While the riders in the actual race were forced to fly across the channel because of Eurostar / Euro Tunnel delays, Jaguar activated its Team Sky partnership by rolling out a documentary about Chris Froome riding his bike through the Channel Tunnel called ‘Under The Sea’
Jaguar linked with Sky’s team leader and 2013 Tour de France winner Froome as he became the first person ever to cycle under the sea from the UK to France riding a time trial version of the new Pinarello Dogma F8.
A bike that was actually itself launched at Jaguar Land Rover’s base in Gaydon following design input from the car maker alongside the manufacturer Pinarello’s team.
The online short, part of Jaguar and Team Sky’s #KeepPushing campaign, was a project initiative conceived by agency Inc who negotiated with Eurotunnel for the right to shoot in the tunnel itself.
Shot on 1 June a month before the start of this year’s Tour De France, which started in the UK before transferring to France, the rider reached top speeds of around 65kmh and he completed the ride in 55 minutes.
The campaign initially kicked off with an online teaser which was posted on 3 July.
Then Jaguar launched the movie by posting it online on 7 July to coincide with the Tour transferring from the UK to France (and it also launched on Team Sky’s site and social channels too).
There is also a behind-the-scenes spot posted on both the Jaguar and Team Sky sites.
‘Cycling under the sea was an incredible experience. Opportunities to become the first person in the world to achieve these kind of feats are extremely rare nowadays, especially as a pro-cyclist,’ commented Froome.
‘To become the first person ever to cycle through the Eurotunnel was right up there with some of the most iconic rides I’ve ever done – this must have been one of very few ‘world first’ rides left!’
JLR Global Brand Experience Director Mark Cameron added: ‘One of our core beliefs at Jaguar is themed around ‘Keep Pushing’ – for new technology, experiences, goals and achievements. This is perhaps the ultimate expression of this philosophy, completing a feat that no one has ever done before or is likely to repeat. We’re delighted for Chris to have had this opportunity, and I’d like to echo his thanks to both Team Sky and all at Eurotunnel who made it possible.’
‘The Eurotunnel is an incredible, unique piece of engineering on par with the Golden Gate Bridge or Sydney Opera House,’ commented Eurotunnel Head of Public Affairs John Keefe.
‘The problem of course, is that no one gets to see it, so we were delighted when Jaguar Land Rover came to us with this ground-breaking request!’
Comment
Jaguar has provided the official support vehicles for Team Sky since its inception in 2010 in the form of a fleet of XF and XFR-S Sportbrake vehicles.
This project follows an earlier online Jaguar/Team Sky spot highlighting exactly how its Tour vehicles are kitted out during the race. (See previous case study).
Officially this is labelled a documentary, but essentially this approach blends a ‘world first’ style stunt that itself has some synergy with an event actually happening in this year’s Tour.
Of course, when planning the project, few could have predicted the delays and problems with the tunnel during the race transfer itself. Something which received a fair amount of publicity.
Nor could the marketers have predicted that Froome himself, the favourite for this year’s race, would crash several times during the first two French stages and retire from the race.
Links:
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Team Sky Website
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Team Sky Twitter
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Team Sky Spotify
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