FEI Commercial and Marketing strategy update

       New branding and an updated look for the icons for each discipline

 

During the recent FEI General Assembly, the FEI Commercial Director gave a presentation on Marketing & Communications, outlining how the FEI is changing and the new approach to the presentation of the sport.

“When presenting the FEI, we present equestrian as one sport”, he said. “And it is true, many demographics and many attributes are valid for all equestrian disciplines. But, each discipline is also unique: unique in its characteristics, unique in its rules, unique in the participants, unique in the fan base and unique in terms of the companies interested in the discipline.”

This insight is the essence of the FEI’s Marketing and Communications strategy, shaping content development and delivery, and this has been well received in the market. 2017 was a successful year for the FEI in terms of sponsorship sales, with five new deals signed on top of the already existing deals with FEI Top Partner and Official Timekeeper Longines, Official Equestrian Footwear and Apparel Supplier Ariat, and Official Hospitality Provider of the FEI for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, JetSet Sports.

The most significant was the extended global partnership with Longines in terms of both duration and rights and now also includes the Title Partnership of the Longines FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Series. SAP was announced as the Official Analytics Sponsor of the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Series. Boehringer Ingelheim became FEI Equine Health Partner and FEI Campus Partner. In October, CNSI became the Official Business Partner of the FEI in China and it was announced yesterday that OTTO Sports has become Official FEI Campus Partner.

The FEI has also made a number of changes in the way content is being developed and distributed and has increased its focus on digital and social media, developing new types of content. Page views on the FEI website, FEI.org, have almost quadrupled in 2017. Facebook video views are almost nine times greater than in 2015, and each discipline now has its own Facebook page. Instagram followers have gone up close to 800%, while YouTube views have increased by more than 30%.