Champion :: The Perfect Storm

Last month as a part of a road race I competed in, I attended the race expo. In part to pick up my race packet that contained my race number, the obligatory race t-shirt and goodie bag. The other reason to attend the expo is to learn about the latest and greatest in apparel, shoes and other running accessories.

This was a decent sized race at a vacation destination, and because of this some of the big players in the running world were there. Champion was there and they were conducting a raffle of some sort. I don't remember what the prize was, but I signed up for it. The form had a spot for your email address and a checkbox to confirm interest in receiving email communication from Champion. I checked the box.



Champion did a great job of turning those email addresses around. I received my first message from them on May 29th. A mere 25 days since I registered.

Unbeknownst to the folks at Champion, a running blog I read regularly, Irish Blue in a Running Shoe was singing the praises of one of their products. Five Days later the email I received from Champion, featured the product with 20% off and Free Shipping.

I realize that this was just a coincidence, but as you can imagine, I forwarded that email to all of my running girlfriends. "Look, here it is, it's on sales and free shipping!"

Champion fell right into the perfect storm of Smart Data Collection, Consumer Generated Buzz, Email Marketing and the ever-important Forward to a Friend.

Bravo Champion!