Crankbrothers

Match Shoes Launch

Brief

An already established category leader in both clipless and flat mountain bike pedals, Crankbrothers' next step was to expand into the MTB shoe category. As a key part of their go-to market planning, Crankbrothers came to SHIFT, briefing us to generate an impactful, integrated launch campaign with the objective of raising awareness and consideration for the new range.

Insight

With many major players already in the market, the shoe category is a crowded one. However, being a market dominated by standalone shoe brands, Crankbrothers saw an opportunity to play to their unique strength: pedals. Putting doubt in the minds of riders that shoes developed by other brands wouldn’t work as well as Crankbrothers’ own shoes with their industry-leading pedals, the brand positioned their pedals and new shoes as one complete system - MATCH, thereby disrupting the market.

Solution

SHIFT set about developing an idea that would seek to dramatise the MATCH concept in a distinctive and unexpected way, by tapping into MTB and wider culture - showing how other great combinations that simply work better together.

At the centre of the campaign was a short film which was written, directed, produced, and edited by the SHIFT Team. The execution was fresh and bold, ensuring that the Crankbrothers brand and their new shoes stood out in the feed, and it rose above the usual clutter of shredding films.

Experience

The campaign was digital first and film led, being deployed across social media networks with a YouTube focus. In key territories, specific MTB audiences were targeted based on their interests and brand affinities.

In total, the campaign included a full length version of film, as well as 6, 15 and 30 second cut down versions, which were all tailored for advertising use in three different size formats.

Results

The campaign had a strong impact on social platforms and was widely posted by Crankbrothers and its partners, as well as many key media. Within just 24 hours, the advertisement was Crankbrothers’ most viewed video on YouTube and the careful timing of the launch, at the exact point when stock was available, led to a sell-out success.