In the fifth episode of PHD and eatbigfish’s podcast series, Overthrow II: Challenger strategies for a new era – a spin-off of their 2019 publication, Overthrow II – host and founder of eatbigfish Adam Morgan talks to Lisa Kirkbright, communications manager of ŠKODA UK, and David White, strategy director at PHD UK, about challenging gender inequality in the world of cycling and what we can learn about being a challenger in a large organisation.
Big brand, challenger behaviour
Lisa Kirkbright explains that ŠKODA has challenger in its DNA and its recent move back into cycling exemplifies the beating heart of a challenger within. While ŠKODA is involved in world cycling through sponsorship of the Tour de France, the UK market was looking for something to ignite some energy and enthusiasm.
Anna Berrero, a Spanish cyclist, came to the brand’s attention when riding the Tour de France a day ahead of the men. In a passive protest, she wanted to highlight that there was no female Tour while demonstrating that women were perfectly capable of completing the punishing course. Anna and a team of other women were riding 3,500km a week in training while being teachers, parents and workers; so passionate in the belief that everybody should have the same opportunity.
Strong and positive messaging
Any campaign to support these women needed to be strong, engaging and positive in its messaging. ŠKODA quickly discovered a lack of media coverage of female sport, particularly cycling; and saw difficulties in the pathway to elite cycling. Yet, female cycling is exciting – they’re out there to win – whereas men tend to pace for much of a race before it gets exciting. ŠKODA sent cars to support the women’s Tour de France, along with a crew to shoot three short films to tell the world what was going on. By the end of the campaign, 4.2 million had watched the videos.
Global response
The women’s story went global. ŠKODA was approached by the government to build a case study to show how gender equality can work to shape business. The UN came out in support of the positivity of the gender equality message. #ThisIsOurTime resonated everywhere. The impact for ŠKODA was massive. This campaign brought change and energy and all for one of the smallest budgets ŠKODA UK has ever invested.
Advice for would-be challengers
Morgan and Kirkbright conclude three key points for being a successful challenger:
- Find a subject you 100% believe in. Bring it to life in a way that will reflect and resonate well for your audience and your brand.
- What’s in it for the company, the brand? Any new venture must have accountability.
- You need real depth; it can’t just be about one thing. Kirkbright clarifies, “For us, it couldn’t just be about the women riding the Tour de France, it had to be around equality, their back story; it had to be fitting with our partnerships. Find an opportunity that fulfils and pulls together a whole campaign.”
Distinctive activation in a homogenous category
Morgan asks David White, strategy director of PHD UK, what strikes him most about the story of a challenger brand within a large company? White highlights the very distinctive sponsorship activation in a category which is arguably one of the most homogenous.
ŠKODA Cycling started with an exploration of gender inequality in cycling, and each year strives to keep evolving. The best challenger brands don’t immediately challenge everything; they challenge something.
White concludes it is the power of getting the right ingredients all in one place – the right brand with the right activation and the right point of view all led by the right kind of people.
The full article can be found on The Drum. To hear the full story of ŠKODA Cycling and its success from both a brand and purpose perspective, listen to the fifth episode of ‘Overthrow II: Challenger strategies for a new era, which is available on Spotify, Google, Apple Podcasts and Audioboom.