Feb. 19--The loss of a title sponsor this year was only a bump in the road for the Myrtle Beach Marathon as it pushes ahead plans for next year's event.
All Star Cafe, which bought a title sponsorship the past two years, passed on the high-profile title this year but remained a sponsor on a smaller scale.
'They were going through some corporate restructuring,' said Shaun Walsh, president of the Myrtle Beach Marathon. 'They really got us up and running at the beginning, and I'll always be grateful to them for that.'
Walsh said three companies have an interest in a title sponsorship next year, and he also hopes to place more subtitle sponsors earlier next year to give companies as much exposure as possible.
'There is probably a need for a full-time executive for that race,' said Ashby Ward, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. 'If they can afford to fund that, soliciting of a major sponsor might be easier.'
The Grand Strand could get as much as a $1 million boost from the marathon.
The chamber estimates today's race was to bring 15,000 people into the area.
'It's such a plus for us, because it comes at a time of year where we're just beginning to emerge from winter hibernation,' Ward said.
Walsh said the marathon hopes to reorganize in the next year and perhaps hire someone to promote the race and seek sponsorships full time.
Last year the event spent $35,000 on advertising, but because it lacked a title sponsor this year, only $10,000 to $15,000 was spent.
That hasn't hurt attendance in a social sport, which presents a unique marketing arena for businesses and organizations.
Walsh said a marketing study analyzed All Star Cafe's benefit from the first two All Star Cafe Myrtle Beach Marathons. In advertising alone, the study estimated the company reaped $75,000 the first year and $100,000 in 1999.
'That doesn't include the number of T-shirts wandering around with a name on them and the number of banners around,' Walsh said.
At some point in a marathon's life, sponsorships often come calling instead being solicited door to door -- something that Myrtle Beach Marathon organizers might be able to anticipate.
In Charleston, the 23-year-old Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10-mile race, grew from 1,500 participants in its infancy to nearly 28,000 last year.
The bulk of that growth occurred in the last seven years, when the race came under new directorship.
'What a sponsor gets out of a race is, they get tied to a positive community event,' said Julian Smith, race director for the Cooper River Bridge Run.
In Myrtle Beach, sponsors help raise money for the Leukemia Society.
'The more we can raise, the more the Leukemia Society raises, which is our whole underlying objective,' Walsh said.
Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., which owns Broadway at the Beach, paid $3,000 this year to sponsor the Myrtle Beach Marathon's 'Millenniuim Challenge,' which awards a prize package to runners who complete the event three years in a row.
'We do it because obviously it brings name recognition to Broadway,' said B&C spokesman Pat Dowling, 'but in a larger role it helps the city and area merchants bring a lot of people in town in what is traditionally a slow time of year.'
The Chick-fil-A fast food chain pays $50,000 to be a presenting sponsor for the Cooper River Bridge Run.
'You can't put a value on it,' Smith said.
The sponsorship includes some 500 television and radio spots, copious print advertisements, logo on every race souvenir and star billing on two Southeast region cable television programs covering the race.
Piggly Wiggly, another major sponsor, helps promote the race by printing the Cooper River Bridge Run's Web site on 11 million shopping bags.
Sponsorships start at $1,000.
Only seven years ago, the Cooper River Bridge run had no sponsors. It now has more than 50.
The S.C. office of New England Financial has built recognition through the race.
'They've become a household name,' said Howie Schomer, assistant race director for the Cooper River Bridge Run. 'I don't know if they were before. They've been on the back of our shirt for so many years.'
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(c) 2000, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.