Like a pop star, a brand needs an audience. So we plugged our client into theirs.

The client:
SRAM is a leading manufacturer of bicycle components sold under a collection of sub-brands, including category-leaders Rockshox and Avid. 

The challenge:
SRAM makes game-changing bike components. SRAM wanted to know what people in their brand community understood about SRAM, the company, the various sub-brands that they owned and the relationship between them. In other words, if their story was reaching people and resonating with them. 

The strategy:
We interviewed the senior communications team and captured their vision of the SRAM story, then crafted a roadmap to explore how well that story was understood, was sticking and was shared by those in their brand community. The methodology included online quantitative surveys as well as in-depth qualitative research in the form of discussion groups and phone interviews with SRAM staff, OEMs, independent bike store sales staff, European distributors, enthusiast riders and recreational riders.

What we discovered was that the story was not effectively reaching people outside their building, and the further away from the strong, pounding heartbeat within their Chicago headquarters, the fainter it became. We showed them how this story flow was like a human circulatory system. Insufficient communication left the arteries leading from the heart and through the community clogged, which made the peripheries of their community numb to their message. We recommended new communications strategies and tools to increase the blood flow. SRAM responded by asking us to develop a Brand Strength Monitor so they could stay on top of how they were doing as they moved forward.