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Small charities priced out of online ads around London marathon

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 1 Jan 2008

Early December saw over 90,000 people waiting eagerly to see which magazine the postman would bring, Accepted or Rejected – the Flora London Marathon’s way of notifying runners who had got through its entry ballot. At the same time, event fundraisers were springing into action, either trying to persuade successful entrants to run for their charity or offering any of their own remaining places to the unlucky ones.

Next year, things will be different. Following the runaway success of a trial entry system for the 2008 race which saw 10,000 ballot places being filled within five days, the whole application process will go online for the 2009 race. It is also being moved forward, with applications now opening on race day in April.

The changes will allow runners to both apply and confirm their place online. This means advertising around the entry ballot on the marathon’s website will be at a premium for charities, especially as the marathon will also do away with the magazine that previously held the postal entry form – a key tool alongside the Accepted and Rejected magazines where charities advertise for potential runners keen to sidestep the ballot and guarantee entry, often in exchange for around £1,500 in sponsorship.

However, advertising online for runners is not cheap. All sales are handled by a company called Realbuzz.com, a running website which is the marathon’s online partner. Realbuzz offers a number of advertising packages to charities, the more expensive of which come with guaranteed places in the Flora London Marathon.

For the 2009 race, a £9,995 package of banner adverts on the marathon’s site comes with three marathon places for 2009; while for £22,250 charities can buy a gold package of skyscraper adverts on the homepage and online entry section complete with eight marathon places. Other lower profile packages, such as £950 for a place in an alphabetical list of charities, do not come with marathon places.

In addition, some of RealBuzz’s advertising packages on other races run by the Flora London Marathon, such as the Hydro Active Women’s Challenge runs in London, Birmingham and Liverpool, also come with marathon places.

Dave Bedford, race director of the Flora London Marathon, said Realbuzz paid the marathon £300 for each of the places handed out as incentives. This is the same amount charged per place to charities that have golden bonds – the marathon’s system guaranteeing permanent places in the race. Bedford said there were a set number of places given to Realbuzz to use as incentives, but refused to reveal how many.

The money made during the sale of the advertising is split between Realbuzz and the London Marathon Charitable Trust, which organises the marathon and gives any profits out in grants to community and recreation projects. “There is an agreed split between us. [Realbuzz] have to cover their costs and they have to make a profit,” said Bedford. However, he refused to reveal what the split was and Realbuzz refused to comment.

Many of the charities that buy the larger online advertising packages, such as Cancer Research UK and Children with Leukaemia, are those known to already have a high number of golden bond places in the race. Other charities without golden bond places are forced to pay the high advertising price to get any places, meaning that some ask runners to raise large amounts to cover costs.

However, Bedford disagreed that the places given as part of Realbuzz’s advertising packages should instead be given to the 500 charities on the waiting list for golden bond places in the marathon. “No, because we have a responsibility to maximise the income for the London Marathon Charitable Trust and that is what this does.”

Bedford denied that the system was unfair on charities without golden bond places that could not afford the high cost of online advertising. “There are something like 80,000 charities out there that don’t have places in the marathon,” he said. “Our opportunity is to work with our partners. We’re now working with more than 2,000 charities across a year, but clearly cannot work with them all. Those charities that find this and other opportunities that we put forward as effective from a fundraising point of view will take part in them, and those that do not, will not.”

Some of the disgruntled may soon turn elsewhere. Talk of a second marathon for charity runners have developed and PF has learnt that one events organiser is well underway with plans to launch a new half-marathon in London in October 2008.

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Who's Who: Gemma Ware