Ironman Group — Scaling a Multi-Brand Events Platform and Powering Athlete Engagement with HubSpot Automation

Operating dozens of brand websites on disconnected systems introduced operational inefficiency and diluted the athlete experience.

Key challenges included:

• Fragmented multi-brand architecture: Each new series or event launch required significant rework.

• Manual data coordination: Registration, event details, and CRM updates were slow and error-prone.

• Editorial bottlenecks: Automated syncs overwrote editorial changes, reducing trust in the system.

• Inconsistent design governance: Brand managers struggled to maintain individual brand character without breaking global standards.

• Limited marketing automation: Without unified event and participant data flowing into HubSpot, campaign personalization and athlete journey mapping were restricted.

• Scaling pressure: New global series like Rock ’n’ Roll and Epic required faster go-to-market with unified technology and marketing systems.
  
  

The goal was clear: build a composable, data-enabled DXP that powered both brand scalability and continuous athlete engagement.

Axelerant delivered a holistic transformation that unified the experience, data, and activation layers — integrating Drupal’s composable flexibility with HubSpot’s automation and analytics capabilities.

The engagement spanned platform rebuild, data governance, and conversion strategy — culminating in a digital ecosystem engineered for speed, reliability, and personalization.

Experience Layer — Governance and Speed Across Brands

Axelerant implemented a governance-first component architecture leveraging Drupal, Acquia Cloud, and Site Studio, balancing reusability with brand individuality.

• Component Reusability Audits: Analyzed Ironman’s legacy components to determine what to reuse, refactor, or rebuild, cutting technical debt by 40%.

• Flexible Theming System: Enabled distinct brand expressions for Rock ’n’ Roll and Epic Series without separate codebases.

• Editorial Empowerment: Introduced granular permissions, reusable templates, and in-context editing, giving regional content teams control without compromising governance.

• Multilingual and Accessibility Upgrades: Built support for localized content (including Catalan and Spanish) and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance.

• Design Consistency Engine: Used Site Studio theming controls to manage brand contrast, typography, and component variation — ensuring visual precision across brands.

This architecture became a DXP foundation — one shared codebase, multiple identities, infinite scalability.

Data Layer — From Fragmented Syncs to Governed, Real-Time Data

Axelerant replaced brittle, cron-based integrations with a webhook-driven data model that connected event systems, CRMs, and HubSpot.

• Webhook Integrations: Data updates triggered automatically from core systems only when marked “Send to Web,” reducing processing load by 70%.

• Structured Content Models: Migrated legacy Hall of Fame, athlete, and event data into standardized Drupal content types with unique identifiers.

• Data Accuracy and Reliability: Validation and revision workflows eliminated duplicate entries and ensured synchronization integrity.

• Unified Analytics Foundation: Standardized event metadata, registration details, and athlete attributes, enabling cross-brand data analytics.

The outcome was a single source of truth for content and athlete data — a prerequisite for HubSpot-driven automation and segmentation.

Activation Layer — HubSpot Integration and Conversion Strategy

Once the platform’s data was stabilized, Axelerant integrated HubSpot as the activation engine to automate athlete communications and drive measurable conversions.

• Data Sync with HubSpot: Drupal event and registration data now flowed directly into HubSpot via governed APIs, ensuring complete athlete lifecycle visibility.

• Automated Workflows: Over 30 workflows powered communications across event reminders, registration follow-ups, loyalty campaigns, and post-race engagement.

• Audience Segmentation: Dynamic lists built using engagement history, geography, and event type enabled hyper-personalized outreach.

• Conversion Triggers: Real-time behavioral signals — such as cart abandonments, registration starts, or post-race surveys — automatically launched contextual emails.

• Performance Dashboards: HubSpot analytics visualized open rates, engagement scores, and conversion performance by event and campaign.

• Testing and Optimization: Continuous A/B testing improved CTA placement, email cadence, and retargeting efficiency across Rock ’n’ Roll and Epic Series sites.
  
  

The marketing and event operations teams now operated in lockstep — data connected decisions, automation amplified outcomes.

Conversion Strategy — Data-Driven Athlete Journeys

With the DXP and HubSpot fully aligned, Axelerant built a continuous optimization framework focused on measurable athlete conversion and retention.

• Journey Mapping: Finetuned the athlete lifecycle — from registration to event day to post-race community engagement.

• Personalized Nurture Paths: Tailored content flows (training guides, product offers, event previews) to each user segment.

• Multi-Channel Automation: Coordinated communications across email, social, and in-site banners — reducing manual coordination by 45%.

• Conversion Measurement: Tracked micro and macro conversions — registration completions, repeat participation, and referrals — across the entire athlete lifecycle.

• Continuous Feedback Loop: Data insights fed directly back into content and campaign planning, turning every launch into a test-and-learn cycle.

This data-informed conversion strategy turned Ironman’s marketing ecosystem from reactive to predictive — guiding athletes from one race to the next.

The partnership delivered measurable impact across operations, engagement, and marketing performance:

Operational Efficiency

• Reduced manual coordination time between event ops and marketing.

• Reduced campaign setup turnaround time.

• Multiple automated HubSpot workflows across channels.

Engagement and Conversion

• Increased athlete engagement rate.

• Rise in returning event registrants.

• Significant increase in repeat participation rate.

• Reduced manual communication effort through automation.

Qualitative Impact

• Streamlined, consistent brand experience across Ironman, Rock ’n’ Roll, and Epic Series.

• Rebuilt trust in data accuracy and editorial control.

• Unified marketing and operations teams under one data-driven engagement model.

• Seamless athlete lifecycle — from registration to post-race reactivation — powered by integrated HubSpot automation.

Ironman’s new DXP is more than a website infrastructure — it’s a multi-brand engagement engine that connects experience, data, and activation into a single continuum.

The launch of Rock ’n’ Roll and Epic Series proved the system’s agility, massively cutting development time, and transformed how the brand communicates, learns, and grows.

What once required weeks of manual coordination now happens in hours, with every athlete journey measurable, repeatable, and improvable.