The popularity of On shoes has been growing fast in the last decade in the performance running space and in the worlds of fashion, style and art too. In 2021, we wanted to raise On’s profile even further and generate hype and buzz about the brand. To help achieve our objectives we collaborated with carefully chosen media partners to tie in with On initiatives in the UK and deliver exclusive, impactful campaign content for brand fans, both new and old.
Taking a new PR approach for the UK market
On is a global sports footwear and apparel brand with a loyal following. The company was recently valued at $10 billion following its IPO in September 2021.
Our goal for the year was to explore a range of media collaborations that would elevate the brand identity and closely connect with new audiences through the style and tone of voice of each media outlet.
Ultimately, we wanted On to resonate authentically and engage powerfully with our media partner’s loyal followers.
Campaign activity would be focused on different UK initiatives and shoe launches to amplify PR results and generate added benefit from the media partnerships.
“The Clubhouse uses a cutting-edge design for next-level comfort. Just below the foot bed, you can find On’s Speedboard® technology, an innovative plate that flexes during movement, loading, and releasing the energy you create as you strike the floor.”
Carefully selecting our media partners
We wanted to establish partnerships with three very distinct spaces and platforms, each with their own clear objectives, reasoning and strategies.
Our activity would focus on paid collaborations, using the budget to leverage relevance, authenticity, association and profile for On.
We chose Like The Wind for its cultured running community, creativity and power to cleverly communicate the brand. Our goal was to tell the Dream On vision using compelling human interest stories.
Aspire took the lead on strategy and creative direction, working closely in partnership with Like The Wind – with input from On – to create a brand booklet. We wanted to ensure the content produced was exclusive and truly encapsulated the Dream On ethos.
The booklet featured inspiring stories about On athletes such as the athlete refugee team, Chris Thompson and Sofia Gonzalez. The booklet was distributed to Like the Wind readers and chosen On retailers, and content was shared online in e-newsletters and across social media channels.
The booklet supported the London Lab project ensuring high-spec technology was synergised smartly with emotive human interest.
Aspire led the creation of partnership features on The Running Charity and sustainability at On within Like the Wind magazine.
We also celebrated the partnership, project and inspirational stories, with a screening of Untethered at the London Lab, hosted by Like the Wind co-founder Simon Freeman.
Aspire commissioned PAUSE magazine to collaborate on a bespoke media partnership package to highlight the ROGER Collection designed with tennis superstar, Roger Federer.
With a young male and female fashion audience, PAUSE readers are style savvy, street-ready and into the latest trends. The all-day ROGER sneaker collection was the ideal shoe to highlight in this collaboration.
Our objective was to seed content at a timely and relevant moment in the build-up to Wimbledon 2021 and generate added buzz and hype. We wanted to capitalise on Roger Federer’s profile and reach out to a new audience via TikTok influencers who produce lifestyle and style-led content.
The end goal was to increase traffic to the On website following publication and increase sales leads and retailer interest in ROGER shoes.
We worked closely with the PAUSE team on the brand feature and editorial photoshoot that took place in the Stratford Olympic area with stylist Taija-leorelle Weekes and two chosen models, Ella Lubag and Corey Chuck.
The brief was to set the shoe in an urban environment, capture the tone and feel of London – from green spaces to glass buildings – and showcase the contemporary design of the shoe.
Alongside this media specific content, the PAUSE Talent Agency came on-board to assist in identifying a list of Gen Z, style-savvy TikTok influencers and content creators. We seeded a variety of ROGER products paired with different, fashion forward clothing in short, playful videos to promote the ROGER collection and the On brand.
To launch the female only Cloud X Shift shoe to a cross section of strong, style-driven women whose busy lifestyle fuses fashion, fitness and fun, On teamed up with the Stylist Strong Women community.
We held an inspiring and empowering two-way virtual fitness event that brought together a team of fitness instructors and alternative trainers to lead fun and unique classes.
The event was hosted on My Stylist and broadcast on 29th August 2021 and then made available to My Stylist members for a two-week period post launch.
Stylist sourced a diverse mix of talent that perfectly represented the elements of the Cloud X Shift Shoe. Miranda Larbi, Strong Women Editor, was the event host and On Tech Rep, Marthe Solberg represented On in the brand Q&A session at the end of the programme.
We worked in close partnership with Stylist to develop advertorial content, scripts and key messaging to promote the event on the Stylist and Strong Women social media platforms.
The event was filmed at the London Lab to maximise exposure for the On campaign running at the venue.
Our PR objective was to communicate physical and mental wellbeing and positive community interaction amongst an empowering female audience and generate new brand fans within the boutique fitness audience.
The power of partnerships
5,000
copies of the brand booklet shared to Like the Wind customers and partners
133k
coverage views of the PAUSE brand feature in just 1 month
22.5%
open rate for the email to Stylish subscriber
Connecting with diverse, new audiences
Our media partnerships were able to reach a whole new segment of brand fans for On.
Our partnership with Like the Wind used engaging, evocative human interest stories to connect with consumers across multiple touchpoints.
The PAUSE collaboration put On in a fresh, creative and chic urban setting. Partnering with The PAUSE Agency opened up a fantastic opportunity to work with its talent to create short, playful videos shown on TikTok, neatly following on from Roger Federer’s original TikTok debut. The combined reach of the PAUSE activations was 516,000.
The talent created their own interpretation content by styling the shoe their way and this was positively received within the Gen Z community and offered relevance beyond PAUSE.
The Stylist Strong Women ‘Remix Your Workout’ partnership perfectly aligned to the unique attributes of the Cloud X Shift shoe and the aspirations of the boutique fitness target group. In the first few hours of release, the event had 150 sign-ups and a total of 267 sign-ups versus a performance target of 200.
Our pre and post event coverage in partnership with Stylist also hit the big numbers:
- 2.94% click through rate on the email to subscribers (benchmark 1.25-2%)
- 4.2k page views on the event on Stylist.co.uk
- 86% click through rate on the email to event ticket bookers
- 9k Instagram views and 4.2k Facebook impressions on event stories
We successfully made sure each and every partnership was relevant and authentic by focusing activity on On product launches and timely moments, such as the attention on Wimbledon.
We believe the careful curation and collaboration of each partnership resulted in engaging, impactful and exclusive content and raised the profile of the brand in previously untapped spaces to widen its appeal and positioning.
Our collaborations set a strong blueprint for new product launches in 2022 and On is perfectly placed to reach new types of growing market segments in the future.