Tough Mudder

Background:

Tough Mudder is a Brooklyn-based company that hosts endurance obstacle runs founded in 2010 by two friends, Guy Livingstone, and Will Dean. Dean was a Harvard Business School MBA candidate participating for a business plan competition and came up with Tough Mudder by using Tough Guy, a UK obstacle race as his basis. Tough Mudder’s first event was held in 2010 in Bear Creek Ski resort in Pennsylvania. Tough Mudder can be found both nationally and internationally – United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Australia.

From 2010 – 2015, the average event growth is around 64% while the participant growth is around 56% (Grant, 439). In 2015, participants paid $180 - $260 to tackle 15-20 team-based challenges. The company prides on making endurance events accessible to everyone and cultivating a genuine camaraderie, and accepting all customer feedback to further grow and develop their brand and product range. The company also focuses solely on strategy and culture by having employee retreats to unwind and solely focus on thinking about the future of Tough Mudder. In 2015, Tough Mudder has been the market leader in endurance obstacle course runs but faces the challenge of sustainability as the market for fitness continues to grow rapidly.

In this paper, I will analyze Tough Mudder’s strategy and their brand identity. Then, I will explore the challenges they faced and how to turn them into opportunities. Lastly, I will provide recommendations on how Tough Mudder can maintain their competitive advantage and market positioning in the endurance obstacle course run industry.

Strategic Analysis:

I will analyze the external analysis using the PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces.

PESTEL Analysis (Appendix 1)

- Political: In the United States, politics have been impossible to explain after the first year of Donald Trump‘s presidency. In the healthcare industry, President Trump has taken many steps to scrap the Affordable Health Care Act. Trump will soon revoke the subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out-of-pockets costs of low-income people. As a result, the disappearance of the Affordable Health Care Act will have high insurance premiums and insurance companies fleeing from the health law’s online marketplaces. In October, President Trump laid the groundwork for the new healthcare system – offering less comprehensive plans offered through small employer associations and greater use of short-term medical coverage. (Pear, Haberman and Abelson, 2017). The nutrition laws in the United States have not changed in the exercise category. Almost all states recognize individualized nutrition counseling but the licensed exemption varies from state to state.

- Economic: Tough Mudder is currently private-pay only