Royal Victoria Marathon x Lost Fridays
Our social media overhaul built a community that moved from “maybe” to “I’m in” faster than ever before, driving the earliest sell-out in race history and a wave of momentum that’s already propelling the 2025 event toward another record year.
The challenge.
The Royal Victoria Marathon isn’t some pop-up 5K—it’s a 44-year institution. But legacy alone can’t outrun shifting attention spans. By early 2024 the race faced a trio of growing hurdles:
Digital Foot-dragging. Social feeds felt like static noticeboards: mainly photos, sporadic updates, and comment threads that read like crickets. Engagement had slipped below 1 %, and follower growth was flatlining month over month.
Aging Runner Base. Registrations skewed toward repeat veterans while first-timers—especially the under-35 crowd—were flocking to “experiential” races with slick online personas. RVM risked being labeled “your parents’ marathon.”
Crowded Calendar, Shrinking Window. West-coast runners now choose from Vancouver, Seattle, and dozens of themed races every fall. Without early buzz, RVM’s sign-up curve was peaking later each year, forcing frantic last-minute promo pushes that drained budget but barely nudged numbers.
Story Gap. Plenty of heartwarming moments happened on-course—Boston qualifiers, 80 year old athletes, charity heroes—but none of it was hitting social feeds in real time. The brand had stories; it just wasn’t telling them where runners actually hang out.
In short, RVM needed more than a facelift. It needed a full digital engine swap—one that could turn decades of tradition into scroll-stopping relevance and convert online hype into bib numbers long before race-day banners went up.
The stats
125% increase in following
While making content is one thing, seeing the community grow was important. We increase overall following by 125% in the span of 8 months
18 million organic views
Having multiple videos go viral was important. We had 3 videos do over a million views, a few others do 500k+ and another that did over 10 million organic views!
Earliest race sell out ever.
Typically, the race sold out about 2-4 weeks prior to the event race day. This year the event sold out two months prior with 25% of all registrations being attributed directly from socials.
What did we do different?
Run-Life Relatability. We swapped “race ads” for content every runner knows in their quads: early-morning alarm memes, tempo-run tips, chafing hacks, finish-line euphoria shots. If you lace up, you saw yourself on the feed.
Two-Phase Content Cadence.
Phase 1 (Run-Life): From January to mid-summer, 90 % of posts were pure value or entertainment—zero “Sign-Up Now” pressure.
Phase 2 (Race-Ready): Eight weeks out, we began a slow drip of registration reminders—countdown Stories, wait-list warnings, price-tier deadlines—mixed seamlessly into the still-running community content. The CTAs felt like helpful nudges, not hard sells.
Real-Time Conversation Loops. BTS, comment-driven debates, and quick-reply DMs turned the account from soapbox to group chat, driving algorithm-loving engagement spikes.
Conversion Bridges Built-In. Every high-performing post had a next step, so when FOMO hit, the sign-up form was one tap away.
By talking with runners about their day-to-day grind—and only talking about the race once they were already invested—we turned awareness into attachment, and attachment into the fastest sell-out the Royal Victoria Marathon has ever seen.
The brief: reignite excitement, court new runners, and make “RVM” feel like the bucket-list race it truly is, through creative testing and strategy.
Are you an event looking to expand their marketing and presence online?
Click below for a free 15 minute audit of your current advertising and marketing, and let’s see if we can find a way to keep those taps, and revenue, flowing.
What was the payoff?
The results sprinted past every benchmark: the Royal Victoria Marathon sold out a full six weeks earlier than any previous year, its social following ballooned 125 percent in just eight months, and our community-driven content racked up 18 million organic views that fuelled global buzz without a cent of paid spend.
That momentum carried straight into the next cycle—more than 4,000 runners locked in 2025 bibs before we even opened the formal hype, slashing cost-per-registration by 38 percent while boosting repeat-runner rates to record highs. With a younger, highly engaged audience now in the mix, sponsors quickly upped their investment, proving that when you anchor a race in relatable runner culture and pace your calls to action just right, you don’t just fill slots—you create a self-propelling movement.
Some of our highest performers.
What did we learn?
What this campaign reinforced for us is that successful event marketing hinges on turning spectators into stakeholders long before you ask them to register or buy a ticket. This doesn’t mean trying to hard sell your event only one month prior to it. It’s about building a community surrounding the event so people are bought in to the lifestyle.
Audiences connect first to human-scale narratives—back-of-house glimpses, attendee spotlights, shared pains and small wins—so every piece of content needs to feel like it’s describing their experience, not your agenda. When you position that storytelling as an always-on dialogue (polls, Q&As, UGC challenges) and treat performance metrics as real-time focus groups, you create a feedback loop that continually sharpens the message, lowers acquisition costs, and extends the event’s lifespan well past its calendar date. In short: lead with community, optimize through experimentation, and let conversion be the natural outcome of belonging.
“Everything feels aligned, intentional, and authentic to our cores and values. Their creative instinct and marketing strategy make it a very easy process.”
“Working together is easy and very impactful!”
Anastasia Wagner - Vancouver Island Brewing
What do we do?
Social Media Management
Our packages include videography and content creation, photography, UGC content as well as content strategy and monthly reporting. We craft tailored strategies to maximize your reach and provide in-depth monthly reporting so you can track your growth. Let us handle the details while you focus on what you do best— running your business.
Video Production
For projects that demand a larger video and a cinematic touch, our Video Production services can make sure that happens. Whether it’s brand storytelling, commercial shoots, or high-end promotional videos, we handle every aspect—from pre-production to post. Our team crafts high-quality assets tailored for all platforms, ensuring your message resonates everywhere, from social media to television. When your vision requires more than just a camera, we bring the expertise, equipment, and creativity to make it happen.
Paid Advertising
We don’t just run ads—we craft full-circle campaigns by pairing paid media with our Social Media Management services. From eye-catching creative to strategic placement, we ensure your brand reaches the right audience across all platforms. Our team handles everything from ad strategy and content creation to optimization and reporting, so your brand stays top-of-mind and ahead of the competition.
contact us.
Hello@lostfridays.ca
1218 Langley St
Victoria, BC. V8W1W2