New Balance uses Hookit data and insights to identify its most valuable content to reach ROI goal of 300%.

“Hookit data and insights have given us the power to make smarter content and sponsorship decisions that have boosted our content marketing ROI by 3X.”
-Ian Fitzpatrick, Head of Global Content and Digital Marketing at New Balance

THE CHALLENGE
The New Balance Marketing team had an ambitious goal of increasing the effectiveness of their marketing spend by 3X and to right size their production-to-media ratio.

THE SOLUTION
In order to achieve these ambitious growth goals with a strict budget, New Balance worked with Hookit to evaluate the effectiveness of social content. The partnership led to significant strategic shifts, including:

• Content production go/no-go decisions to reduce wasted budget on content that doesn’t drive engagement or brand attribution.
• Social media paid investment modelling through a data-backed strategy that focuses on optimizing spend toward posts that drive the highest value rather than social budgeting based on a product calendar.
• Media and production reallocations for the coming fiscal year that’s rooted in value return on investment and marketing effectiveness.

BENEFITS & RESULTS
Upon making decisions based on data and value provided in the Hookit platform, New Balance:

• Saw an average increase of content value ROI of 3X from 1:1 to 3:1
• Developed an optimized paid social investment strategy yielding a 50% higher value return than their average paid social campaign
• Established a new production-to-media ratio to ensure that each piece of content in market has a meaningful level of spend that will result in a positive value return on investment.
• Global alignment around digital KPIs, value measurement and effectiveness going forward.

Tough Mudder leverages Hookit data to sign more than a half dozen new sponsors.

“Hookit is a key tool in the sponsorship sales process, allowing us to bring on new sponsors and increasing our sponsorship revenue.”
– Tony Kim, Business Development @ Tough Mudder

THE CHALLENGE
Tough Mudder is uniquely positioned as both a brand sponsoring athletes and influencers as well as an event property bringing on other brands as sponsors. In order to stay as the best-in-class partner, Tough Mudder sought to identify ways to drive more value for current and prospective sponsors.

THE SOLUTION
Using the Research tool within the Hookit platform, Tough Mudder was able to identify potential sponsors and show how their organization could:

• Optimize campaigns aligned with that brand’s messaging
• Target the desired audience of that brand
• Pair influencers and brands to drive maximum ROI on sponsored content

BENEFITS & RESULTS
Tough Mudder’s sales team leveraged Hookit data as a tool in the partnership sales process as a way to provide insightful analytics of predicted sponsorship ROI to its potential brand partners. This data from Hookit was one of the selling points in helping Tough Mudder secure deals with partners such as Chipotle, Nexcare, ACE, Every Man Jack, Navy Federal Credit Union and many more. By tailoring the pitch to what the brand was already talking about, Tough Mudder could demonstrate that it would be a world-class partner for the sponsor, helping that organization achieve their sponsorship objectives.

NHRA increases Fan Engagement by 210% and Earned Media Value by 86% using Hookit’s Data

“Hookit has become an essential partner in updating our sponsorship strategy, teaching our teams and drivers best practices, and helping us drive more value for our sponsors.”
– Brad Gerber VP, Sales & Chief Development Officer @ NHRA

THE CHALLENGE
NHRA needed a way to accurately measure and report the Earned Media Value (EMV) generated on social media for series sponsors.

THE SOLUTION
Taking a holistic approach to growing their impact for sponsors, NHRA and Hookit worked together throughout the 2017 race season to:

• Track, measure, and value social media activity
• Provide individual event reports with valuation reports for each sponsor
• Create an improved social media strategy based on best practices
• Present social media best practices to drivers and teams at a digital summit to maximize value for sponsors

BENEFITS & RESULTS
During the first event of the 2018 season, NHRA, with their improved social media practices, saw the following results:

• 86% increase in EMV for all sponsors compared to 2017’s season opening event
• $426K EMV for series title sponsor Mello Yello, up 47% year over year
• 210% increase fan engagement on event related posts

Shimano Uses Hookit Data To Identify Trending Athletes, Increase Brand Engagement & Web Traffic From Target Consumers.

“Hookit is our go-to tracking tool for measuring the success of our sponsored athletes on social media.”
– Joe Lawwill, Marketing Specialist @ Shimano

THE CHALLENGE
Shimano digital marketing team wanted to increase web traffic and engagement with their branded content from end consumers.

