The Danish investment bank, principle title sponsor of the cycling team Saxo-Tinkoff, has rolled out a series of 10 videos featuring riders from its Tour De France team to promote its participation in the 100th edition of the world greatest bike race.
The short films, all shot by photographer Fredrik Clement who has worked with the team for several years, all outline the riders’ passion for cycling whilst simultaneously drawing parallels between the skills required for riders and those needed by the bank’s traders.
The campaign plan included a particularly long run-in time to build interest in and excitement around the Tour.
Indeed, first teaser video premiered as far back as 27 March – timed to coincide with the start of the Tour of Flanders in Belgium
Seven of the films highlight one rider each; exploring and describing their passion for cycling, taking risks and building confidence in their abilities as well as life as a rider on Team Saxo-Tinkoff.
Alberto Contador – Passion & Execution
Michael Rogers – Execution & Experience
Two further videos feature prominent personnel from the Team Squad, who talk about their respective roles on one of the best UCI ProTour cycling teams.
Hannah Grant – Teamwork & Expertise
The final video, a summary of everyone featured, was launched when the Tour de France kicked off on Corsica last week.
Co-founder and Co-CEO Lars Seier Christensen – Dedication & Teamwork
The full series is available on Saxo Bank’s cycling microsite at www.saxocycling.com and is also seeded across the web and through the bank’s social media channels.
The bank is also running a competition through July that encourages consumers, traders and cycling fans to test their skills in its global ‘Tour de Trading’ game (see http://www.saxobank.com/cycling/tour-de-trading).
The game’s objective is to put the player’s speed, execution and passion to the test in a new margin trading game in order to win the grand prize: Alberto Contador’s official Tour de France Specialized S-Works bike.
Comment:
The Saxo Cycling Film Project is a first for any sponsor of a UCI ProTour cycling team and does an effective and engaging job of showcasing the skills of the riders ahead of this year’s historic tour.
Last year, perhaps because of team leader Alberto Contador’s drug-ban enforced absence from the Tour, saw a fairly low key approach from the online trading and investment specialist.
But with Contador back to lead the Saxo-Tinkoff team for the 100th Tour, the bank is running a major integrated marketing campaign.
‘This campaign provides a great opportunity for Saxo Bank as co-sponsor to market our involvement with Team Saxo-Tinkoff, through a series of high quality films to seed through web and social media channels,’ explains Saxo bank’s head of group marketing Romain Witomski.
‘We hope our excitement will confer on the viewers, and gradually build up before the start of the Tour de France. We believe there are similarities in the way cyclists & traders think and act: both rely on a lot of data and information, need to be able to react swiftly and share the need to have confidence in their ability and the flawless performance of their equipment.’
Links
Saxo Bank Cycling Website
http://www.saxobank.com/cycling/
Saxo Bank Tour De Trading Game Website
http://www.saxobank.com/cycling/tour-de-trading
Tour De France Website
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/
