Uniqueness is a rare commodity in this day and age; there is more focus on individuality than ever before. Conversely, the fitness industry has dictated that there is one aesthetic appropriate for athletes. The average person only has a few choices. They’re limited because companies like Nike and Adidas only design mainstream products.
BE LIMITLESS
There doesn’t need to be a choice between performance, comfort, and style. Consumers should not be limited by convention. Athletic Recon strives to supplement the lifestyle of an athlete-at-heart; a man that is always pushing his own boundaries, not just in terms of fitness, but in all aspects of life. His clothing should not define him; instead, it should highlight the uniqueness of his personality, and be tailored to fit his needs. One size fits all does not cut it for this athlete. Athletic Recon embodies every aspect of his personality, and embraces style, while simultaneously delivering first-class functionality and comfort. Athletic Recon allows the individual to BE LIMITLESS.
Momentum Advertising developed a multi-tiered strategy, entitled BE LIMITLESS, that introduces Athletic Recon through a highly interactive mystery campaign. Not only is this campaign engaging, it aligns perfectly with the Athletic Recon brand. “Recon” is the act of obtaining information. There is no better way to introduce Athetic Recon than to ask consumers to discover the newest innovation in athletic apparel.
executive SUMMARY
Our campaign encompasses both traditional and guerilla marketing techniques to engage a highly unique audience. It begins with guerilla marketing, which establishes Athletic Recon as an unconventional, nonconformist brand. The second phase of the campaign utilizes minimalistic print and billboard ads, released alongside a 10 second teaser spot on major channels. All of this messaging leads to the final phase of the campaign: Project Recon, a cross-country travelling marathon that challenges our audience to be limitless. Project Recon will also engage consumers digitally, with an interactive microsite that continuously releases new
information about up and coming marathons, results, and messages from celebrity athletes. A comprehensive social media strategy will energize our audience by immersing them within the Project Recon experience. This will build Athletic Recon’s online presence immensely, and generate interest from the media. The objective of this campaign is to introduce Athletic Recon to the world. The brand will be presented as a remarkable solution to the boring, run-of-the-mill apparel currently available to consumers. In addition, we aim to build a strong online presence and generate positive, engaging PR through traditional and digital media outlets. In terms of budget, our goal is to provide as many marketing options as possible to create awareness for Athletic Recon. Every expense presented in the budget can be evaluated to provide for the best financial strategy within Athlectic Recon’s needs. We estimate
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strengths
Athletic Recon has not started selling products, but has a website featuring the apparel that will be sold. It is an up and coming line of athletic apparel for men interested in comfortable and stylish clothing for their workouts.
situation ANALYSIS
Their facebook promotes the products through videos, photos and information regarding upcoming races. Athletic Recon has built a relationship with Crossfit Newport Beach by designing a shirt for them to sell on location. In the future, they are hoping to work with companies with a similar target market. Currently, Athletic Recon is in the introductory stage of the product lifecycle, as it is finishing up product lines and beginning to get its name out to the public. Athletic Recon’s target audience is athletic men around the age of 30,
looking for professional, comfortable and fashionable athletic wear that will make them feel their best. They plan to sell their product to these men through their online store, and by placing themselves in high quality establishments such as Nordstrom. Their competitors are specialized athletic companies like Lululemon and Nike. Lululemon offers a similar style in the sense that it is clean cut, simple and high quality. Athletic Recon wants to stay away from major corporate branding, because they want to differentiate their products from corprations like Nike and Adidas. Athletic Recon uses a prestige pricing strategy. The apparel is more expensive, but this shows that it is also of higher quality, which is something that individuals in this target market generally look for.
Ryan Heuser is an established name in the retail industry with a variety of helpful and reliable business contacts
weaknesses Lack of awareness has prevented the brand from growing to it’s potential. No solidified target market.
Company is motivated by Heuser’s own passion and drive for innovation. He is a real-life testimonial for what we are promising our target audience.
Athletic Recon’s website is not up to contemporary Internet and website standards.
Heuser has an adequate financial backing to facilitate the launch of his new products.
Internationally, customers may be looking for a different variety of products and designs.
Athletic Recon has unique elements that set it apart from it’s competitors.
