Guiding a Sports Brand into the Fashion Industry with a Digital Advertising Strategy
Colnago, founded in 1954 by Ernesto Colnago, is an Italian bicycle brand renowned for blending artisanal tradition with cutting-edge innovation. Known for its elegant design and advanced technical solutions, Colnago has become a symbol of prestige and success in the cycling world.
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ClientColnago
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SectorSport
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Areas of ExpertiseDigital Strategy, Marketing & Media
1. Goals
To mark its 70th anniversary, Colnago embarked on a strategic evolution, expanding into the fashion luxury sector. The goal was to reinforce its premium brand positioning beyond cycling and establish itself as a reference in the luxury landscape.
For the launch, a full-funnel digital advertising strategy was designed to:
- Decontextualize the brand beyond cycling by introducing it into the fashion luxury space through innovative visuals targeting new, brand-aligned audiences.
- Boost visibility and awareness of the new collection through upper-funnel channels, focusing on strategic markets and high-spending fashion and sports enthusiasts.
- Drive curiosity and engagement, guiding users through the consideration and conversion phases using fashion-centric content and placements.
- Enhance the e-commerce experience, reinforcing the brand’s decision to sell exclusive products solely on its website, differentiating the purchase journey from traditional retail channels.
2. Approach
Starting from the definition of the client’s objectives, linked to brand awareness and brand positioning in the luxury sector, and from the evaluation of the available budget, we:
- Allocated budget strategically across the funnel, selecting the most effective paid campaign types to maximize results in each phase.
- Developed Buyer Personas attuned to fashion dynamics while also knowledgeable about high-end cycling, aligning with the capsule collection.
- Structured a Content Plan, combining inspirational content for awareness with more ecommerce-focused assets to drive consideration and conversion.
- Planned media activation, identifying key moments based on the growth of product awareness.
This resulted in a Digital Advertising Media Plan built on three key pillars:
- Video content as the primary asset: used to generate awareness and the zero moment of truth. Thanks to Video, YouTube, and Meta campaigns, we’ve positioned the different hero content cuts across immersive digital channels to intuitively communicate Colnago’s new direction.
- Integrated paid campaigns with product feeds: designed for the consideration phase, promoting direct purchases from Colnago’s e-commerce and driving discovery of the capsule collection.
- Brand search optimization: leveraging Colnago’s high global search volume to associate the brand with the fashion world and create a conversion touchpoint for the new collection.
3. Results
The digital performance analysis of the media launch delivered outstanding results:
- +22% di Video View Rate vs. previous video campaigns on core products, indicating strong user interest in Colnago’s positioning shift into a new industry.
- +33% di CTR son Meta ads from international markets vs. Italy, highlighting the greater challenge of positioning in a new industry within the home market.
- +13% di CTR on product feed-integrated ads vs. static ads, proving that an immediate purchase association significantly boosts consideration for new product categories.
- +21% di CTR from prospecting audiences vs. Colnago community retargeting, demonstrating the brand’s potential for expansion into entirely new industries.
- 2x Revenue from on-bike apparel vs. the previous period, showing that the new capsule also successfully drove visibility for Colnago’s core business products.
