KILIAN JORNET BORN TO RUN - Amer Sports

Mavic proceeds
patiently
Mavic uses social media to strengthen
the brand’s and its customers’ joint
passion for cycling. Communication
is not huge in terms of volume, but it
is regular nonetheless.
“We aim to maximize the quality
of content. We don’t want to distribute
direct sales messages or material of
poor quality,” says Michel Lethenet,
in charge of Mavic’s press relations.
Lethenet believes that the company’s
customers also actively distribute highquality
content.
Mavic is building its social media
network patiently to avoid any mistakes
that might harm the strong brand.
The company is currently studying how
to recruit Mavic spokesmen familiar
with the sport to enter into dialog with
customers.
Even now, without spokesmen,
online discussions have been favorable
to Mavic.
“What has surprised us in particular
is the self-regulation of the network:
fans control the flow of discussions
and deal with inappropriate comments
without any intervention whatsoever
on our part.”
Arc’teryx follows
the example
of customers
Social media has become a key communications
channel for Arc’teryx.
The company uses Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, Vimeo and its Corporate
website to announce events, product
launches and prizes, and to publish the
latest news about Arc’teryx athletes.
“We have a library of videos ranging
from technical support to athlete
videos,” says Tom Duguid, director of
brand marketing at Arc’teryx.
What Duguid considers to be particularly
good is that this type of communication
is measurable. “We can easily
see how many people have viewed any
given video. This helps us understand
our customers even better. Sometimes
the content that customers enjoy has
come as a surprise to us.”
Arc’teryx held off implementing its
social media strategy until it had
sufficient resources to provide it.
“We believe that unless the content
is regularly updated and topical, people
will stop following it.”
24 || 3.2010
count. Shared exercise experiences can easily be spruced
up with photos, videos and maps.
“You can make a single move richer and more interesting
with just a few clicks. There’s an awful lot of information
to be found,” says Janne Kallio, digital marketing
manager at Suunto.
In the first month, the service attracted five thousand
registered users without a single paid advertisement.
“People create visibility for the service,” Kallio
explains.
Product not at the forefront
The experiences that users enter into Movescount are
linked and shared through social network services, such
as Facebook and Twitter. A good example of the important
impact of linking comes from Josef Ajram, a Spanish triathlete.
His blog has brought Movescount thousands of
visitors eager to learn more about his achievements and
training.
Suunto did not develop its online service in a productoriented
fashion. The company believes that people are
first and foremost interested in experiences that Suunto
devices can help make real.
Suunto’s YouTube videos are a good example of this. For
example, the video of Swiss climber Ueli Steck’s record
fast ascents to Eiger, Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses
has been viewed thousands of times.
“Advertisement-like material does not do well there.
What is of interest in social media is content, and this
means that the focus is not on the product. Nevertheless,
the content does support the Suunto brand,” says Kallio.
“People are going to use social media no matter what.
Even if we didn’t do a thing, users would still talk about
Suunto. That is something we can’t prevent or control.
We want to provide tools to enable new ways in social
interaction within sports enthusiasts.”
Content by crowdsourcing
Social aspects are also a source of strength in Movescount.
Anyone can view and comment on other people’s
experiences, routes and training programs. This means
that users can create their own training programs in
Movescount and use the feedback from the community to
develop them.
Alternatively, users can look for a popular training program
suited to their needs and try it out.
“A program that has been used hundreds of times must
be good and interesting,” says Kallio. The functionality of
the program hinges on the social activity of its members.
“We could, of course, include a robot in the service
to guide training, but that would be risky. As things stand
now, Suunto does not decide what kind of training programs
are best suited to individual users but lets the
community create them.”