The new marketing approach that sets these brands apart from the rest
The new marketing approach that sets these brands apart from the rest
Features Ciele Athletics, Hoka, Nike, SuperCoach, Lululemon, Sportsbet, KIC and Therabody
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Nothing stays the same forever. The Internet is constantly evolving, customer behaviours and attitudes are constantly changing, and as a result, the marketing landscape is shifting.
Major advancements in digital technology have provided brands with new platforms and channels to attract and engage with consumers, and by using the right tactics, brands can achieve exponential growth at rates that they’ve never seen before.
Here’s how Ciele Athletics, Nike, SuperCoach, Lululemon, Sportsbet, KIC and Therabody have embraced this new era, successfully built new digital products, and adopted new digital marketing tactics to achieve exponential growth.
Marketing then…
The internet was formed in the mid 1990’s and was characterised by “static” webpages. During this period the user experience was a simple one, limited to viewing copy and images on a web page. The brand would communicate a message, the user would then consume it. The end.
Marketing during this period was a much similar scenario to the early days of the internet - a brand would advertise on TV, radio, in a newspaper, or on a billboard and there was minimal/no opportunities for consumers to interact. There was also no opportunity for brands to capture immediate reactions and high-quality data to help understand how their messages were being consumed and perceived by the audience.
The majority of brand communications through these channels were transactional, with limited attention given to relationship-building.
The evolution of the internet and has changed marketing
Over time, the internet evolved from its “static” phase, to a point where interactivity, social connectivity, data-tracking and user-generated content have become available.
We’re now in a dynamic period trademarked by consumers having the ability to do things such as search, review, chat, experience, provide feedback and promote their affiliation with the brands whose products and services they like… from the convenience of their smartphone. Deeper brand experiences have become available, and brands are now able to collect valuable data around consumer preferences and behaviors that they can use to continuously improve their marketing and engagement strategies.
The interaction between brand and consumer is no longer one-way, and the marketing landscape has become much more complex.
A new way to do marketing: The Flywheel Model
Many marketing experts are arguing that this new internet era has changed the way brands need to do marketing, arguing that the “Marketing Funnel” approach is dead and that brands should replace this mental model with a new “Marketing Flywheel” approach.
As described by Category Pirates in their article, The Marketing Funnel Funeral:
“Funnels provide a linear path for companies to push consumers from awareness to consideration—and ultimately to purchase. Flywheels put the customer front and center, captivating them with valuable content and experiences that speak to their deepest desires.”
The new Flywheel model is characterised by putting a major focus on creating remarkable brand experiences that attract, engage and delight new customers, which ultimately creates superfans - highly engaged, loyal customers that not only purchase your products, but advocate and outwardly promote your brand, driving referrals and fueling growth for you. These consumers acts as an extension of your brand and do the heavy lifting for you. As explained by Hubspot:
'“With the flywheel, you use the momentum of your happy customers to drive referrals and repeat sales.”
The new internet era has provided new powers to customers who can promote your brand and fuel it’s growth online, and this is not recognised by the traditional marketing funnel model.
Providing value to the consumer, asking for nothing in return (kinda)
People don’t like being interrupted by ads. That’s why fast-forward buttons exist and why people pay for ad-free subscriptions. This is not new, but still worth highlighting because nowadays because instead of “ads”, there are more innovative and engaging ways that brands are connecting with consumers.
Brands are now creating and delivering much deeper, valuable brand experiences, that earn people’s attention instead of forcing it. These experiences don’t always immediately provide a “direct” commercial return, but they have proven to be able to deliver a highly valuable “indirect” one over the long run. For example…
Nike previously announced an 18% jump in annual revenue growth and attributed it to its suite of digital apps that includes Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club which provide “free” run tracking technology and at-home workouts respectively. These apps connect users to friends and communities, and use gamification tactics to allow users to encourage and compete against one another.
Although these apps would cost millions to produce and maintain, and at the same time return little “direct” revenue, the increase in digital engagement that Nike is experiencing is translating to more repeat buyers and a higher buying frequency. This marketing tactic is obviously working for Nike, because they’ve recently extended their commitment to it by announcing a new partnership with Strava that enables the millions of Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club members to sync their workouts with the Strava platform.
Ciele Athletics is also taking a relationship-first approach to marketing, and they use a number of platforms to deliver useful and engaging content to their community that requires zero financial commitment, and no subscription fee.
Ciele Athletics Journal: An e-newsletter that showcases running stories from Ciele’s “FRNDs and FAM around the world”
Ciele Sounds: Curated Spotify playlist’s
Toenails Podcast: “A podcast about running and also not about running”
2023 Film Fest: “A film festival specifically designed for creatives in the running space.”
These branded content tools enable Ciele Athletics to connect and attract new consumers by delivering free value, and they enable the brand to reach consumers in places that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Fantasy leagues have been made possible by the new digital era and many fantasy products are being rolled-out using a “free service” model. In other words, they don’t require a subscription fee to join (Note: there are also paid versions). Although fantasy leagues are costly to build and maintain, they offer many benefits to owners, and attract a return on investment in many “indirect” ways.
For example, KFC SuperCoach is a product available for free so it doesn’t generate revenue from paid consumer subscriptions, instead it generates revenue through other means such as converting your attention to revenue via advertising and sponsorship (e.g. from KFC).
These fantasy leagues are also highly beneficial to rights-holders as they allow fans to feel more connected to their favorite teams and players. This increased connectedness and interest with the sport can result in multiple “indirect” flow-on benefits such as increased ticket sales, merchandise sales, and broadcast revenue as a result of higher viewership.
