12 months may yield success in sales, market share expansion, and brand development.

Nevertheless, for those manufacturers of products in categories in which spending will be restrained, now is the time to build loyalty by targeting segments whose consumers will buy later. It appears that triathletes will remain receptive to buying products they need. They will, however, likely wait longer, making, for example, purchases of new bikes, helmets, or wetsuits, only when they absolutely need to. This behavior varies by segment as well.
When survey participants were asked how they expected their triathlon-related spending to change in the next 12 months compared with the previous 12 months, there were more who said that they expect their spending to increase than there were who said that they expect their spending to decrease.

• Slightly more triathletes (15 percent) expect their spending to decrease by more than 25 percent than expect it to increase (12 percent) by 25 percent.
• Clearly, those triathletes who spend less will be trying to make their dollars go further. So they will likely be very selective about how they spend their money. The results also reveal that the importance of style, quality, price, and purchase venue varies significantly among the various segments, with implications for advertising, marketing, bundling, and distribution.

Conclusion
The study shows that the triathlon community is growing, vibrant, and passionate. Triathletes do, in fact, exhibit “tribal” traits such as fierce loyalty, dedication, enthusiasm, and a burning desire to see their sport succeed.

We believe that companies and brands need an outside view. You must have an objective view to develop brand strategy that captures or grows market share.

Here are some of the, stylish, dynamic and engaging websites that we have created recently:

	Close TRISWIMCOACH WEBSITE		Close TRIATHICA FITNESS CENTER WEBSITE		Close HOTTRISTUFF.COM

Our contribution to our clients is to help them develop their potential in the most effective, creative, intelligent and cost-effective manner.

Triathica AD Campaign

Triple Concepts had produced a collection of company launch ads for Triathica Training Center. See the ads in the Competitor Magazine or take a look below.

	Close TRIATHICA AD CAMPAIGN #1		Close TRIATHICA AD CAMPAIGN #2

When it comes to the core promise of any brand, experience is the real test. The core promise of Triathica is “train like a triathlete”. With that in mind, we have created this advertising campaign to show the benefits of training at Triathica like a triathlete. Two athletes took the 12-week challenge to become triathletes. They are training at Triathica by USAT certified coaches with the most effective training methods for OC Triathlon at the end of September. This personal experience will show the difference between the perceived image we have formed in potential members minds based on the marketing activities we created compared to the real value that the members get. The outcome of real-life interaction with these two athletes will determine the success of the challenge. So far the outcome is positive.

	Close TRIATHICA AD CAMPAIGN #3

X Factor is referred for a triathlete (usually in Ironman races) who has never done that particular race but expected to do well. All big names were X factors once and they had X marked on their calves. Their dedication is motivating. Triathica is also an X Factor,dedicated to the sport of triathlon with a very bright future ahead.

Winter Training Facilty

Our concentration with this postcard with any of the advertising that we have created for Triathica is to bring the advantages of having a triathlon training facility in Orange County. We are expecting a colder winter with lots of rain. What a triathlete wants other than training thru the winter, training indoors without worrying about dark, rain, cold or traffic to get ahead of the competition. This postcard is sent to over 2000 triathletes in Orange County and will be passed out at the races.

	Close WINTER TRAINING FACILITY POSTCARD		Close WINTER TRAINING FACILITY POSTCARD

Triathica Coupons

We wanted to incorporate some deals into Triathica’s marketing mix to attract different targets, segments to increase the number of membership. These coupons are created to pass at triathlon, multisport events, running races along with Triathica’s new affiliate program. These merketing efforts were successfull to get the deserved attention to Triathica and motivate the potential members to act on them. These promotions are fairly new and still in progress.

Supporting Challanged Athletes Foundation (CAF)

Established in 1997, the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) is a unique organization that recognizes the athletic greatness inherent in all people with physical challenges and supports their athletic endeavors by providing grants for training, competition and equipment needs. It is the official charity of Triple Concepts, Orange County Triathlon Club and Triathica. Orange County Triathlon Club organizes and host annual silent auction as their annual fundraiser. All of the proceeds are donated directly to CAF. Triathica is donated one 1-year membership to Triathica valued at over $500 and we have created some advertising pieces along with Spin for a Reason program to encourage OC triathletes and their friends to participate Triathica’s spin classes to raise more funds for our favorite charity, CAF. Stop by Triathica for a Spin Class ($10.00), 100% of all proceeds go to CAF.

Focused on Experience

Combined over 10 years of experience working exclusively in the sports marketing industry. Triple Concepts Sports Marketing was built by triathletes to serve Sports Industry, specifically Swimming, Cycling, Running and Triathlon. Our clients get to work with the people who potentially use their products or services.

If you’re stuck in the transition area, need to create or re-create your brand, take your marketing to the next level, or just looking for an outside, objective perspective, then you’ve come to the right place.

We have integrated our  knowledge in latest Marketing Strategies, leading edge Internet technology with Madison Avenue creativity to establish Triple Concepts. We are the right team of people who understand the industry, marketplace and the customers. Partners served on the board of directors of the Orange County Triathlon Club and other various sports organizations for years and they acquainted with a vast network of people in the triathlon community, including publishers, tri club directors and race organizers. This puts us one step ahead of the curve. 

We meet face-to-face and engage you in our recommendations. We strongly believe that every brand, product, service and company has unrealized sales and profit potential. In many cases, the unrealized potential is greater than current sales. We’ll show you how to leverage existing opportunities and create new ones.

Here is a project that has been keeping us busy lately. Triathica, first fitness center of its kind dedicated SOLELY to the sport of triathlon, needed a web developer partner that understands their unique needs and can deliver a simple to use system that also came with some elaborate and elegant tools for managing their content.

We strived to provide the best in web development services to ensure Triathica’s website is not only appealing but also dynamic. 

• Marketing-driven design to create user interest and a call to action
• Search-engine friendly coding for higher search engine rankings
• Clean and attractive layout

The design and quality of a website directly impacts the image of the company with customers and prospects. We are working closely  with Triathica to improve the traffic to the site and add additional features to the site. (Online system for the training facility for members to log in and receive restricted information and a comprehensive online catalog and ordering system for multiple-level users to place orders, approve orders, and generate reports for single user, group, or all.)