Mammut’s Race to Net Zero Trail Running Launch
Goal: Establish Mammut as a player in the trail running market
Without a doubt, one of the most exciting product launch I’ve ever been a part of was Mammut’s first trail running collection launch in May 2023. After months of work from our Sustainability department with Climeworks and other carbon removal partners, we launched the running kit and shoes as a fully decarbonized collection. In my role as Head of Content in the Mammut Media House, my focus was helping the creative team and channel owners develop a content and activation strategy that would establish Mammut as a known brand in the competitive trail running market.
We had the sustainability story, brand awareness in the outdoor community, and some great new products, but we needed runners to see we cared about the sport they love. Our solution was to produce a short film portraying everyday women runners, a key demographic and strategic business focus, taking on a massive personal challenge: running across Iceland.
We traveled to Iceland in August (late season) with a small, nimble crew composed of in-house art direction by Joy Paton and Tim Armbruster and client-side production from Silvan Wyss. We collaborated with the Zurich-based production agency, HILLTON for film production, and photography was done by the talented Dominik Hodel.
On arrival in Iceland, we had two endeavors ahead: a product and video shoot for performance assets and the editorial production following our three volunteer runners from around the world. Working with a local guide and Google Maps, we were able to identify locations for the product shoot with dramatic volcanic backdrops. The editorial shoot was supported by a local outfitter who specializes in working with endurance athletes on their Iceland adventures.
Visual deliverables were a 10-min short film, a set of shorter vertical format video awareness video ad sets to test with Google-YouTube, and a set of static and moving picture performance ads to test and optimize throughout the campaign. My team was also responsible for designing and developing copy and visual content for the campaign and product landing pages as well as the CRM email distributions.
A small selection of the editorial images can be seen below:
Google and the YouTube Creative Studio helped us optimize the ads and strategically buy media to focus budget to achieve our goal of driving brand recall. Did people see the ad? Did they remember it? That is what we wanted to know. The campaign was designed to drive sell-through yes, but more importantly for Mammut’s first season in the running segment, make it a meaningful and known player.
Success for this campaign was for Mammut to take over a percentage of market share in the trail running segment and build the brand association between Mammut and trail running. Revenue was, of course, measured and prioritized within the performance marketing arm of the campaign, but sales predictions for the first year were not overblown. Much of the sales were done through existing retail partnerships, where we tried to improve sell-in by providing additional in-store tools and activations for key accounts.
A small selection of the product imagery can be seen below:
