SPORTS BACKERS RICHMOND INTERNSHIP
This summer I had the opportunity to work under the marketing department for Sports Backers in Richmond, Virginia. Sports Backers is a non-profit organization working to inspire the surrounding community to live an active lifestyle. They partner with local government, businesses, schools, and faith based centers to raise awareness and push the community forward through city-wide events.
While at Sports Backers, I worked on promoting their world-wide summer event: Great American 5000. This event was a remote, cross-country, team race from San Francisco to New York City. Participants created or joined a team of 24 members and walked or ran 3,107 miles. My duties included brainstorming an interactive activity for the racers, and designing Instagram and Facebook stories/posts that matched their brand aesthetic.
I created a running playlist on Spotify to engage the racers on their route. I researched hit songs from each decade (70s to today) and compiled a collection of upbeat music suitable for walkers, joggers, and runners. To continually engage the audience, new songs were introduced every time the racers passed a state line. These songs reflected the feel and spirit of each state.
Part of the Great American 5000 event includes posting mile markers throughout the race. The mile markers kept runners on track to completing the race within the correct time frame, as well as bringing a physical aspect to a remote race by acting as though this is what they are seeing on the road.
Before choosing the location for the mile markers, I researched neighboring towns, attractions, and buildings along the race route. Each post included a short description to describe the setting or depict the history of the location.
Through this internship, I have learned how to communicate with a team, collaborate and share ideas, schedule posts through Meta Business Suite, and work within brand parameters to produce a uniform social media appearance.