Since 2012, standout female triathlete Heather Jackson has been backed by brands large and small. From her early days as a professional, to a podium spot at the World Championships, not only have companies invested in Heather as an elite athlete, but also as a compelling individual.
To the traditional athletic world, Heather does not seem like she would fit the stereotype for a major brand: the tattoos, dyed hair … the occasional craft beer. However, Heather defies the conventional stigmatism that sport performance athletes have in the modern world – especially while championing a relatively unknown sport.
Globally recognized companies, no matter their respective industries, need to have sponsorships that embody the same global recognition. Vast brand exposure, regional TV spots, Instagram sponsored posts and media placements are important in this day and age, but the time and work that go into each of these components are vastly underrated. For any brand, large or small, trying to connect with the niche audiences that represent their style and culture is a unique undertaking in itself.
In a social media, millennial-marketing and content-driven landscape, every brand is trying to tell an “authentic digital story”. Making sure that content connects to your end users, being “on trend” and/or being able to drop digital ‘buzz words’ in a creative strategy deck is key in achieving success. Show up to a traditional, 4-hr shoot and reap an authentic angle with your athlete… Just ask your followers and engagement will ensue (…or not).
Fast-forward to a tiny, no-name gym in Bend, Oregon … during the dead of January.
I drove 3+ hours from Portland airport to the town of Bend with our company’s Sports Nutrition and Sponsorship staff. We took a couple of “Instagram-worthy” pictures around Mt. Hood as we headed to meet Heather, her husband/manager Sean “Wattie” Watkins and the Campsite Media House film crew on the first day shooting for #HJRoadToKona. I can’t deny that I really just wanted to hop over to Mt. Bachelor (they had just gotten a few inches the day before).
I’ve known Heather and Wattie for a good amount of my career. Although I don’t hail from the traditional triathlon background, neither did they. I grew up in Southern California playing ice hockey, lacrosse, surfing, skating and partaking in other activities that the mainstream sports media considers 'different'. But so did they. Heather also grew up an ice hockey player – eventually skated for Princeton. I ended up in D.C. at Georgetown. Both our careers ended up far from the status-quo, east coast institution-path that seems to have guided most of our fellow graduates.
But back to Oregon.
The idea of the #HJRoadToKona project was to follow Heather throughout her 2017 season. Coming off a 3rd place finish at the 2016 IRONMAN World Championships, we jumped at the chance to get behind the woman who we’ve been sponsoring for years. From her snowy Pacific Northwest hometown to triathlon’s biggest stage in Kona, Hawaii, it was the perfect (and juxtapose-ingly appropriate) place to start and end this digital content journey. From snow to surf to the podium – a perfect story-arch.
Our video and photo team evolved our vision into life and onto screen. Being able to hit our brand’s digital and social media goals while creatively accomplishing their own is a feat in and of itself. What I’ve found in my career is that giving (a trusted) external team creative leverage will help your story truly come to life. You must trust the process and put in the effort to understand the real story behind the narrative you’re trying to tell. This approach to content capture is few and far between with major sponsors in the greater sports media world.
Everyone wants authenticity, but only on specific, brand-approved terms.
Capturing Heather in her element is something that is hard to convey, even with RED Dragons and DJI drones in bay. Keeping up with her is much more of a daunting task than one may think. Our photographer Dylan Haskin skateboarded 14 miles on a penny board just to document her run down the infamous Queen K highway. Blisters and swollen ankles plagued the rest of his trip.... For a woman who competes at one of the most insanely intense sports on the planet – a 2.4 mile swim (without a flotation device), a 116 mile bike (without pegs), and then running a marathon (yeah, a marathon) 26.2 miles – anyone with a brain would say, “No fucking way.” This is what Heather trains for every single day. And we decided to follow: from the desolate forests of Bend to the searing lava fields of Kona.
After Heather's offseason training, we met up in Oceanside, California where she first began her professional IRONMAN journey. After a finishing a strong 4th place, we attempted to keep up with her fast-paced professional track through Peru, Colorado, Canada, some other North American territories and then ultimately Kona, Hawaii.
The “Road to Kona” (as cliché as that sounds), had finally come to one culminating shoot week. Our sponsorship, social/digital and video/photo teams arrived on the Big Island, not knowing what to expect. Who could know what the endurance sports’ world stage could compare to? The Superbowl? The Final Four? Kelly Slater’s latest heat on the WSL Facebook-promoted stream?
“Right before the gun goes off is possibly the most petrifying time of the entire day.” Heather recites to us in a pre-race interview. Everyone goes quite for a minute. It’s real now. We’re all part of this.
My role was to tell this story digitally and socially to users that may or may not even know what the hell an IRONMAN even is. From behind-the-scenes Instagram stories to product posts to Facebook live interviews to user generated content contests, we made Kona available to those that previously would have scrolled right past the NBC targeted ads and go on living their Instagram lives.
After a week of overly-thrown ‘shakas’, seemingly never-ending sponsor-events, Da Poke Shack vs. Umeke poké debates, token ‘B-Roll’ trips to Hilo Bay and high-speed scooter races, the Kona hype surpassed what we had expected on many levels. For guys who grew up spectating and actually shooting Hawaiian surf contests, a reputationally-square sport held it’s own for a Big Island sporting event. So much for our brand truly understanding the culture of sport that our multi-year, star endurance athlete continually competes her heart and soul out for. As it turns out, an action sports-bred film crew was an appropriate fit to shoot athletes in a tropical paradise – even within the traditional sport of triathlon. But then again, Heather’s story is anything but traditional, so why tell it that way?
When it was all said and done, HJ took 4th in the world. Though she dropped a place from her 2016 podium spot, she improved her overall time by 9 ½ minutes. In a race that takes anywhere from 8 hours for professionals to DNF (Did. Not. Finish.) for most normal age-groupers, that’s an impressive shaving-off of minutes. I may never compete in a triathlon, but documenting #HJRoadToKona was something that will stick with me throughout my career.
After decompressing at a (*sponsor name withheld) roof-jumping pool party, we said, “Aloha” to the Big Island. Our crew, Heather, Wattie and the other triathlon-industry Haoles fled Kona. Our experiences solidified on SD cards, personal Instagram posts or by searching the #HJRoadToKona hashtag on your preferred social media platform.
Photography by Dylan Haskin, Hana Asano & Nick McCormack
Cinematography by Campsite Media House
Sponsorship Management by Jennifer Guran
Sports Nutrition Support by Dana Ryan, Ph.D.
Nick McCormack specializes in digital and social media sponsorship activation for Herbalife Nutrition. All opinions and comments are his own and do not reflect the company or the athletes.