SilverLine, the specialist digital media activation and analytics platform for endurance events, has hired Zack Grice for the newly created position of Director, Marketing and Partnerships. Grice, who comes to SilverLine after nearly two decades with Rodale, will introduce SilverLine’s solutions to a growing portfolio of running, cycling and multisport events.
Zack Grice had been Managing Director for the Bicycling and Runner’s World media brands at Rodale since 2015 where he directed strategy and maximized financial performance for all aspects of the integrated global brands. This included multimedia advertising and sponsorship sales; brand identity; circulation; ancillary products and live experiences; international editions; and e-commerce. Before that he was affiliated with Bicycling in ascending roles for 16 years, including as Publisher from 2013-2015. He holds a BS in Marketing from Alfred University.
“SilverLine is uniquely positioned to help our partner events thrive in today’s evolving and ultra-competitive event landscape,” said Grice. “Sponsors demand not only authentic and personal engagement with a qualified audience, but also measurable ROI that proves their brand’s impact. And participants expect to be supported and connected with relevant content and experiences at every step of their event journey, from the moment they register until they celebrate after crossing the finish line.
“SilverLine’s data analytics give events proof of performance and unmatched insight to sharpen their dialog with, and add value to, both important constituencies.”
Jayme Anne Goldberg, CEO and co-founder of SilverLine, to whom Grice will report, said “Zack has a more multi-faceted understanding of business drivers in the active enthusiast market than anyone.”
She continued, “He will help events and brands understand how data analytics can better inform how they interact with race participants before, during and after events to assure maximum ROI for race organizers and their local and national sponsors. After years of testing and proving that applying SilverLine’s technology unlocks value for events and brands, we are ready to accelerate our growth.”
SilverLine works closely with event management and publishing partners to ‘bring online what has been a historically offline sponsorship economy in the endurance sports industry’. SilverLine adds that it makes it possible for buyers across the modern media landscape to harness the power and resonance of event sponsorship.
SilverLine’s proprietary data analytics measure preferences and content consumption and predict purchasing behaviour for ‘millions of active lifestyle athletes participating in more than 650 mass-participatory running, cycling, triathlon and obstacle race events’.
The company generates first-party data leveraging website and social media data to ‘build detailed, hard-to-get psychographic and behavioural information about active lifestyle enthusiasts and their experiences.’ SilverLine then enriches these first-party profiles with up to 2,000 offline behavioural attributes to give partner events and brands an actionable profile of their customers’ content consumption and purchasing habits.
SilverLine adds that its data allows brands to predicatively influence purchasing decisions in core vertical categories such as footwear, apparel, gear and wearable technology; and extends to non-endemic categories including travel/hospitality, automotive, food and beverage, insurance and financial services, and more.
