About this project
$23,098
592
Wow! What a great run!
Keep up with this project at www.RunFreeRace.com
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Brought to you by:
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RUNFREE 2013: A 26.2 Day Campaign for The Greatest Race That Never Was
On February 2nd, 2013, we are faking a marathon. The question we're trying to answer is this: how many photographs does it take to make a fake marathon real?
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HIGHLIGHTS & UPDATES
DAY 26 - OVER 850 RUNNERS! OVER 2200% FUNDED!
DAY 25 - OVER 700 RUNNERS! OVER 500 BACKERS!
DAY 23 - OVER 650 RUNNERS!
DAY 22- OVER 600 RUNNERS! CONFIRMED ARTICLE IN FEBRUARY ISSUE OF RUNNER'S WORLD!
DAY 20 - OVER 30 TEAMS REGISTERED!
DAY 19 - OVER 400 BACKERS! OVER 550 RUNNERS! STRETCH GOAL ACHIEVED!
DAY 19 - MEDAL DESIGN UNVEILED! BEHOLD THE AWESOMENESS!
DAY 17 - Over 500 RUNNERS!
DAY 15 - Over 450 RUNNERS! Featured on Wired Magazine's Geek Dad blog!
DAY 14 - Over $10,000 thanks to our awesome backers!
DAY 12 - Over 400 RUNNERS from 14+ countries!
DAY 9 - First STRETCH GOAL announced!
DAY 8 - Over 300 RUNNERS from more than 10 countries!
DAY 5 - OVER 250 RUNNERS! We made this video to show what the race would look like if each backer were a cookie. Enjoy!
DAY 4 - Over 500% funded! Let's keep this crazy train rolling!
DAY 2 - Featured in the NEW YORK OBSERVER!
DAY 1 - Early bird registrations SOLD OUT!
HOUR 1 - Fully funded after just 48 MINUTES!
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Progress as promised!
Here's what our progress has looked like since the campaign started. (That little reddish/pinkish dotted line? That's our initial goal of $999).
(Graph courtesy of canhekick.it)
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Rewards
$1 - Thanks for supporting this project! At this level you get our genuine heartfelt thanks, and also some counterfeit thanks if you'd like.
$10 - ECONOMY REGISTRATION - Includes everything in the full registration, except no t-shirt.
$20 - EARLY BIRD GETS THE SHIRT - SOLD OUT! - The first 100 people get the FULL REGISTRATION for $5 off, PLUS your race t-shirt will have an early-bird signifier on the sleeve, PLUS your race time will be better than the rest of the FULL registration backers as a way of saying thanks for supporting us early!
$25 - FULL REGISTRATION - Receive a limited, kickstarter-edition racing bib, vehicle sticker, registration packet, safety pins, and race bracelet (racelet?). Plus, YOUR NAME will be in the race program included in every packet and your race time will be listed on runfreerace.com, PLUS your very own race t-shirt to commemorate your participation.
$45 - MEDAL OF HONOR - Includes Full Registration PLUS race participant medal, which can be proudly displayed in your home or worn around your neck every day in place of (or in addition to) a necktie.
$75 - RACE OFFICIAL - Includes full registration PLUS race medal PLUS embroidered terry headband PLUS limited-edition RACE STAFF shirt and lanyard, PLUS exclusive behind-the-scenes updates before, during, and after the race. PLUS your name will be listed on the site as a Race Staff Member. Only 50 available!
$100 - RACE TEAM PARTY PACK - Includes SIX full registrations PLUS limited-edition racing headbands. (Add $50 to include medals for all six participants)
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Follow Along!
Want to stay up-to-date on RunFree 2013? Look no further than our social media accounts!
Twitter: @runfreerace
Facebook: Run Free Race
Instagram: @runfreerace
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Sponsorships
Sponsorships are a great way to gain some online visibility for your business, blog, or personal brand. All sponsors will be featured on race shirts and the race website in order of sponsorship level.
$250 - SPONSOR-A-MILE - LIMITED QUANTITY - 26 AVAILABLE Your company name (or blog, personal brand, favorite cat, etc.) listed on race t-shirts, race program and race website as a mile sponsor. PLUS You'll receive your own 18x24" mile marker yard sign with your logo & mile number on it, PLUS we'll mention your business from our social media accounts on race day! Also includes 2 full registrations.
$500 - SILVER SPONSOR - LIMITED QUANTITY - 10 AVAILABLE- Your name & logo on race t-shirts & race website, a 2'x4' race banner with your company logo, a HALF-PAGE ad in the race program that will go to every participant, AND a mention from our social media accounts on race day.. Also includes 5 full registrations.
