Free run to marathon: How NEB Sports hacks your brain (for a good cause!)
Unsure of participating in a marathon? Not anymore! NEB Sports uses some genius behavioural insights to encourage you. Curious? Read on.
Forget fancy marketing gimmicks! Every year, NEB Sports, in collaboration with Wipro, adopts a very clever approach to promote their annual marathon. They host a totally Free Inaugural Run, and if you look closely, there is a bunch of behavioural science behind this genius move. I attended one last Sunday, and here’s what I noticed.
Imagine you're on the fence about running a marathon. Maybe the distance seems daunting, or the commitment scares you a bit. Enter Wipro Inaugural Run: a chance to test the waters without breaking the bank. You get to experience the buzz of fellow runners, and the awesome organizers firsthand. This taps into the concept of loss aversion: By experiencing the positive aspects of the run for free, you might feel like you'd be missing out if you didn't sign up for the full marathon. After all, you've already invested time and effort into participating – the endowment effect suggests you'll value that experience more and want to continue it.
The brilliance of the idea goes beyond the free run. They strategically placed the registration booths right there, at the peak of your post-run high. Think about it: you've just accomplished something challenging, you're surrounded by motivated people, and the energy is infectious. Signing up for the marathon suddenly seems like the natural next step. This leverages the peak-end rule: our memories tend to focus on the peak (the finish line) and the end (the celebratory atmosphere) of an experience. By strategically placing registration at this peak moment, the organisers capture your positive emotions, and this increases the likelihood of signing up.
There's also a bit of herd mentality at play. Seeing others register can subconsciously nudge you to do the same. It's like thinking, "Hey, if they can do it, so can I!" This plays into the idea of social proof: we're more likely to participate in something if we see others doing it too.
And let's not forget the power of framing. By calling it an "Inaugural Run" instead of a "practice run," NEB might be framing it as a more exclusive and desirable event, making participation more appealing. This subtle shift in wording can influence how people perceive the experience and increase its value.
The next thing to look out for is what percentage of the participants of the free run actually took the plunge into the main event! So, the next time you think free events are just a way to save money, think again! They might just be a clever way to get you hooked on something amazing, like the Wipro Bangalore Marathon!
