“It is a unique event, because everybody can participate, assuming you can train,” Valentzas said. “it’s really a very democratized race, so that makes it really special, but it’s also special because it’s New York … this is our backyard.”
Mastercard has sought to make its marketing and perks similarly accessible to its New York audience. It’s teamed with Flanagan to offer fans, small business owners and runners pre-race exclusive virtual training sessions, meet-and-greets at Mastercard’s space at the Marathon Expo at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, a speaking engagement at the Expo the Saturday before the race and the Priceless Start on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to kick off the marathon.
“Originally, they never intended for me to actually run the marathon, but I had thrown it out there that I’d rather run and just soak up the day, especially if it’s good weather,” Flanagan said. “I would maybe reconsider for poor weather—I’m a fair-weathered runner now—but I love that they let me indulge in being part of the actual event.”
Crowding the field
That’s just the beginning of the brand’s own marathon of marketing events.
The company and its partners at Citizens held a small business panel with personal finance writer Jean Chatzky on the Monday before the race. With help from media partners at WABC, it introduced the metro area to two owners of small fitness businesses—Brashfit owner CJ Hernandez and SIN Workouts owner Vanessa Martin—who’ll each be at the Priceless Start and will be running in the marathon. They’ve also been mentored by Mastercard and received access to its Digital Doors 2.0 toolkit for businesses.
“The New York City Marathon is a cultural force in our community: It supports travel, tourism, culinary, entertainment and it’s all buzzing this week,” Valentzas said. “This course passes thousands of small businesses, so we want to acknowledge that and recognize and support our small businesses.”