THE SOLUTION
By working with the sports marketing team, Shimano digital marketing used data from the Hookit platform to identify which of their sponsored athletes were currently trending in that moment. With that trending data, they could:

• Have the athlete post more about Shimano
• Leverage existing assets created with that athlete on their own channels
• Create content around that athlete’s success, highlighting their use of Shimano products

BENEFITS & RESULTS

One example of when Shimano used the Hookit platform to identify and leverage a trending athlete was after Brett Rheeder won the 2018 Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain biking event. By leveraging assets and creating authentic stories about Brett, the Shimano digital marketing team saw the following boost:

• 50% boost over normal engagements on social posts featuring that athlete
• 50% increase in web traffic for content around that athlete

The digital marketing team was able to take these results to management, proving a successful cross-team collaboration with sports marketing.

LAFC PROVES ENGAGEMENT, SIGNING NEW SPONSORS WITH HOOKIT DATA

“Hookit provided us the technology and resources to identify, analyze, and demonstrate to LAFC corporate partners the engagement that our team has built across multiple social platforms for our supporters and fans, all in advance of the inaugural season.”
-Jamie Guin SVP Corporate Partnerships @ LAFC

THE CHALLENGE
Los Angeles Football Club needed to build a fan base and attract sponsors before they kicked off their inaugural season in March 2018.

THE SOLUTION
To measure, analyze, and communicate their story to current and prospective corporate partners, LAFC worked with Hookit to:

• Measure owned & partner channels as well as earned fan & media engagement
• Report to partners on club growth and performance of sponsored promotions
• Benchmark overall club engagement against the local market

BENEFITS & RESULTS
Presenting the data that Hookit provided allowed LAFC to prove the engagement and value they were driving for their corporate partners over the course of 2017, before the club even took the field, including:

• 537k fan interactions for Delta/Aero México
• 247k fan interactions for Banc of California
• 403k fan interactions for Heineken

With this data at their fingertips, LAFC leveraged their success and signed new sponsors to grow revenue for the club as they prepared for their first match.

VANS PROVES ROI WITH $13M OF EARNED MEDIA VALUE GENERATED BY ATHLETES, FANS & MEDIA.

“Vans uses Hookit to capture the true value of how social works for each of our athletes and events. For the first time, Vans can measure and prove ROI on our events and athletes on social media.”
– Bobby Gascon | Dir. Global Marketing / Action Sports, Vans

THE CHALLENGE
Vans needed to prove Digital ROI on their Park Series events, ensuring broad reach beyond the on-site experience.

THE SOLUTION

In order to track the true value the Park Series was driving, Vans teamed up with Hookit to capture and report on the value of the following groups across social and digital media:

• Athlete accounts
• Vans owned accounts
• Media & fan accounts

BENEFITS & RESULTS
Through the Hookit valuation reports, Vans identified that athlete, fan & media accounts drove $13M EMV at Park Series events.

In addition, the Park Series grew their social following by 90% and was able to identify the most engaging content through the Hookit platform. With this information in hand, Vans justified the continued investment and helped focus on highly engaging digital tactics.

RIP CURL AUSTRALIA LEVERAGES HOOKIT DATA TO IDENTIFY BEST CONTENT, DRIVES DOUBLE REVENUE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA.

“Hookit has helped us refine our partnerships and approach our digital marketing strategy in a whole new way. We now clearly see what engages with consumers and how valuable this is to driving sales for the brand.”
– Sam Hopgood, Digital Marketing Manager @ Rip Curl

THE CHALLENGE
The Rip Curl marketing team wanted to identify what types of content drove the most value for their brand and drove the most engagement with their target consumer.

THE SOLUTION
With the Hookit platform, Rip Curl was able to tag their posts and identify trends among the top-performing posts. They looked at posts across many categories, including:

• Athlete vs Product Posts
• Landscape vs Portrait Orientation
• Frequency of Posts

BENEFITS & RESULTS
Through Hookit data, Rip Curl was able to identify that 2 posts a day on Instagram was ideal, portrait orientation was more effective than landscape, and athlete images and videos had more engagement than simple product-focused posts. From these insights, Rip Curl Australia pursued a strategy of posting portrait-oriented athlete images and video twice a day, driving the following results: 

• 40% increase in social engagement
• $600k EMV in 6 months
• 2x revenue from organic social media in Australia compared to other Rip Curl regions

Seeing these results, Rip Curl’s Global Digital Unit has begun to spread this strategy to other regions, increasing revenue there as well.