$1000 - GOLD SPONSOR - LIMITED QUANTITY - 5 AVAILABLE - Your logo larger & more prominent on race t-shirts and race website, a 4'x8' race banner with your company logo, a FULL-PAGE ad in the race program that will go to every participant, AND multiple mentions from our social media accounts on race day.. Plus you'll be allowed to insert a flyer or souvenir into every race packet (you provide fliers/souvenirs). Also includes 10 full registrations.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SPONSORSHIPS, EMAIL KYLE@RIDICULO.US
PLATINUM SPONSORSHIP
Although not listed in the rewards, there is one additional sponsorship level available. The PLATINUM LEVEL SPONSORSHIP places your name & logo everywhere, essentially co-branding the race. Because your brand will be tied so closely to ours, this is only available to one company, and only once both companies (Ridiculo.us and you) have talked and come to a mutual agreement. This sponsorship will look different depending on who decides to purchase it, but an initial outline would look something like this:
PLATINUM SPONSOR - LIMITED QUANTITY - ONE AVAILABLE! - Run Free 2013, presented by... YOUR COMPANY! Yours will be the ONLY corporate logo on the race bibs, plus it will show up on race stationery, all race marketing materials, and will be prominently featured on the race t-shirt and website. Your company will receive a FULL TWO-PAGE SPREAD in the race program, ten entries to the race, a 20' wide finish line banner with your logo on it, AND multiple mentions from our social media accounts on race day! Plus you'll be allowed to insert a flyer or souvenir into every race packet (you provide fliers/souvenirs).
If you or your company would be interested in this opportunity, please email ann@ridiculo.us to get the process started.
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The Full Story
There’s a saying on the internet: “Pics or it didn’t happen”.
In other words, if something is real, if it actually happened, there will be pictures to back that up.
But
what if something DIDN’T actually happen, but there are STILL pictures
of it? Does that mean it DID happen? If something is fake, how much
evidence does it take before it becomes real?
That’s the question we’re trying to answer.
So on February 2, 2013, we are faking a marathon.
We’ll
have all the trappings of a real marathon - race banners, race
t-shirts, race medals, race sponsors, race bibs, a race program... you
get the idea. We just won’t have any actual... racing.
We’re calling it Run Free 2013. Because, well, it’s run-free. It’s free of running.
Here’s
how it will work. A few days before the race, you’ll receive your race
registration packet containing all the stuff a regular race registration
packet would contain: a race program, a race bib, safety pins, etc.
Maybe even a race t-shirt if you want one.
You’ll take a picture of it and post it to instagram, saying something like “Just got my packet for #runfree. Totally stoked, yo!”
Then,
on race day, you’ll throw on some running shorts and a t-shirt, pin on
your racing bib number, and take a picture. Then you’ll post something to Facebook
like “Getting ready for the race!" And you'll tag the RunFree page in the post.. Then you can go back to
sleep for awhile, or check your email, or eat a donut.
A
little later, you’ll find a road somewhere and have a friend take a
picture of you pretending to run by. “Woo hoo!” they’ll tweet. “Cheering on my
friend as he/she runs #runfree!”
But
it won’t just be you doing this. Across the country and around the
world, hundreds, if not thousands, of other people will be doing the
same thing, uploading pictures online, helping amass an insurmountable wall of evidence proving
that Run Free 2013 actually happened (even though it really didn't - or did it?).
Not
only will participants be inundating facebook, twitter, and instagram with these
pictures and posts, but we’ll be curating the best ones before, during
and after the race on our site: runfreerace.com. Plus everyone who participates will have their race time listed on the site to prove they were there.
There
are lots of things that are necessary for this to work, from planning
the details to producing the shirts and medals and so much more. Most of
the stuff, we can take care of. But there are two things we can’t
provide on our own: pictures and participants.
On
our own, we could provide a handful of pictures. But the more pictures the race has, the more believable it becomes. Especially if those pictures
are coming from a wide variety of sources.
The
only way to get a wide variety of sources is to get more participants. Plus,
the more people that participate, the more fun it is to be a part of.
In fact, we’re hoping some of you will do this with your friends, so we
can get shots of 5, 10, or even 20 or more runners in one picture.
That’s some pretty convincing propaganda right there.
The best part is, this is your
race, and you get to make it whatever you want it to be. Some of you may stage obstacles, as
though this was some intense mud marathon.
Some of you may set up fake aid stations and have pictures of volunteers waiting to hand out ridiculous refreshments.
It’s
totally up to you. As long as the photos aren’t crude or offensive,
they’ll be added to the historical record of the race.
We
want to see how people react and respond. What kind of event will
people think this is? Will they buy into it being real, even when a quick Google search will tell them it's not? How far will
participants take it?
But most of all, how many photographs does it take to make a fake marathon real?
This project brought to you by:
Ridiculo.us is a participant in Kicking It Forward, an initiative to donate a portion of project profits back into the Kickstarter community. Find out more at www.kickingitforward.org
Risks and challenges
The biggest challenge will be making sure everything gets to our participants in time for the race. Without that, the concept doesn't work. To make sure we accomplish this, we're giving ourselves PLENTY of time (over 2 months from project completion to race day) to make sure we have time to order shirts, bibs, medals, banners, etc. and get them where they need to be in time for the starting pistol to go off.
Additionally, we're going to have backer surveys ready to go as soon as the project closes (instead of waiting to put together a survey afterwards) so that we can get responses quickly and order the rewards early.
This presents a second challenge, which is keeping participants excited during the interim. To combat this, we'll be putting out weekly emails with "race training tips", challenges, and other ways to engage with the idea and push it forward. We'll even have ways for participants to shape the project during that time, such as posting "training" pictures that could be included in the race program, website, and other materials.
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Funding period
- (26 days)