In 2020, all sport clubs in Brazil stopped their activities because of the pandemic, so we had to come up with a plan to keep the rowing community active.
The federation then created the Indoor Rowing Challenge, an online championship with weekly tasks that athletes could complete to earn prizes and be part of a national ranking. I created the visual identity, the themes, the races, the prizes and organized three Challenges.
The 1st Challenge
The first Indoor Rowing Challenge was a test to see if athletes would take part of an online competition. All elite rowers from the National Team were registered to play and we use them in social media to engage amateur rowers. Every week a new task was published, then participants had six days to complete the task on their ergometer.
The online Challenge proved to be a success with 98% positive reviews on our satisfaction survey and more than 77k views on social media.
The selfies we received were posted after every task on our social media, making sure everyone felt part of the Challenge. We even had a participant competing from the Brazilian military base in Antarctica!
The 2nd Challenge
In the second Challenge, the weekly tasks were inspired by famous rowing courses. Along with the instructions, I posted pictures and information about each course to keep athletes engaged.
The new strategy worked: total views on our social media increased by 36% from the first challenge. Instagram alone went from 50k to 74k views.
The winners got prizes from our sponsors and a limited edition shirt, with an illustration created especially for this event by Henrique Neumann, rower and illustrator. The image of the shirt got the second highest engagement rate on Facebook.
The 3rd Challenge
The third Challenge, held in 2021, was the first with paid registration. To get our audience excited for the Olympic Games, the theme was Row to Tokyo and every participant would get a National Team shirt with their name printed on the back.
In 10 days we had 140 paid registrations, well above the 100 shirts we had planned with our supplier.
The weekly tasks were published in the two months prior to the Tokyo Games, so along with the instructions our Olympic and Paralympic team was profiled. We also created a quiz about the history of Brazilian rowing in the Games.
Key Results
- Average 98% positive reviews on our satisfaction survey.
- Increased interest from CrossFit athletes: they were 8% in the first Challenge and increased to 17% in the third one.
- Increased interest from beginner athletes: they were 10% in the first Challenge and increased to 26% on the third one.
- 10% engagement rate on Instagram.
- Almost 400 registered participants in all the Challenges.
- A digital certificate was suggested in the satisfaction survey. It is now part of every national competition, but athletes have to go through the survey first, which more the doubled the answers.
