KILIAN JORNET BORN TO RUN - Amer Sports

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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.”
Wilson talks directly to consumers and #2 in making purchase decisions. No division in Wilson is more entrenched in social media than Wilson Racquet <strong>Sports</strong>. Since early 2009, they have worked to build a robust Facebook and Twitter presence to connect directly with consumers. Jon Muir, General Manager at Wilson Racquet <strong>Sports</strong>, says that the movement to online marketing is not only cost-effective with trackable metrics, but is obviously the next step in how brands connect directly with consumers around the world. “It’s nice to know how many people are fans or followers, but our real focus is to build the platforms that allow us to engage consumers directly and enable us to create and support broader online communities around our sport and brand," he says. Muir lays credit for the day-to-day progress in social media at the feet of Wilson’s Tracy Singian. Serving as the voice of Wilson Tennis online, Singian spends a large share of her time and drive on creating content that directly supports Wilson’s social media efforts. “Tracy has helped pioneer Facebook and Twitter for Wilson Tennis,” says Muir. “Her dedication and expertise have been instrumental in Wilson’s success in this arena.” Facebook is Wilson’s central social media communication hub with updates on players, tournaments, products and brand initiatives. According to Singian, sponsored tour players become content creation drivers for connecting consumers to Wilson and its products. While tour players are highlighted, the next generation of junior players is becoming more popular because of updates on their tournaments and equipment. Singian works daily to build more robust Facebook content that will lead to a deeper experience for the consumer. Wilson Tennis is fast approaching 75,000 Facebook friends, more than triple that of any competitor. Over 80% of the people on Facebook live outside the United States, so the marketing reach for the cost is unparalleled. Allowing them to connect directly with the consumer via online, consumergenerated conversations, Wilson’s Facebook efforts are becoming the conduit for tennis fans throughout the world to have a sense of community online. Consumers now rank ‘using peer recommendations’ and ‘reading consumer opinions’ as #1 "Consumers are using social media to get information on brands. If you’re not relevant and engaged online through social media, you may be missing real business.” He emphasizes that it comes down to having a direct connection and trust supporting it. Wilson is building a strong connection and trust equation with the consumer. Trust leads to purchase. A more recent development is the use of Twitter by Wilson Tennis. With over 7,000 followers, they have more than any other racquet sports competitor. Muir views Twitter as another primary platform to reach consumers via mobile devices. Most Twitter followers access it on their smart phones on a daily and even hourly basis, before they visit Facebook or have access to the Internet to view broader content. With Twitter, Singian focuses on providing instant updates on how Wilson-sponsored players are doing in tournaments, as well as monitoring the Twitter feeds of those players and retweeting them. Wilson is also using Twitter to announce new video, products and behind-the-scenes content. A recent example was Tweeting a link to Roger Federer’s Facebook page (he has three million followers), where he was featuring a new Wilson commercial that launched this summer. Wilson Tennis can also be found on YouTube. Using Ustream, live interviews with players can be shared with fans and consumers. Muir hopes to create more informal video content and utilize online video to tell captivating stories on a regular basis. The goal is to give consumers a chance to engage with the brand and the people behind it. While Wilson is already a leader in this arena, Muir admits that social media is still an emerging dynamic, and Wilson will continue to learn as it goes. A successful online presence is heavily content driven, needing daily updates. It will always be a challenge to make sure that content is fresh and consistently updated. Two specific things they are working on are the key words to use for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to optimize the business side of social media. Muir wants social media to develop into one of the primary elements of Wilson Tennis’ go-to-market plans. 3.2010 || 25
Page 1 and 2: 3.2010 “Direct retail and webstor
Page 3 and 4: t John Flynn, Regina Stanger/Crocod
Page 5 and 6: The World Championship Series of tr
Page 7 and 8: t Arc’teryx Adam Campbell victori
Page 9 and 10: New irons for 2011 Wilson Golf anno
Page 11 and 12: FOR FREESKIERS. The Atomic Tracker
Page 13 and 14: Your guide to an active lifestyle T
Page 15 and 16: Making strategy familiar to investo
Page 17 and 18: trend: ULTRA The popularity of ultr
Page 19 and 20: 80 percent of those heading out mak
Page 21 and 22: Creek FIT AND PERFORMANCE Rain ride
Page 23: first, and a decent reporting syste
Page 27 and 28: IN KILIAN’S FOOTSTEPS In June Kil
Page 29 and 30: France’s Puymorens pass. A 150-ki
Page 31 and 32: Amer Sports continues to develop it
Page 33 and 34: understand consumers, especially th
Page 35 and 36: 3.2010 || 35
Page 37 and 38: ADVENTURES WITH A FISHING ROD The K
Page 39 and 40: something of a luxury. The latest m
Page 41 and 42: t Niko Peltola Late in the season t
Page 43 and 44: SOLUTION 3.2010 || 43
Page 45 and 46: To glacier with Pilatus Porter F &
Page 47: Runners’ destinations Ultra-dista

KILIAN JORNET BORN TO RUN - Amer Sports

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?