Not offering a women’s line.
opportunities
threats
Athletic Recon gives consumers a new and more fashionable athletic wardrobe.
Consumers will have to break their brand loyalty to competitive companies like Nike, Reebok and Adidas.
Athletic Recon gives its consumers a good feeling and sense of accomplishment by wearing clothes made for them rather than the masses.
Direct competition from companies already established in the boutique athletic category like Lululemon.
It is a brand being created in an era where society has developed a desire for a lifestyle centered around the mind, body and health.
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target MARKET
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Our campaign is geared toward the “Alpha Male”. Aged 28 to 45, this is a confident businessman who keeps himself both physically and mentally active. He knows his goals and is committed to reaching them. His weekends are spent training for marathons, and he spares no expense to keep his body and wardrobe in top shape. This group is made up of all types of men, but one dominating subgroup is military men. The only obstacle that still stands in this alpha male’s way is a set of clothing that can bridge his athletic activities with his business attire and day to day errands. That’s where Athletic Recon comes in.
We are also targeting a secondary market, the “Indie Kid”, because we feel that this group can also benefit from Athletic Recon’s introduction of a stylish yet fitness-oriented clothing line. This group loves to think outside the box. They are constantly looking for something new that can set them apart from the norm. The “Indie Kid” is similar to the “Alpha Male” because they are motivated to take charge of their own life. They are also very tech savvy, and we believe that we can reach this audience with social and viral marketing. In doing so, they will share the Athletic Recon name digitally, and help us reach our primary audience by increasing awareness.
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phase one
BAIT the CAMPAIGN
phase two
CAPTURE phase three
ENGAGE 10
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phase one
BAIT
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Mystery is our bait to the audience. Street teams will jog, jump, and journey through upper class communities in various cities around the country. Their sole attire will be black sports suits embroidered with the words “be limitless. athleticrecon.com.� The buzz created by these mystery men as well as an array of print and television advertisements, which will also feature glimpses of new fabrics and athletic possibilities, are our first steps in generating audience awareness.
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PRINT ADS
For the duration of the campaign, we intend on placing our print ads in the above magazines, in order to captivate and intrigue our primary target audience. The purpose of these ads is to motivate the viewers to visit our website to find out more, thus heightening their involvement with our brand.
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TEASER TRAILER
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Businessman walks into elevator looking clean and professional. Once elevator door closes, the man is alone and appears determined.
Close up reads “12th floor”, as our man begins taking off his jacket.
Our businessman reveals that he has been hiding athletic wear under his business attire.
Extreme Close Up of man staring at the elevator display screen.
Numbers keep descending. Cuts between face close up and display until reaching zero.
Wide shot of elevator door opening (from exterior). The man sprints out of the elevator/building.
Anticipation gradually heightens as the elevator descends past the 8th floor.
Close up of man’s shoes. They are running shoes.
He is peddling his feat in anticipation. He’s getting ready to go.
Close up of man’s shirt, presenting Project Recon logo.
Cut to black screen with “Be Limitless” text.
Stays in black. Text changes to “Athletic Recon”, with website placed below in smaller text.
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phase two
CAPTURE
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Once we have our audience’s attention, we need to engage them further. They have come to our site, our NEW site, to see how “be limitless” can apply to them. In an art house style rendition, the teaser ad that aired previously will be extended to include in-depth descriptions of our products alongside motivational imagery. Visitors to our site will also be challenged to jog, jump, and journey through their own YouTube videos. Social media is key in this stage.
WEBSITE 19
EXTENDED COMMERCIAL 20
A clean looking business man walks into an elevator, alone. When the elevator doors close, the man switches into “determination mode”, as he begins taking off his business attire while he descends to the bottom floor. Under his business suit is Athletic Recon gear. By the time the elevator has reached the lobby, he is ready to go, and he proceeds to sprint out of the building as soon as the elevator doors begin to open. By cutting in and out of his point of view, our audience follows this man through ambitious locations such as the beach other wilderness. He partakes in limitless activities such as jumping into the ocean and kayaking through roaring rapids. His journey ends at sunset where he reaches the top of a mountain, where he joins his group of fellow thrill seekers, who are celebrating their “limitless” day.
