SUDU are an exciting new Manchester headquartered sportswear brand. They came to us looking to launch the brand into the UK market kickstarting with their inaugural ‘Run’ menswear collection in late May, followed by them being announced as Premier League Wolves’ new official technical kit partner, responsible for the design and manufacture of the club’s official kits, training and leisurewear.
Recognising the need to hit the ground running (quite literally!) with just one month separating the two announcements, we orchestrated a strategy that from day one saw them recognised across top tier media, both through standalone articles, and positioned alongside some of the biggest established running and sportswear brands.
Our approach included getting product into the hands of key journalistic contacts of ours pre-launch, educating them on what makes SUDU stand out from the crowd with their products made from cutting-edge fabrics which blend style with function – designed to help athletes of all abilities unleash their inner athlete.
Alongside this, we curated enticing broader launch press materials that would enable us to cut through with media in the form of standout reviews and placements, dedicated news pieces and thought leadership content, across media verticals – from national, to consumer/men’s lifestyle, business trade, sports trade, sports specific/running, regional, fashion/retail trade and tech/lifestyle media.
With nearly 20 pieces of exposure landing in just the first three days including scooping top spot in a Mail Online curated list of the ‘Best Men’s Trainers for Running’, the first two months have seen us secure hero exposure for the brand’s ‘Run’ collection across the likes of Men’s Health, Daily Telegraph, MSN, Men’s Fitness, City AM, Gentleman’s Journal, Athletics Weekly, Stuff, Manchester Evening News and more.
In terms of Wolves, meanwhile, our strategy was staggered into three phases – first starting by announcing SUDU as Wolves’ new official technical kit partner – followed by respective home and away kit launches ahead of the upcoming new season.
With SUDU pioneering a new, revolutionary kit partner model which will drive better commercial return for sports teams as well as better quality product and affordability for fans with Wolves the first to benefit, this was a key message we knew we needed to land with sports trade media, and across all our communications.
This was achieved to resounding success amidst the challenging backdrop of the Euros and a general election, with dedicated news articles nurtured with virtually all key sports trade media titles, and with a spread of wider national, sports, regional, business trade and fashion/retail/licensing trade media.
Having laid strong foundations, we then worked with the SUDU team and the club to tailor and curate impactful press materials for the kit launches themselves. Translating to exemplary coverage with a breadth of media including the likes of BBC Sport, Sky Sports Online and Mail Online, sentiment among fans has been transformed with the Mail Online going as far as saying ‘Wolves and their new official kit provider SUDU may have to take the award for most unique and creative design this year’.
To date, SUDU have now been featured over 60 times by media with huge growth seen from a keyword ranking standpoint – now ranking for over 300 keywords – while backlinks, clicks and organic traffic have spiked exponentially.
If you’d like to learn more on our approach to effectively launching and growing brands in the fitness space, including within highly competitive markets, please do reach out today.