Bicycle

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C o n t i n e n t a l a n d t h e C o n t i n e n t a l C y c l i n g H e r o e s T o u r

PROJECT DETAILS

Sponsorship title: Continental Cycling Heroes Tour

Duration of sponsorship: March-September 2017

Case study entered by: Sportizon (event support from Golazo)

Sponsor’s industry sector: Tyres

Rights-holder: Event created for Continental Belgium

by Sportizon/Golazo

Agency: Sportizon (event support from Golazo)

Campaign Summary Continental ended their sponsorship of football in 2016 and was looking for opportunities in cycling. Based on Sportizon’s Global Cycling desk research, Continental challenged Sportizon to come up with a recreational biker cycling season plan that would reflect:

• The values of the brand • Demonstrate and convince cyclists of the equal

quality of its car and bike tyres • Strengthen Continental’s premium existing image

& presence as market leader in both the automotive and cycling industries

• Support the global safety ‘Vision Zero’ plan.

Continental Cycling Heroes was created to appeal to a specific audience by presenting a brand new premium event in recreational cycling. This project was voted Best Sponsorship Activation and Best of Belgium at the 2017 Belgian Sponsorship Awards.

Planning The most important objective was to produce relevant content to answer Continental’s ‘missing link’ challenge:

Continental and the Continental Cycling Heroes Tour

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“How can we be sure that our excellent bike tyre reputation can be translated to our car tyres? How can a cyclist be as aware of their car tyres as they are of their bicycle tyres?” The link between bicycles & cars had to be kept central in activating the insight that 90 per cent of cyclists come to the event by car. To achieve success in a crowded event segment with a unique and premium concept, it was essential to provide participants with a unique and innovative experience.

Sportizon/Golazo presented a full event and communication platform to answer this challenge. From event concept and development, to the early ideation phase, to setting up five cycling events and production of a large content program, the target group could be defined as:

• Belgian recreational cyclists 35+ • Focus on men • Interest in bicycles and cars • Open to innovation • Safety-minded.

This group had to be able to build up a relationship

with Continental and to create an understanding that Continental produces car tyres with the same compound that people have come to trust in cycling. Continental is much more than just cycling tyres, and safety is everything. This tied to Continental’s 'Vision Zero' program set up to reduce the number of fatalities in traffic. Online- and offline-visibility for the brand, pre, during and post the event was organically integrated into all aspects of the Continental Cycling Heroes Tour.

Activation Sportizon came up with a brand-new concept to stand out in a relatively saturated market, creating a new recreational rides tour with, for the first time, World Champions and Olympic Gold medallists such as Fabian Cancellara, Eddy Merckx, Greg Van Avermaet, Sven Nys and Philippe Gilbert. Participants could ride on a legendary route in the company of World Champions and Olympic Gold winners, enjoying unique locations and experiences.

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Social media • To support and validate the stories, a partnership

with the coach of the National Belgian Cycling team, Kevin de Weert was created. De Weert was the spokesman of the CCHT Classics, but also gave advice on preparation and safety issues such as tyre pressures, braking, and riding on cobblestones, etc.

• Full digital content program with four episodes for each Classic. De Weert presented each Classic starting with a review of the key locations a week before the event plus advice on how to approach it as a pro

• Episode 2 (a day before the Classic) was a personal invitation from de Weert to join him and one of the 'heroes' to ride with them

• Episode 3 (the evening of the Classic) was a thank you from de Weert and the 'hero', and Episode 4 (after the Classic) was an after movie with a ‘see you next year’ message from the 'hero' and de Weert

• Content was posted on cycling.be, each specific Classic website and social media page, and Continental digital channels with more than 850,000 views in total.

Continental Village Hub • The Continental Village Hub was created as the

centre point of each Classic where participants could buy products, ask advice on bike and car tires, and get their giveaway if they were already riding with Continental tires. Within the Continental Hub, the full range of winter and summer car tyres were displayed

• Photo opportunity on the latest TT Canyon Bike as if they were riding on the Contidrom

• Parking of bikes on tailor-made parking lots built around car tyres

• Beside the event and the village, Continental created a unique 'Parking Attack', since around 93 per cent of participants come by car. The tyre profiles of each car were checked, and in addition to a tread depth control written on a voucher, a sales incentive was added for future purchases

• A custom race car was integrated as the security car during the event, and also as a display before and after the event at the centre of the village to enhance the link between cars and bikes.

Charity overlay • To complete the offer, there was the integration

of a charity cause through the latest Zwift (virtual cycling) technology where participants could contribute to the Duchenne Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, with a Euro for every kilometre pedalled. (€5,000 was raised).

Co-sponsor integration • Integration of several partners and technologies

to optimize the overall experience, such as for the photo booth, the Zwift technology for the charity activation, the Jaguar F-Pace as the pro car and the latest Cervélo and Canyon bikes.

Promotion • Each Classic was supported by €300,000 worth

of advertising media with specific Classic ads in leading print media, on local radio, in top cycling magazine Grinta and on the largest Belgian cycling website Cycling.be

• Minimum of four Classic dedicated mailings to the full Golazo cycling database (200,000 active cyclists)

• MyPage (personalized individual action photos) where each participant could upload their photos while riding each Classic (214,000 pageviews).

Continental 'Vision Zero' objectives • Recreational cyclists want to enjoy their ride in

the most relevant and secure way and want to be respected by offering them the best experience possible. This was achieved through 100-per- cent integration of the Continental Vision Zero objectives to ensure optimal security. This included setting up a fully-equipped village, parking lots and 150km of safely protected open roads with ‘signallers’ at each relevant crossroad.

Evaluation: By covering five superstars under one single tour, every region of Belgium from March to September was covered. Key numbers include:

• 14,000 participants • 847,573 content video views • 200,000 active bikers reached through 55 direct

mails over the season

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• 45% Open Click ratio, 27% click ratio to sites • 5 of the top 20 Continental web pages were related

to the CCHT • 172,000 unique visitors on CCHT Website & 1.3m

pageviews • Live RTL & VTM national evening news coverage +

HLN.be reports • +7,500 tire checks performed • 15% international field of participants from abroad • 20,000 gadgets distributed (posters, water bottles,

multitools kits, fluo strips, tire spoons) • 933 booth photos shared on personal social media

page • Support media campaign of 300,000 in partnership

with media • MyPage personal page with event pictures: 214,000

pageviews • Participants survey (1,333 respondents to online

survey in Oct-Nov 2017) gave a 93% overall CCHT event satisfaction (rating 7/10 > 10/10)

• 70% satisfaction with Continental Central Hub (rating 7/10 > 10/10)

• Next purchase brand: #1 Continental @62% (#2 Michelin 48%)

• Preferred brand: #1 Continental (55%), #2 Michelin (44%).

Reasons for success: • Creation of the concept (Sportizon) was approved

by Continental. Sportizon teamed up with Golazo for development/property of concept

• The Continental activation and communication plan was aided by the in-depth knowledge of Sportizon of the current landscape of recreational cycling to identify insights relevant to Continental’s briefing

• After every Classic, feedback was implemented to optimise the next Classic. Sportizon & Golazo continued to improve on each detail to fit perfectly with each specific Heroes location and program. Each Classic was a new location, a new program and a new challenge

• This was an Innovative answer to the specific client expectation in creating from scratch a unique seven-month season-long communication plan and platform. Z