The 12 mile obstacle course events company increased sales by 24x in just 2 years, with Facebook being its primary advertising and engagement channel.

1. Case Study | ROI/Sales
Tough Mudder uses Facebook as its primary channel to
market its obstacle course challenges around the world.
Facebook has helped Tough Mudder produce a 24X increase
in sales in two years.
Goals
Tough Mudder is a challenge that features a
10-12 mile course packed with 25 obstacles Tough Mudder wanted to use Facebook to spread the word
designed by British Special Forces to test about its series of obstacle course challenges that take place in
your all-around strength, stamina, mental different cities around the world. Tough Mudder’s goals were
grit and camaraderie. to:
facebook.com/toughmudder Increase brand awareness on a global scale
Drive more people to sign up for its events in specific cities in a
way that was social and shareable
Develop a community of individuals interested in participating
in Tough Mudder
Key Results
Approach
24x
increase in sales in just two years,
Build
Tough Mudder first created a Page in 2010 to increase its fan
base and drive conversation around its events. The company:
with Facebook being the primary
advertising and engagement Chose its logo as its profile picture and a cover photo
channel for the company
featuring a rugged competitor overcoming one of the Tough
Mudder obstacles
Developed a tab called “Events” on its main Page view,
allowing people to easily view locations and dates of
5-10x
upcoming Tough Mudder challenges around the world
Connect
return on advertising
spend on Facebook Tough Mudder also ran Facebook Ads to generate registrations
for its events and increase awareness of its organization:
Targeted individuals by location and age, such as people
between the ages of 25 and 45 in Northern California
Targeted Likes and Interests such as”ice hockey,” “extreme
5-8x
higher click-through rate
sports” and “MMA” to attract people who would be interested
in obstacle course events
Used provocative ad text such as “One arm. One leg. He’s now
(CTR) for ad in news feed vs. a Tough Mudder. Now what’s your excuse?” to encourage
traditional ad displays
people to participate in events.

2. Case Study | ROI/Sales
Engage
Tough Mudder increased engagement on its Page in several
ways:
Posted pictures and stories of figures or characters who
made the “Tough Mudder Hall of Fame”
Sparked conversations about its events by posting fill-in-the-
Build
blank sentences, such as “The best part of Tough Mudder is
“_______________” in addition to caption contests for photos
Developed a custom tab called “Are You Mudder Ready?”
that allowed users to take a quiz about how prepared they
Connect
were to take on the 12-mile course, and share the results with
their networks
Influence
To continue to expand its reach and engagement on Facebook, Influence Engage
Tough Mudder took part in Facebook advertising beta programs
and routinely tested new ad units:
Ran sponsored stories in the news feed that let people know
“Facebook has been Tough Mudder’s primary
when one of their friends had liked the Tough Mudder Page channel since our inception—our found-
Leveraged the Facebook Exchange to show more relevant ads ers promoted the first event with $8,000 in
to people who engaged with the Tough Mudder website Facebook ads, driving more than 5,000 total
participants. It remains our primary channel,
Experimented with video ads and sponsored stories to
due to its immense scale, product innovation,
increase brand awareness
social context and efficiency. Facebook con-
Tested “clusters” to show more relevant ads to past tinues to help us grow our business by intro-
customers about upcoming Tough Mudder events ducing our brand to new markets and helping
us maintain contact with past participants
when we return to a market.”
Results Peter Wylie, Media Director, Tough Mudder LLC
24X increase in sales in just two years, with Facebook being
the primary advertising and engagement channel for the
company
5-10X return on advertising spend on Facebook
Tools Used
High quality creative & publishing
5-8X higher click-through rate (CTR) for ads in news feed vs.
Custom tab
traditional ad displays
Registrant submissions and fan acquisition cam-
12X increase in the fan base, from 200,000 to more than 2.5 paigns running across all Facebook placements
million, attributed to Facebook Ads in just a year and a half
Sponsored stories boosted with quality creative
20% of Tough Mudder participants say they were influenced Facebook Exchange
to sign up through Facebook Ads, according to a survey
Homepage placement: right-hand side and
conducted by the brand news feed
Testing with “Custom Audiences”