The sports bra is an essential piece of kit for active women, helping to support and protect breasts and provide comfort when exercising. MAAREE, with its unique Overband® Technology, is a recent entry into the sports bra market. Aspire was asked to establish the brand as a leader in the UK and show how its sports bra apparel can empower women for all types of athletic performance.
Getting noticed in a growing market
The sports bra market is booming. Global forecasts predict the sector will increase from nearly $43 billion in 2020 to over $93 billion by 2027.
The growth is driven by a rising awareness of the need for different types of bra for different types of exercise and all kinds of body shapes – the exact promise behind MAAREE’s sports bra range.
MAAREE launched in 2019 and immediately faced challenges from the Covid pandemic. As the world started to open up again and stock issues were no longer prevalent, MAAREE asked Aspire to help put the brand on the map amongst big names, secure media coverage and win industry recognition. Ultimately, our goal was to help the brand achieve its ambition to become the number one sports bra in the UK.
“Aspire really stepped into all of our areas of uncertainty and provided invaluable support. We would recommend Aspire.”
Raising awareness of the range
We were initially appointed on a three-month project basis to effectively launch the brand in the UK. This initial engagement turned into a long-lasting partnership.
We began by focusing on the CoppaFeel collaboration and the Solidarity high impact sports bra to gain attention in the media. From this foundation, we then raised awareness of MAAREE’s growing product collection and built the profile of the brand.
Our work over 22 months, since 2020, has focused on driving business enquiries, consistently maintaining the five-star credibility of the products and growing MAAREE’s reputation as the brand that empowers women.
Beginning with a small-scale, start-up budget, we built a solid editorial media strategy to offer the best possible return to MAAREE. This allowed us to seize and maximise opportunities, create relevance and topicality, and gain quality exposure in credible and authoritative media outlets.
Our editorial strategy was based on seeding:
- new product stories (bra and non-bra) to tell the MAAREE story
- statistics and facts about boobs and movement
- expert commentary from Mari Thomas, founder of MAAREE, about wider topical stories
Great examples of our strategy in action included coverage when retail analysts Kantar revealed that the number of sports bras sold in Britain had jumped by a third to 7.1 million. And media stories when statisticians revealed that sports and crop-top bras had been added to the list of 700 products used to calculate the inflation rate.
The next step in our plan to raise awareness was using our press office to focus on publications that drive sales. By landing coverage on a quarterly basis, we could ensure a consistent flow of traffic and sales.
We also complemented our traditional media relations with influencer seeding, low-level promotional activity and a stand-out brand event for media and influencers.
Driving measurable results
2.5 billion
online readership
1.8x
tracked online referral ROI on the PR investment
400%
estimated increase in revenue year on year
Consistently delivering positive impact
We have built a long-lasting, trusted and retained client partnership with MAAREE.
We regularly share monthly analytics, evaluate how outlets and opportunities are working and decide what initiatives are not delivering the desired outcome.
We never miss an opportunity to tell the MAAREE narrative far and wide. We use the analytics to focus on heavyweight titles and land frequent and fresh exposure.
We also work closely with MAAREE to identify key launch moments and timings that best offer currency for regular, seasonal media topics.
From September 2020, we have secured and delivered 211 pieces of coverage across print and online media, averaging to 9.5 pieces per month.
This has reached an online readership of over 2.5 billion, an offline audience of 8 million and has included key coverage in titles such as The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Women’s Running and the RunPod by Jenni Falconer.
MAAREE has been awarded Women’s Running ‘Best In Test’ accolade three years in a row and ‘Best Buy” by the Daily Telegraph in June 2022.
Over the course of a 12-month period, our coverage has led to a tracked online referral ROI of 1.8 times the PR investment and a 350-400% increase in revenue and users year to year.
