Case Studies > Athletes > Motorola

The Challenge

• Soul Sports and Firefly, Motorola's PR agency, were challenged with creating a PR campaign to assist Motorola build on its global commitment to snowboarding and further position Motorola as the key communications brand in the ski/snowboarding community.

Our Approach

• To highlight that Motorola offers snowboarders useful and cost-effective accessories that are cool and the new must-have item, Soul Sports created and managed a team of four well-respected pro riders, who became the 'Motorola Snowboard Team', adding credibility to the Brand, and thus ensuring a highly successful PR Campaign.
  
  
• The four members of the 'Motorola Snowboard Team' were branded with the Motorola logo and kitted out with the latest Motorola phones and Two-Way Radio's. A further 32 key media and riders were seeded with accessories.
  
  
• Soul Sports worked with Firefly on launching the team to UK snowboard and mobile press, with their first public appearance at the British Snowboard Championships.
  
  
• Soul Sports and Firefly, continued working closely with ongoing press activities, including competitions, rider press interviews and profiles, event releases and radio campaigns, with tactics being created such as starting the 'Sick & Twisted' news column in the UK's leading snowboard magazine, where readers had the opportunity to write in and request advice from the 'Motorola Snowboard Team'.

Results

• Through championing the 'Motorola Snowboard Team' the overall PR campaign received extensive positive and on-message coverage for Motorola, including the front cover feature of Mobile Business and large news articles throughout all core wintersports publications including Snowboard UK, Whitelines and Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard.

Client Quote

• Louise Bryce, Account Manager at Firefly Communications on behalf of Motorola "Soul Sports provided Motorola and Firefly with an excellent athlete managerial service and made the management of the project a much easier and enjoyable process. The Soul Sports created 'Motorola Snowboard Team' ensured Motorola generated credible UK coverage throughout the 2000-2001 season and certainly without their involvement, many of the articles that featured would not have been possible. Soul Sports provided an excellent service introducing Firefly to key wintersports journalists which meant that relevant branding and profiling opportunities were progressed."

The Athletes

Danny Wheeler No 1 British Freestyle Snowboarder

James Stentiford No 1 Big Mountain Snowboarder

Simon Brass Rookie of the year

Juliet Elliot No 2 British Freestyle Snowboarder/ Model