Škoda We Love Cycling: Engaging the Cycling Community

Škoda’s We Love Cycling initiative aims to bring together the best content and news on cycling. The link with Strava is self-evident; as the world’s leading platform for connected fitness, with one of the largest global cycling audiences, the brand looked to maximise promotion around two key events, the Tour de France and UCI World Cycling Championships.

Their first challenge of 2023, the Green Jersey Challenge, celebrated their ongoing relationship with the Tour de France. By offering an achievable goal (cycling 20km), the brand enticed the widest possible cycling audience to enter, particularly with a great reward. Škoda offered the chance to win great prizes, including a Festka ONE carbon bike frame, Škoda Green Jerseys and even bike-shaped pizza cutters!

The second challenge, Let’s Celebrate Big, celebrated the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow by creating an activation packed full of prizes. Allowing any cycling equipment – from bicycle to handbike and stationary bike – the challenge asked for participants to complete 100 minutes between 3rd and 13th of August 2023. To encourage participation, some truly incredible rewards were offered. Alongside 6 Wahoo Element Rival smartwatches and tube holders made from Canyon-SRAM tyres, the brand allowed one lucky winner to get an all-inclusive 1+1 weekend trip to a training camp with Alberto Contador’s UCI team Eolo–Kometa!

Why Strava

The link in audience between Strava and We Love Cycling is virtually unparalleled. The brand aimed to use Challenges (and wider visibility of their Club) to drive traffic to their website, and, ultimately, to drive interest in becoming email subscribers to engage with future content. Challenges are a unique format that drive clickthroughs, but also real brand engagement with We Love Cycling, but also Škoda – perfect for long term brand awareness and affinity.

Impact

The two challenges were highly visible. With combined participation of 199,000 and total impressions of 5.5m, the activations drove interest throughout the Strava community, and via clickthroughs and signups, added a large number of email subscribers – one of the brand’s core KPIs at a more efficient CPA than any other platform.