A Trio of Tyre Launches for Hutchinson
Long Standing Trust
Tubeless tyre pioneer Hutchinson has been part of the PaceUp Media story from the very beginning. The French brand was one of our first client partners and has been with us ever since. Over the past six years we’ve partnered on numerous successful product launches, brought on ambassadors, helped craft their online presence through copywriting and content creation and generally been the brand’s cheerleader alongside their distribution partner Windwave here in the UK.
As Hutchinson’s UK PR agency we act as the connection between the brand and media, ensuring Hutchinson is always part of the conversation around performance tyres. An interesting challenge in a space that’s dominated by a small number of companies with huge brand recognition (and even bigger marketing budgets!).
Our Remit
Act as Hutchinson’s UK press agency, proactively and reactively securing media coverage, seeding key messaging and driving brand awareness.
The challenge...
After a relatively quiet 2023 that was spent in the lab cooking up a host of new products, Hutchinson gave us the heads up that the first part of 2024 was going to be a whirlwind of activity. Three product launches across three different disciplines all within the space of three months… No problem!
These weren’t just any product launches though. In some cases the tyres had been in development for almost four years and all three featured all-new designs, technological developments and materials. In Hutchinson’s eyes, these three tyres marked a return to the top of the performance tyre space. This has been backed up by independent testing which showed their latest offerings were once again some of the fastest in the world
The process...
We worked alongside Hutchinson to create launch materials for each tyre, writing press releases and copy that spoke to the different audiences for each tyre. With the launches sitting across the three disciplines of Road, Gravel and XC Mountain Biking it was important to ensure we spoke directly to each specific audience in a suitable tone of voice. This written content served as source material, translated for use by Hutchinson for their own communications throughout the continent.
The next step was to utilise our extensive network of contacts within the endemic space to communicate the series of launches to every key publication in the UK. Working to ensure all questions from the media were answered prior to the embargoes being lifted and landing product samples with as many interested journalists as possible, putting us in a strong position ahead of each launch date.
The results
All three launches were a real success, with key UK endemic titles covering the new releases in both print and online. In total, 25 pieces of media coverage were generated, with a total estimated viewership of over 300,000 people. The combined total of publication-wide audience figures for all outlets is sitting at just under 10 million.
On top of this there were a total of 725 likes, comments and shares across all pieces of coverage on social media. Showing the launch was not only successful in terms of coverage but also that people were actually engaging with Hutchinson’s latest developments.
The launch material also resonated well across the continent, with a massive response in Hutchinson’s home country of France as well as across other key EU territories.
But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve made sure that the tyres have made their way into the hands of reviewers at all the key publications throughout the country. With more than twenty reviews lined up, we know that the number of people reading about Hutchinson’s new launches will only continue to increase over the coming months.
- 25 pieces of UK media coverage
- Estimated viewership of over 300,000 people
- Combined audience figures of nearly 10 million
- Widespread recognition across social media
