On November 14th, we helped our client On launch its new Cloudflow shoe at the London-based gym, Victus Soul. Guests were taught all about the shoe by Product Designer, Dina Tageldin and UK Sales Director, Olly Laws, and took part in a treadmill-based running class before being given the chance to speak to athletes, Chris Thompson and Andy Vernon.
In the build-up to the event, there were a few key things that we needed to consider from a PR perspective. Firstly, it was important for media to understand the shoe and the improvements that have been made to it. Secondly, we wanted everyone to put it to the test – and through the treadmill session and Q&A, these things happened.
Layla, Georgina and I represented the Aspire team and we worked closely with On’s UK Marketing Lead, Gareth Evans. Gareth recently joined the Swiss brand and was involved in the hiring of the venue, event branding and the running of everything on the day – he did a great job!
Vesna Stimac and Marieke Stasch, who both work for On at their HQ in Switzerland, also played a big part in organising the event. They were on-hand to invite media from Europe and, Marieke also attended the event and looked after the European guests in London on the day.
We worked hard to invite a targeted list of UK media, we created the event invite, ordered kit and shoe samples for all guests and helped with general planning and organising. Overall, we were delighted that we could fill every spot on the list, and we were even more pleased with the names and publications that came along.
The media industry is close-knit thing and we managed to secure some really great titles. Runner’s World, the Telegraph, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Athletics Weekly and Women’s Running are just some of the titles that attended. We also had some really good people from the online running community, and it was encouraging to see so many friendly faces who were keen to learn from the experience.
The treadmill session went down really well and it was good to see everyone get involved and rise to the challenge, as it really was a testing session. Chris and Andy were great when speaking with media, too, and their running rivalry, shoe opinions and running advice definitely made for an interesting Q&A.
It’s always nice to see an event come together and everyone involved did a brilliant job. Victus Soul was an ideal fit for such a launch, and it was good to hear positive feedback from the media who came along; some of whom have already published articles and reviews off the back of the event. Bring on the next one!