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50% OF ALL SOCIAL MEDIA USERS ARE AGE 25-55 source | pewresearch.org
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phase three
ENGAGE
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And finally: PROJECT RECON. We are taking “engage” to a new level. To really capture our audience, we need to challenge them beyond their limits, to truly be limitless. Project Recon’s mission is to help fund a variety of non-profit organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of America, but it is also built from a passion for physical challenge. This final step will solidify our target market’s trust and appreciation for our brand, and continue to engage them beyond the completion of our campaign.
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media PLAN
Phase 1
Phase 3
Print Ads Male-targeted magazines that appeal to middle aged men with an interest in physical appearance and personal health. GQ Magazine Men’s Health Maxim Time Business Week
Project Recon Sponsored marathons across the United States (disposable track suits and other apparel) Money raised benefits the Boys and Girls Club.
Guerilla Marketing Staged men wearing black “Be Limitless” shirts, performing stunts in public malls across the United States. Online release of the above stunt on YouTube.
Blogs Press releases will be sent to the following popular fitness blogs sportunlimatedblog.com by Brandon Porter deadspin.com maleathletes.blogspot.com athleticrepublic.com/blog
Phase 2 Television Commercial Teaser Video ESPN (Alpha Male sports fanatic) Other Cable Networks (SPIKE, Golf Channel, TNT) Online Teaser release on Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
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CONCLUSION
To be limitless is to be passionate about the challenges that you create for yourself. Being limitless is, in our opinion, the perfect descriptor for Athletic Recon, a company which founded itself on challenging the way men relate to their workout attire. Our goal for this campaign is first and foremost about awareness. We want to establish the Athletic Recon brand in a light that can be associated with mystery, excitement, personal challenge and charity. Therefore, our steps to brand awareness and brand engagement correspond respectively. To measure our success, we will be watching online traffic and user feedback from social media sites (including YouTube where fans can post their own challenges). Project Recon will also account for a large portion of success. The target audience is predominantly type-A males who have great passion for marathons and the like; they will have the opportunity to purchase Athletic Recon gear and then participate in the charitable events. This means Athletic Recon has great opportunity to go full circle with their customers, something not many companies can say. At Momentum, we believe in developing great brands such as Athletic Recon. We look forward to building your brand with you. THANK YOU
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SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL 30
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1. What are the objectives of this ad campaign?
CREATIVE BRIEF
The early phases of the “Be Limitless” campaign aims to introduce Athletic Recon on a an underground level, keeping things mysterious to heighten consumer interest. Our online marketing will continue to increase brand awareness and encourage consumer participation. All of these components work to create a solid brand image. Our end goal is to show consumers why Athletic Recon is unique, and what role our products can play in people’s lives. Ultimately, our campaign will generate sale leads and increase market shares within the fitness sector. 2. Who are we talking to? Our campaign primarily targets the “alpha male”: a young to middle aged male (26-40) who is both educated and has a comfortable income. Our audience cares about style as much as they do about comfort and performance, placing the military man into this category. This audience is not necessarily made up of fitness fanatics, but people who care about
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being healthy and looking good. In the introductory stages, we will hone in on the US market, but eventually work to expand internationally. Our secondary audience is the “indie” kid (approximately 16-24), which we will use as our platform to slowly introduce Athletic Recon to society. This group prefers “underground” products as opposed to mainstream brands. By introducing Athletic Recon to a younger demographic first, we can use their online-heavy presence to increase brand awareness. 3. Why would the target audience want or need this product/service? The majority of athletic wear is built for performance, but completely neglects visual appeal. Because of this, limited options exist for sportswear that is both comfortable, durable, and fashion forward, leaving trend-conscious consumers out of luck. Athletic Recon combines quality with style, offering products unique to our audience’s lifestyle and fit for countless athletic and everyday scenarios.
Our primary target audience, “the alpha male”, shows patterns of being actively conscious of their looks. Athletic Recon offers them the option to add personality to their exercise routines, whether they are casual or performance athletes. Within this “alpha male” group,” military men can also benefit from Athletic Recon’s line of products which includes camouflage and navy blue designs, in a much more relaxed form. For the “indie kid” demographic, Athletic Recon will initially emerge as an underground and unique brand, attracting consumers who are individualists as well as contemporary trendsetters. These consumers will want to be the first to own Athletic Recon.
