Author Archives: Gary Schwake

Is Your Event Mobile Friendly?

Source: Marketing Land

Think for a minute, if you will, about your email reading habits.  If you are like most busy people today, your first exposure to your email inbox is often on your mobile device.  So it is easy to say, "well duh," to the recent reports that show over 1/3 of all emails are read first on a mobile device.

It is important, however, to reflect on just how quickly that has changed.  Email on mobile has tripled in less than 18 months.  There is much more to this than people simply reading email on a smaller screen.

The team at Virtual Race Bags closely monitors the performance of all of our digital goody bags, and here is what we have observed about how mobile is impacting both email and web visits.

Read More

Gary SchwakePublished:

Chicago Triathlon Review – It’s the little things

As a triathlon veteran of over 20 years I was excited to race the Chicago Triathlon, the largest triathlon in the world in terms of participation. I'm probably over critical of triathlon organization having done so many but it was difficult to fault this race organized by Life Time Fitness.

I had heard complaints about the pot holes on the bike course and the long run on ashphalt to transition but they had taken care of both the issues, filling in the holes and putting carpet down the whole way between the swim exit and T1.

I even noticed the nice small race numbers they gave us for the bikes and run belts. Nothing worse than having huge big numbers flapping around in the wind. The race directors had obviously been listening to feedback and paid attention to details.

Had a great painful day swimming, biking and running through the humid city but would be tempted to do it all again next year…

Gary SchwakePublished:

Team Virtual Race Bags and the Blue Ridge Relay

For the second year in a row, Virtual Race Bags had a 6-man Ultra team in the Blue Ridge Relay, a 208-mile relay run from Grayson Highlands, VA to Asheville, NC.  Because of construction, this year's course was actually 210 miles (we were counting every mile).  Each man ran 30 – 35 miles, with one brave soul (VRB's own Chris Bradle) running FORTY-FIVE miles.  We finished the race in 29 hours 37 minutes, with the heat on day 1 taking its toll and bringing us in slower than last year.  We are now determined to come back strong in 2013!

(Chris is on the far right, Gary is 3rd from left)

Gary SchwakePublished:

To Bag or Not to (Goody) Bag

Lines of volunteers stuffing goody bags.  An all too familiar site for events both big and small.  Given that most goody bags are stuffed with paper, one has to wonder … "why are we doing this?"

Because sponsors and merchants still want to reach participants, but want to do so in an efficient and effective manner, many events have decided to move to digital goody bags.

The Woodstock 5K in Anniston, AL is an example. Read More

Gary SchwakePublished:

How to Create Your Own Digital Goody Bag

"How does the Virtual Race Bag compare to a digital goody bag I build on my own?"

We get this question from time-to-time, but the only way to answer it with any justice is to describe how to build a digital goody bag using a variety of inexpensive, readily available tools.  Then we can compare the features and benefits of each. Read More

Gary SchwakePublished:

New Pricing for the Ultimate Virtual Goody Bag

Get a Virtual Race Bag for $500 per bagWe are excited to announce new pricing for the Virtual Race Bags platform.  Now any event in the U.S. and Canada, regardless of the number of participants, can pay one low, flat fee of only $500 for the ENTIRE platform! Read More

Gary SchwakePublished:

Welcome to our New & Improved Site!

Yesterday we launched an updated website (the one you see now).  For those of you who have visited us before, you will notice a cleaner, simpler, more informative site.  Our  goal in revising the site was to provide more information to event organizers and production companies about the very real benefits of moving to virtual goody bags.  We now work with hundreds of events across the U.S. and Canada and have seen the adoption of digital goody bags begin to take off, for three primary reasons:

  1. Participants prefer to receive high quality, relevant offers digitally (i.e. mobile)
  2. Sponsors get more control over the brand experience and METRICS!
  3. Organizers can leverage #1 and #2 to produce incremental revenue

Over the course of the next several weeks, we will be adding video testimonials from our event clients as well as participants.  We will also be adding video demos that will show you our platform in action.  In the meantime, we encourage you to visit our Frequently Asked Questions section on our site and discover why Virtual Race Bags is the Ultimate Virtual Goody Bag.

Gary SchwakePublished:

Virtual Race Bags Closes Series A Financing

Thanks to all of the clients and participants we have served over the last 18+ months, we were able to successfully raise a nice round of equity financing to help fuel our continued growth.  We intend to use the proceeds to round out our team and accelerate the development of simple, useful tools that help event organizers deliver exceptional value to their participants and sponsors.

Thanks for helping us grow!

Investors Put Growth in Sight for Virtual Race Bags

Gary SchwakePublished:

JP Morgan Chase & Co. Corporate Challenge Selects Virtual Race Bags

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Event Logo

We are thrilled to be working with the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Corporate Challenge in 2012!  All seven of the events in the U.S. will be utilizing the Virtual Race Bags platform, with the hope of going worldwide in 2013!

The full text of the press release is below …

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Corporate Challenge Series Selects Virtual Race Bags as Marketing Partner for U.S. Events

Read More

Gary SchwakePublished:

Is Your Event Increasing Entry Fees in 2012?

Mayor Bloomberg’s mandate that the NYC Marathon pay for police costs is not unique to the city of New York.  Every municipality around the country is looking for ways to increase revenue and an easy target are the fees for utilizing public services like police for large (and even small) events. “No problem,” you say, “we will just increase entry fees.” The trouble is, what additional benefit do your participants receive for the increased cost of entry?

The challenge of delivering value to participants is exacerbated by the ever dwindling event marketing budgets of local merchants and national brands, in many cases completely eliminating an Event’s ability to deliver “schwag in the bag.” So what to do?

We are of course biased, but the solution that works for all players, Event, Sponsor and Participant, is a digital goodie bag by Virtual Race Bags. Sponsors and Brands receive real value from the platform because it enables them to actually track the performance of their offers.

Read More

Gary SchwakePublished: