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Iconic events like Two Oceans hold unlocked economic potential for Cape Town

Jon Cherry
By Jon Cherry
8 Apr 2025
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Events like the Two Oceans Marathon are unique and offer spectators, participants, marketers and merchants multiple opportunities for engagement, all of which are memorable and marketable.

Traditionally, the highlight of the Easter long weekend for many South African households was watching the Two Oceans Marathon on TV. Back in the day, the SABC was tasked with broadcasting all the guts and glory of the race, live.

Right from the awkward blowing of the fish horn at the start on Claremont Main Road, to the inevitable cramps and vomiting on Chapman’s Peak and Constantia Nek, witnessing ordinary people transform themselves into superhumans by running one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons on television for seven hours was considered compelling family viewing back then.

Legendary athletes like the Nurgalieva sisters, Isaac Tshabalala, Willie Mtolo, Thompson Magawana and Monica Drogemoller were household names whose performance on the day was dissected by many an old lady with grand exuberance over a cup of Trinco tea and a Lemon Cream biscuit after the Easter Sunday church service.

Of course, the climax of the lengthy broadcast was always the predictable drama that unfolded moments before the race organisers dramatically fired a weapon into the air, signalling the end of the allotted time to complete the race. Watching exhausted runners driving themselves through a wall of excruciating pain to cross the line before the gun went off seemed overly heartless, but made for wonderful television.

It’s not exactly clear as to what the apartheid government was actually thinking by allowing the state broadcaster to proudly demonstrate what interracial camaraderie looked like at the time, but what was created through this oversight is an extraordinary event that still holds a special place in all South African hearts.

What has also stood out over the years is that the Two Oceans Marathon’s image has had a long association with the colour green, partially thanks to the 19 years that the title sponsor of the event was Old Mutual. The race organisers, Old Mutual, and other smaller committed sponsors built the various races that make up the weekend of running into a formidable asset for the City of Cape Town.

And let’s be completely honest here, whatever Old Mutual paid to be the main supporter over that time was certainly a fraction of what they received in return.

Unimaginable


These days it’s almost unimaginable that a media opportunity once existed where an entire country was glued to watching a televised running event for seven hours in which one brand played such a dominant part.

But as an infrequent spectator of the televised Two Oceans Marathon event, quite a lot has changed over the years.

Old Mutual has been replaced by Total Sports as the title sponsor, and now the ultra-marathon is broadcast exclusively on SuperSport. Unlike the SABC’s approach, SuperSport’s focus is on showcasing the performance of the elite athletes in their packaged programme, rather than showcasing the entire “heart and soul” of the race, as was the case previously.

The complete event package has evolved into an offering that is more professional than before, but the production values of the broadcast are clearly being made to come in on budget, and overall the product really does seem to lack a lot of the “gees” that Two Oceans used to embody.

Hollywood Bets dominates


Watching the race on TV this past weekend, it was impossible not to be impressed by the impactful participation of Hollywood Bets as a sponsor.

Many of the elite runners who were getting an enormous amount of airtime ran for the Hollywood Athletic Club (which was apparently started just a few years ago to encourage employees of Hollywood Bets in KwaZulu-Natal to take up a more active, healthy lifestyle).

Because they are a registered running club, many of the other non-professional runners were also doing the race in the bright colours of the Hollywood team, which certainly makes a confident statement as far as brand awareness goes.

Along the route, particularly at the start of the final Newlands Forest stretch, Hollywood Bets hosted an enormous “cheer zone” with a giant branded banner that traversed the road, together with an army of suitably branded dancers who filled the scene with energetic purple and yellow. 

The trump card for the purple team of course was that the ladies’ winner of the race and reigning queen of the Two Oceans, Gerda Steyn, now also runs for the Hollywood Athletics Club, which turned out to be a major scoop for them, too.

Total Sports may well have paid the most money to have their brand officially associated with the Two Oceans Marathon, but on reflection of this year’s event, it’s Hollywood Bets that stands out as the most prominent brand on the day, thanks to their layered, tactical approach.

A new era for events


The media landscape has endured radical upheaval in the past decade. Marketers have shifted almost all of their spending power into foreign-owned digital channels in response to Silicone Valley hype and the promise of more accurate advertising metrics.

The casualties of this shift have been traditional South African publishers and broadcasters whose revenue models have been made redundant by new audience behaviour.

It’s incredibly challenging to successfully compete with TikTok and Netflix for audience eyeballs in the evening, but it’s not so easy for another marathon to claim that they are now “the world’s most beautiful”, as does the Two Oceans.

Events like the Two Oceans are unique, and as a media asset are strategically defendable from global players. Unlike an episode of The White Lotus, the Two Oceans doesn’t just exist on a screen, but offers spectators, participants, marketers and merchants multiple opportunities for engagement, all of which are memorable and marketable.

Successfully leveraging events like this takes considerable effort, collaboration and creativity. Simply buying media space, running standard messaging and assuming that the job gets done is not doing the opportunity any justice.

But for those who are able to design an immersive experience that connects with different audiences, the value offered to brands is far in excess of other media options. 

Capetonians largely take events like the Two Oceans Marathon, the Cape Town Cycle Tour, the Cape Town Marathon, the Cape Epic and others for granted, but these iconic, location-specific event assets really do offer some incredible economic potential for the City and the region that has yet to be unlocked.

In a 2019 study on the “event economy” in the city, it’s estimated that the New York City Marathon generates in excess of R8-billion for the city.

Marathon weekend in NYC triggers a city-wide collective effort that’s embraced by restaurants, retailers and New Yorkers themselves. The run is seen as a valuable primer for citywide stakeholders to showcase the city at its best.  

The future of this “in-real-life” domain looks tantalisingly positive; imagining what might be possible from here is a must. DM

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