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4. What do we want them to believe? Specific messages will be conveyed to each of our target audiences. For the “alpha males”, we will focus more on the equality of trend and durability of our products, expressing that Athletic Recon is the brand to purchase if you want something that will function well and look great. The military man will also see fresh, contemporary, and comfortable fitness apparel. We want to attract our indie audience with the mysterious, underground factor of the brand, which appeals to their antimainstream tendencies. Athletic Recon will convey one overall, unifying message: our brand is there for you no matter what your activity or challenge is. We allow our consumers to be limitless regardless of their athletic needs. 5. What’s our support to help them believe it? To help our target audience believe in the benefits of our product (quality
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fused with style) consumers must have more proof than just the images on our website. Our guerrilla stunts are designed to showcase the performance quality of our products. Generating online buzz via social media channels will also promote conversation between experts and consumers about the durability and functionality of the products. They shouldn’t need us to tell them how great Athletic Recon is. Our consumers will hear it directly from fitness experts as well as their own colleagues. 6. Is there a call to action? A big part of our campaign, especially in the early stages, will be to promote physical participation in Project Recon. Besides asking interested consumers to participate in our marathons, we have established a solid form of digital and social media participation, which will ask individuals to submit videos of themselves conquering the things that challenge them (i.e. completing a sprint under a designated time, running a huge marathon, completing a bike stunt, learning a cool acrobatic trick, etc.). The
winners of the video submissions will receive a limited edition Athletic Recon shirt that was used in one of our viral marketing stunts. Another form of participation will be our blogs within which people can post and reply to others. Plus, they can get all the important and informative news surrounding Athletic Recon. 7. How will the ad be measured for its success? The ads success will be measured by multiple means. First, website hits. By generating traffic on the Athletic Recon clothing site we will know that our goal to raise awareness is in the process of being accomplished. The more people know about us, and trust us, the better off our business will through the early stages of marketing develope by word of mouth and consumer recommendation. The video submissions and blog posts will work simultaneously with the above. The more posts and likes we have will tell us that our target audience will have increased awareness, understanding, and interested of our brand.
After these first two stages have been achieved the ultimate goal will be to note an increase in market share and web sales/ profit. This will be the determining factor to get the ball rolling because our success depends not necessarily on bringing in new consumers to the athletic realm, but pulling customers away from Athletic Recon’s competitors. Since there are no brick and mortar stores as of yet, our success will be heavily determined by online mediums. 8. What’s the product/service brand personality? As the “alpha male” is our primary target, we know that this consists of a very distinct personality type, one that is ambitious, competitive, driven, motivated, inspired, and leans a little more to the serious side. Our ads will be reflective of this taking on a tone that is not necessarily serious, but definitely inspirational and intriguing. It should make consumers want to jump at the opportunity to buy our products. As well as to motivate them to put our products to good use.
Another target audience that is very important to us however, is the “indie/ hipster kid”. Though we are not relying on them as long term customers, we are placing dependence on them in the beginning to help get the ball rolling and get others interested. This has lead us to add a mysterious tone to our campaign. Instead of full, informational commercials we will release teaser spots that are appealing to our target audiences, but leave them asking questions and desiring to seek answers. The mystery element will keep the Athletic Recon name from falling victim to another mainstream brand stereotype and will enhance the “cool” factor that attracts a lot of our potential consumers.