Global mindfulness giant and meditation app, Calm also see the value in “free” brand experiences. They have a Facebook group called “The Daily Calm” which has 90k+ followers and is open to anyone interested in discussing their mindfulness practice and engaging with their global community. In order to join this page, you don’t need to be a paid subscriber, anyone is welcome to join. By bringing people into their community and teaching people what mindfulness is all about (for free), they’re attracting people to their eco-system with the longer-term intention of converting them to a paid subscriber.
Why is it worth focusing on delivering valuable (sometimes free) brand experiences?
Remarkable brand experiences attract consumers, strengthen consumer relationships and develop brand communities. Through engaged communities, customers and brand advocates (superfans) not only purchase your products, they also authentically spread your brand story, entice others to join, and defend your brand from negative commentary. This increases customer loyalty and lowers marketing costs (because your community is spreading the word for you to their peers). A larger and engaged community also means a larger platform to deliver key brand messages and drive sales.
Communities can also assist with product and service development, whether that be through providing direct feedback or contributing to the delivery of your service on your behalf (using the authority and tools you have provided them).
Putting your brand at the heart of community
KIC is an example of a “digital-first” start-up that was made possible thanks to the advancement of the internet and the creation of the smartphone. Its a health and fitness app that provides workouts, recipes and meditations virtually, and it recently boasted having a community of 45000+ (there’s likely more of them now) that it calls the "KIC Squad".
Although the KIC app adopts a paid subscription model, they’ve used many tactics and alternate platforms to draw consumers in and keep them engaged before converting them to a paid community member. The co-founders of KIC (Steph Claire Miller and Laura Henshaw) were able to exponentially grow their business thanks to their personal brands and highly engaged social media followings. KIC have also successfully utilised other digital channels such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, blogs and KICPOD to attract people to their community and engage it’s current members.
KIC have done an amazing job of developing their a health and wellness community (keeping the fire fueled with their KIC Community Facebook group) and ensuring that their brand and its products remain at the heart of it.
When people sweat together, they’re likely to do it for longer. A similar group-phenomenon holds true for sports betting.
SportsBet have firmly stamped themselves at the heart of the group betting experience by introducing a new feature on their app called “Bet With Mates”. The tagline is “Group Betting Made Easy” and that’s an accurate summary of what is does - they remove the friction that punters previously experienced from having to do things like organise messy bank transfers and coordinate group threads using Whatsapp. This can now all be done on their highly sophisticated app.
Not only has the Bet With Mates feature created a positive user experience by removing friction, it has also provided punters with a convenient tool to refer their friends to the app, enabling SportsBet to easily acquire new customers.
Brands are also building a sense of community through branded content. HOKA have recently created a new video content series titled “Humans of HOKA” that highlights inspiring stories from their running community. Calm aim to do the same thing only in different format, via their written blog.
Community-creation is not exclusive to online, and brands are using digital tools to extend into the physical - Ciele Athletics has an interactive map tool that allows their community to search and find a local running group. parkrun has the same feature on its website, a map that helps new and already-engaged parkrunners locate one of the 450+ parkrun locations across Australia.
The increasing influence of word of mouth
Thanks to social media, apps and other online platforms, people have a (forever growing) range of wide-reaching platforms that enable them to share their brand experiences. So, once you’ve created a highly engaged community, the brand’s role is then to ensure that they have everything they need to spread the word, and bring together other like-minded people into your brand ecosystem for you.
Ambassador programs are a great way to do this and brands such as Lululemon, Nike, Therabody and KIC are examples of brands that have curated formal ambassador programs that provide rewards such as exclusive invites to events and free & discounted products. In return, these ambassadors help extend the brand’s tentacles into communities across the globe, both online and offline.
Given the strength of these brands, there seems to be no shortage of demand for community members lining up to join their formal ambassador programs. Lululemon has so many superfans, that people have started to create YouTube videos providing tips on how to become an ambassador, and TikTok’s explaining how people became one. Word of mouth is not restricted to formal ambassador programs though…
People share brand experiences for a variety of reasons
In his book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On” author Jonah Berger outlines the reasons why people share the things they do, and what leads to things going viral.
“Social Currency” is one of these reasons.
“When we share something good, we look good. And, when we share something bad, we look bad.”
Given brands like Lululemon, Nike, KIC and Therabody are so appealing (have so much brand equity), people across the world are compelled to informally share their brand experiences and associations with these brands online to build their personal identities. It’s not uncommon for people to post an image of themselves on social media wearing the latest apparel or using the latest product. Each time a consumer posts, incremental reach is delivered to the brand.
“Emotion” is another reason that contributes to people sharing. Sportsbet are the kings of the Australian Sports Betting market and they’ve managed to achieve this position through a content strategy that is centered around “humour”.
Sportsbet’s YouTube, is a video library full of content that has received huge amounts of views. They’ve managed to do this by creating entertaining content that is not only funny, but highly relevant to sports from the grassroots level, right up to the elite level. When distributed across YouTube and their wider social media channels, the humour and relevance of their content prompts people to like, comment, tag and share.
Sportsbet clearly spends a huge amount of money on production on branded content (their recent video featured Scottie Pippen) that people actually watch and find value in. To “attract” consumers they don’t just advertise, they entertain, and the high-cost of production proves to be worth it because when the platforms’ algorithm’s fire, they deliver large-scale, exponential reach for Sportsbet.
Growth, fueled by the flywheel
The new digital era is upon us and the marketing flywheel is a new model that experts argue is more appropriate for this new digital age. By focusing on building consumer relationships through the delivery of high-quality brand experiences, you create superfans and loyal brands communities that with the right tools, can help your brand achieve exponential growth.
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