Helly Hansen is “Alive” with launch of new global campaign
Norwegian ski apparel company Helly Hansen is a true skier’s brand, appealing to hardcore downhillers for decades. The company keeps its appeal to that core alive with the launch of its inaugural digital-first campaign promoting its new “Alive” message to drive brand awareness and affinity amongst skiers. The integrated creative and media strategy was developed as a collaboration between WPP’s Grey and Maxus. The ads will run across the UK, US, Canadian, Swedish and Norwegian markets.
The “Alive” campaign leverages programmatic to its full potential, and the ads target ski enthusiasts during six crucial ‘media moments’ of the customer journey, according to the company, from inspiration and research all the way through to product purchase. These moments allowed Maxus – which was awarded Helly Hansen’s media account in 2016 – and Grey to develop a media approach and creative executions that target the core audience.
The campaign’s digital films show how Helly Hansen makes professional-grade gear to help people stay and feel alive, showcasing Helly Hansen clothing being worn by professionals and enthusiasts as they barrel down a pristine slope, drop in off a cliff or a helicopter, race across the snow on a snowmobile and carve fresh tracks together, tagged at the end with “Helly Hansen – Alive since 1877.”
The videos will be served programmatically and will also be hosted on the Helly Hansen website. The activity will be supported by digital display in UK, Canada, Sweden, Norway and US, as well as a cinema campaign in Norway. The campaign is live now and will run until January 2017.
“We wanted to create a campaign that moved away from our traditional print activity in order to connect with consumers on both an emotional and rational level. The campaign is driven by moments uncovered through our consumer research, helping us to not only punch above our weight in key markets such as Norway and Sweden, but also boost brand awareness throughout the UK, the US and Canada by leveraging efficiencies of a digital first approach that taps into programmatic,” said Joumana Løvstad, director of brand marketing at Helly Hansen.
“For some, ‘programmatic’ is just a line on the media plan. For us, it is the vehicle to deliver on bigger strategic thinking and targeting that has shaped how Maxus and Grey have collaborated and delivered on our respective specialisms,” commented Nick Vale, worldwide head of planning at Maxus. “The Alive activity is the first time that Helly Hansen has used a digital and video focused campaign following a complete overhaul of the brand’s media strategy. The moments-based approach, based on extensive consumer research from Maxus and Grey, allows us to leverage programmatic more strategically and creatively to target consumers in a more nuanced and multi-dimensional way. This close collaboration has been developed to best deliver the consumer context and demonstrate Helly Hansen’s core messaging, while engaging with its audiences on a deeper level.”
Alistair Green, Grey’s global planning partner said, “Helly Hansen is a great brand with rich heritage and exceptional technological know-how. The approach we took to communication had to reflect this. We created something special and outstanding through a combination of original content that reflects the essence of the brand, and an innovative approach to content distribution via the use of programmatic. It’s a true case study for the benefits of a collaborative and integrated approach.”