ToppHälsa's Pink Tent Draws Subscribers at VårRuset Races

On Wednesday June 2, Sweden's VårRusets series of races around the country finished. Some 150,000 women ran the 5K races and joined the festivities around the race in 17 locations, and Bonnier Tidskrifter's magazine  ToppHälsa put up its big pink tent in 11 of them.

"This is the third year we've participated in the races," says marketing manager Lena Thelenius. "In 2008 we were in the three biggest cities in Sweden plus Luleå, and the year after we were in eight places and now it's 11. This year is the first time we've had our own tent. We have a good subscription offer that you can sign up for there, and we've gotten an incredible number of subscriptions."

The offer is sent out together with the participant number to those who have signed up and there are ads in the program as well - new subscribers sign up via the ads as well. Thelenius says that it is a good way to get the attention of the right target audience.

"It is both a big brand builder and a way to get new subscribers, especially in smaller cities where there is less going on," Thelenius. "We get more attention there than in the big cities. In Luleå some 5,000 women ran and 10 percent of them signed up for a subscription."

Those who subscribed to ToppHälsa in conjunction with the VårRuset also got a goodie bag with products from the magazine's advertisers - everything from soy milk and healthy snacks to bath oil and shampoo samples.

"It is also good for our advertisers to be seen in this context, they are always the first we ask when we do events and trade shows," says Thelenius. "They are of course interested in this target audience."

The VårRuset races are also a good forum for marketing the Topploppet race, held on Oct. 2. The Creative team arranges that race, with both Lena Thelenius and ToppHälsa's Editor-in-Chief Frida Boisen involved.

"We include ads for Topploppet in the materials in our tent, and we get a number of participants that way," says Thelenius.