The starting point
Upway had put serious money into TV for a year without much to show for it. In performance marketing the company was solidly set up; in brand building barely at all. A considerably larger budget was planned for the following year, tied to the ambition of building a global brand. What they were looking for was a channel that does both: build awareness and deliver hard numbers.
That combination is exactly what Upway did not find at classic media agencies, which were geared either to storytelling or to metrics that did not fit the business. On top of that came bad prior experience with influencer marketing: small Instagram tests with lifestyle creators, carried over from the French market to Germany, had gone nowhere.
Making it harder still, an e-bike costs over EUR 1,000 and needs explaining. German buyers want to know exactly what they are getting rather than buying blind. In that situation Upway invited around ten agencies to pitch.
About Upway
Upway was founded four years ago and makes e-mobility more widely accessible by selling refurbished e-bikes at up to 60 percent below the new price. Used bikes are bought in and repaired in six of the company's own workshops in Europe and the US; battery capacity is the main thing checked, and worn parts are replaced.
They are then photographed, listed online, and delivered to the door from a range of over 1,500 bikes. The home market is France; Upway now operates in eight markets.
Our approach
We went into the pitch with numbers, not with poster images, and were appointed straight away. Out of a brief originally weighted heavily towards awareness came the realisation that cost per acquired customer had to come first. We then built a mix of influencer marketing, TV, print and podcast.
The first influencer campaign ran with Felix von der Laden, who took an unusual route: sitting in his new Porsche Taycan during a test drive, he talked about now wanting an e-bike too. A completely different tone from the lifestyle approach that had failed before. The placement performed strongly from the start and built the internal confidence to give the channel more room.
The channel has to earn the focus
Influencer started on equal footing with TV, print and podcast. That it now carries the entire focus was not decided in advance but is the result of a comparison across cost per customer, cost per session and brand-related traffic.
Explanation rather than lifestyle
The French lifestyle approach did not transfer. For the German market we chose creators who unbox, explain and answer questions.
Creative freedom as a quality decision
Creators get the core facts that have to appear. Everything else they shape themselves. That is exactly where the credibility comes from that tips the balance on a high-priced product.
