Customer Spotlight: Atlantic Coast Classic

(Photo by Jay Knickerbocker Photography, courtesy of Atlantic Coast Classic)

When it comes to fitness, the Atlantic Coast Classic thinks big. The massive competition takes place each spring in Daytona Beach. And when we say massive, we’re not kidding.

 “Our event is community focused. Along with our athletes, we had thousands of spectators and supporters, plus a vast vendor village where attendees could buy merch, get some PT, and restock their gear,” said Atlantic Coast Classic Social Media and Event Manager Sarah Olson. The energy in the arena is always electric. It's truly a beast of an event, and quite a project of love.”

The Classic has established itself as an annual event over the past decade. 

A New Name, New Possibilities

“The competition began under a different name [The Bacon Beatdown] in 2013, changed owners in 2019, and was rebranded as the Atlantic Coast Classic last year,” Olson said. “This year, we had 1800 athletes competing as individuals or on teams of three. Our athletes ranged from age 5 up to about 55, and our divisions began at kids and beginners, and climbed all the way up to elite athletes.”

Depending on their division, athletes competed in either 3 or 6 workouts over one or two days. Workouts included barbell, heavy lifting, gymnastics, and a two-mile run on the sand of Daytona Beach.

Just as in the Olympics, winning competitors receive medals for their efforts. When the Classic needed a source for this year’s medals, they turned to TJM Promos, ordering from our Challenge Coins 4 Less division.

TJM Outshines the Competition

“We purchased antique gold, silver, and copper medals - 53 of each,”  Olson said. “The 159 medals were for our podium finishers in each division.”

She was already familiar with TJM. “I actually know many people who work for TJM and have watched the company grow and succeed through them.”

“Knowing people who work at TJM and trusting the quality in the products,” prompted the decision to switch to TJM for the Classic’s medals, she said.

“The first year of this new ownership, medals were purchased from a different company. They were perfectly fine medals, but I prefer working with TJM because of their customer service. 

Matt (Fischer) is always very responsive to emails, and the process usually involves quite a few questions from me before we finalize the order. He's very happy to send me different versions of proofs and prices to help me make my final decision.”

The ordering process was fast and smooth.

“We are always operating under tight timelines in the pre-season leading up to the competition,” she said. “I worked with Matt, and he was able to give me a very accurate time frame of when we needed to order the medals in order to receive them on time. They arrived in plenty of time, in the correct quantities, and looked better than expected.”

Competitors Appreciate TJM Quality

The medals drew a positive reaction from the athletes as well.

“Our podium finishers love their medals,” Olson said. “The design was especially good this year, and the final product looked very sleek and professional.”

The medals were worthy of the achievements, she added. 

“The best thing about these medals is that they're rugged. They've got some weight to them. Our podium finishers just battled it out in a fitness competition, and the last thing I want to do is hand them a flimsy piece of metal. 

I want them to feel the weight of it and have a hard time carrying their full prize bag off the podium, and I want to give them something they'll want to display once they get home. It should really feel like a prize in itself.”

(Photo by Jay Knickerbocker Photography, courtesy of Atlantic Coast Classic)

As both the designer and the presenter who hands out the medals, Olson appreciates the quality of the medals, and is rewarded by seeing the athletes’ reactions to them.

“I work many different aspects of The Atlantic Coast Classic, and I have the rare opportunity to not only design the majority of our products but also be the person to hand them out to our athletes,” she said.

“It's like being undercover. As an athlete, you wouldn't think that the person handing you your swag or prizes was also the person who designed them, so I get to hear their complete, unfiltered opinions about everything.”

“It's very cool to design the medals on my laptop in my living room, and then months later, see an athlete's eyes light up in the arena when I hand them the finished product on the podium. I think for every ‘wow, this is so cool’ or ‘this medal is legit’ I hear, I get one year added to my life. It's a good feeling. And I trust TJM to deliver these high quality products every time.”

(Photo by Jay Knickerbocker Photography, courtesy of Atlantic Coast Classic)

Olson’s faith in TJM has paid off, and she’s planning to order more medals from us. “You can count on it in about two months for our next competition,” she said.

“We have also ordered patches in the past and plan on doing the same in the near future. I would hate to give out or sell any low quality product to our attendees, and I have never been disappointed in a product from TJM.”

Thank you, Sarah, for that vote of confidence in our team, our products and our customer service! We appreciate the opportunity to serve the Atlantic Coast Classic and the athletes who compete. We look forward to continuing to provide the Classic with top-quality medals, patches and other products for years to come!

For more information:

https://theacccomp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/atlanticcoastclassic/