Designing A Globally-Renown Sports Tech Brand

Written By Will Truettner

In the rapidly evolving sports tech industry, effective brand marketing is a crucial prerequisite for success.

During my time as Creative Director at Hammerhead, our creative team helped drive a sevenfold year-over-year revenue increase, 50% reduction in CAC, brand growth from unknown to top 3 in its category, and positioned the product as the number 1 selling SKU in its category at retail – all leading to an acquisition by SRAM within two years of product launch.

Here’s how we did it.

Building A Robust, ADAPTABLE Creative Foundation

A brand can’t support a healthy, full marketing mix without first laying the groundwork for its creative identity and language. This of course starts with a sophisticated brand guide and design language capable of adapting to any environment.

But shapes and colors only go so far. A brand is not a color. A successful brand, especially one operating in the sports space, must ground its identity in relationships with real athletes. After all, a brand is the personification of a company. It must authentically include the human element.

Establishing reciprocal relationships with athletes was the most crucial step in building the Hammerhead brand. Our intention was delivering value in each relationship – whether it be through product support, content production, press amplification, introductions across our network, or otherwise – which established trust and authenticity on which to build marketing efforts.

Lastly, a brand must have a message – something to say to the world. Humans have a innate psychological desire to understand the motives of another as a prerequisite for sustained interaction. A brand must also abide by this expectation and stake its flag intentionally and with conviction.

SEE THE ROAD AHEAD became the Hammerhead messaging platform, representing the duality of the brand’s mission;

1. Build a product that allows cyclists to quite literally see the road ahead and

2. Champion the notion that the quest for improvement and the benefits it confers extend well beyond the bike itself. Potential lies at the edges of one’s own mind, in their community, and the world at large. One must move bravely and forthright towards the future they wish to see.

 

Differentiate From the Competition – Lean Into Culture

The start of the pandemic brought a new wave of cyclists into the market, along with a more diverse culture of fashion, riding disciplines, and interests. As the young, innovative entrant into the industry, Hammerhead had a unique opportunity to align itself with this shift in culture, and leave its competitors looking outdated and tired.

We strategically partnered with athletes, events, and brands that represented this new persona of cycling – one that was interested in where the bike could take them beyond performance itself.

This influx of new cyclists also meant that there was a different expectation of the digital marketing ecosystem. This new tastemaker customer had a more discerning standard of creative. Given our nimble, innovative team, we were able to produce beautiful, creative landing pages and growth marketing assets much quicker and cost-effectively than our stagnant competitors.

 

Creative Generalism – Outsourcing Specialization

Due to the nature of Hammerhead’s venture-sourced funding pre-SRAM-acquisition, there was a large pressure to keep operational costs to a minimum while still exceeding the high output expectations of a fast-growing brand.

We grew our team slowly and intentionally – filling only critical roles with multi-disciplinary creatives – and outsourced specialized tasks. This not only kept costs to a minimum, but it also allowed us to maintain a high degree of creative consistency across our brand, due to the small amount of people involved.


Credits

Here is a breakdown of the creative team that accomplished the work you see on this page:

Will Truettner
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