In March, we finally did what we’ve been building up to for more than a decade: we took Quad Lock offline and into the lives of our consumers.
While this may not sound like the most exciting milestone, for a brand that has been, for the majority of its existence, purely an online experience, it’s no small feat.
We began small — on Kickstarter in 2011 — as a bike mount brand for iPhones and have since evolved into an active outdoor lifestyle brand that counts more than 20 big sporting names from a diverse mix of sports as its ambassadors.
Despite being headquartered in Melbourne, we’ve always operated as a global brand, keen to avoid the trappings of a localised mindset. As a result, we continue to experience strong global demand, with 80% of our sales coming outside Australia, including a strong customer base in North America and Europe.
This year, we pushed ourselves further than ever before, and it’s paid off.
Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023 was a game-changer for us. Not only was it the first time we officially partnered with a leading event for a sport, but it was also the first time we organised a large-scale, consumer-facing event with the launch of the “Quad Lock Box”, a former shipping container that showcased our entire product range — and more.
So far, our strategy has paid off: our $250,000 marketing investment into providing an exceptional experience for our customers — and potential customers, and it’s been a key lever in driving incremental growth post the Australian Grand Prix.
Creating sustainable growth isn’t about one single moment in the life of a brand; it’s the continuous and incremental impact of a range of events. The Grand Prix was the catalyst in creating a step change in our daily revenue, created by new customers coming to site for the first time, and returning customers checking out what’s new and exciting.
The ability to launch products successfully, create engaging content around those product stories, and then deliver it to people’s socials in an authentic and consistent manner is the secret sauce that enables an event like the Grand Prix to look like the Silver Bullet to change the performance of a business.
An element of theatre: cultivate FOMO
We’re a pretty relaxed bunch at Quad Lock, but we’ve realised that an element of theatre never goes astray when it comes to engaging the public. We all like a bit of mystery and unattainability, and cultivating FOMO is a sure-fire way to get people interested.
This is what we discovered with the QuadBox: by dividing the shipping container into two parts — the sales and product activation section downstairs and a bar/event space upstairs, only available to staff and Quad Lock ambassadors — we created two distinct experiences for our audience.
The activation, staffed by 12 people from our team, was an open space for new and existing consumers to immerse themselves in the Quad Lock product story and to chat about how they use their mounts. You’d be surprised at the number of people who want to have that conversation.
The dramatic look of the box (all black) and its positioning near the entry gate attracted others, and the presence of the viewing deck — out of reach to the public — created so much FOMO that people were trying to scam their way up.
It helped that the upstairs space also had a view of track, with some key athletes milling around from time to time. It was a lot of fun. And just quietly, there were a few folks who managed to sneak up there.
Include athlete/ celebrity appearances
Ever since we launched our global athlete ambassadorship program in 2019, we’ve been looking at creative ways to incorporate our partnerships into different parts of our business.
Having now signed more than 20 global ambassadors, we are well on our way to being represented by some of the world’s best athletes across moto, cycling, marine and more. Our ambassadors are, understandably, sought after by fans, and being able to facilitate interactions between them is one of the highlights of our work.
We saw first-hand at the Grand Prix just how exciting and valuable (from a marketing and event perceptive) an athlete’s appearance can be. Our exclusive Q&A with Australia’s emerging star Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri, interviewed by Quad Lock Ambassador and 2016 Australian Rally Champion Molly Taylor was met with a roaring success as thousands of fans looked on.
Oscar opened up and spoke about his love of Melbourne and his early days racing go-karts, and the crowd loved him all the more for it. The next day, we organised for Red Bull Ampol’s Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergenn — official partners of Quad Lock — to sign autographs, creating even more buzz around our stand.
Designing an event program around the appearance of star athletes was one of our best strategies and one which we will be employing again — this time at the upcoming French Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Tailor it to the country
While we’ve always known we wanted to go global, getting there has required a bit of foresight and planning. Yes, love of sport is cross-cultural and fans are similar everywhere, but the channels via which we reach certain audiences and put emphasis on vary.
With the French MotoGP only days away, we are excited to be creating a new experience at that event with one of MotoGP’s favourite riders, Johann Zarco. Quad Lock will be hosting Johann as he competes at his home GP in Le Mans, and knowing Johann’s love of racing, particularly at home in France, we know the fans are in for something special.
With an event in France, supporting a key French athlete, we will also be able to share content in local language for the first time, supported by our French language website. Being able to localise that content is another way we can accelerate the impact of our ambassador strategy linked to a key sporting moment.
While France is already our fourth biggest market, we noticed an almost significant uptick in sales since launching our website in French. Seasonally, it is also the time when sales heat up in Europe and North America to coincide with the warmer weather.
We are now planning on rolling out other language websites — German and Spanish next — and by the end of the year hope to have translated our products into at least five languages.
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