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INTERNET / VIRAL MARKETING
SALES / PUBLIC RELATIONS To promote Athletic Recon apparel, Momentum is starting the campaign off with guerilla marketing for the first two weeks. We are going to have famous YouTube bloggers set up in public locations like malls and other busy areas where athletes are not commonly working out. These bloggers will be working out in these specified areas, in shirts that say “Be Limitless.” This will create a mystery of what these people are doing, and virally start making its way in the social media. From there, Momentum is going to release a teaser video adding to the mysterious quality of the guerilla marketing. This video will be a television commercial aired on CNN, AMC, NBC and Spike, that
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features a famous actor getting ready to work out but nothing more, except the words “Be Limitless” and a website URL that directs the curious viewers to the Athletic Recon website. On the website will be the second part to this video, launched in week 4. Part 2 of this video will be a more comprehensive view of what Athletic Recon really is, showcasing the apparel and the targeted male figure to wear the apparel, in a very tasteful manner. Ads will come out at this same time, appearing in GQ, Men’s Health, Time, and Business Week. These, similar to the first teaser video, will have the concept “Be Limitless,” the URL, and a very vague background, not quite describing the brand, but complimenting
it. The next month is when wristbands, bags, etc. will come out for the public to receive making them more aware of the brand. The money being saved on an extensive television advertising campaign will be used for these free giveaways and sponsorships at marathons to put Athletic Recon’s name out there in a positive light. Social media will then come more into play as users will be urged to make videos of challenges they face daily. “Be limitless” will show that these challenges can be overcome and there are no limits, reflecting the brand and the apparel of Athletic Recon.
The first stage to bringing the “Be Limitless” campaign online is our guerrilla marketing stunt. Our guerilla tactic involves a couple of low-budget actors partaking in a planned athletic trick that will draw attention to the public and appear to be random and improvised. The actors will be wearing a “Be Limitless” shirt to promote the theme of the campaign. An Athletic Recon representative will film the stunt and release it on various social media outlets (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) so that the video is accessible to our target audience. This video will help kickstart our campaign and generate interest in Athletic Recon.
Once the video has launched, we plan to introduce digital participation by asking individuals to submit home videos of themselves accomplishing the things that challenge them (a runner beating his old time on a sprint, a gymnast learning a difficult flip for the first time, someone stepping on a scale after reaching their weight loss goal, a hiker reaching the top of a mountain, etc.). Not only will this get our target segments involved and interested, but it will help to establish the message that Athletic Recon is fit for every occasion, whether that be a hardcore stunt or just an everyday fitness goal. Viewers will see that our products are stylish, functional, and durable.
The campaign will also partner with popular fitness blogs, such as Live Life Active, Crude Fitness, and Diesel Strength. In doing so, we can reach hundreds of thousands of users that look towards these bloggers for fitness news and inspiration. These bloggers also maintain large lists of email subscribers, and can help spread the word about Athletic Recon. In addition, we plan to use outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. We will create a space on these platforms where they can read what others have to say about their experience, as well as thoughts on the company. These social media platforms give Athletic Recon a voice, and allows us to connect directly with consumers.
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Campaign Budget 1
Guerrilla Campaign
Expense Type
Amount $50,000
Street Teams for 10 cities
(Lucky 415 Inc. is located in LA)
“Be Limitless” Clothing
$2,500
Famous Sport Bloggers (work
$10,000
Total
$62,500
with Federated Media)
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Physical Participation
Expense Type
Marathons and Event Sponsorship
Amount
$100,000
Website Reboot & App
2
Expense Type
All new interactive website
$15,000
Tablet App
$10,000
Total
$25,000
(Ex: from JUXT, Newport Beach)
Teaser Trailer
4
Expense Type
Production Company $10,000
Swag
$20,000
Actor
$2,000
Print Ads
$80,000
Camera/G&E
$8,000
Production Expenditures
$6,000
(from Imprint Media) (magazines like GQ, Men’s Health, etc.)
Print Ads
(outdoor, using Clear Channel)
Post $80,000
$10,000
Advertising Placement Major Cable Stations
$100,000
Total
$136,000
(Golf Channel, ESPN, etc.)
Total
$280,000
Spending Budgets
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Amount
Crew
(from companies like Aramark)
Total Expeditures
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Our goal is to provide as many viable marketing options as we can to help create quality awareness for Athletic Recon. Customers will experience the “Be limitless” campaign, but so will the company. Each spendings budget presented here can be added to or subtracted from to provide for the best financial strategy within your needs. Please see the graph below to help in deciding which options works best for you.
Amount
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$300,000 $240,000
IVANA WONG art director
$180,000
COLIN MCDONALD copywriter CHELSEA GREGORY account executive
$120,000
DAKOTA GORMAN account planner
$60,000 $0
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BYRON MARIN media buyer 1
2
4
3
4
Total
Planned Expenses
$62,500
$25,000
$280,000
$136,000
Options
$62,000
$25,000
$280,000
$136,000
$503,500
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