Pearl Izumi officially announced its Endure & Enjoy brand movement last week, created as a reminder for cyclists, runners and triathletes to work hard and to love the sports they practice. Although Pearl is known to serve the needs of core cyclists, the new push is made to be more inclusive of different athletes.
“The whole message of endure and enjoy, it doesn’t matter if you’re a hardcore athlete, we just want our athletes to love the sport and love the brand,” said Pearl Izumi Product Line Manager for Run Apparel Kelly Davidson. “It’s our opportunity for people to know what we stand for. People really get what Endure and Enjoy means.”
Pearl Izumi said that while sport is a sanctuary for anyone and everyone who wants to sweat, sacrifice and suffer their way through, “To an extent, endurance sports have lost their way and Endure & Enjoy wants to remind people what it is all really about.”
In late August, Pearl Izumi brought the new campaign to the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USPCC) in Colorado. The brand was the official apparel merchandiser of the race and saw the event as the ideal time to launch the platform to not only athletes but enthusiastic USPCC audiences.
Pearl Izumi will bring Endure & Enjoy to life through a series of traditional media outlets, on- site grassroots marketing and social media activation. Its first ad, called “Would You Still Do It?” aired during the USPCC week between the live telecast.
Endure & Enjoy also includes an athlete “Pact,” which functions as a type of salute and personal pledge. Part of the Pact reads, “I will endure. I will enjoy. I shall only partake in this crazy sport I love, because I love it. And I will quit when I quit loving it. I am a representative of this sport. As such, I will do my part to take the “ass” out of ambassador.”
Geoff Shaffer, VP of global marketing at Pearl Izumi said, “We feel very confident that the new brand position will help connect the brand to male and female endurance athletes by celebrating a universal truth about endurance athletes, and at Pearl Izumi we find joy in pushing the limits of what’s possible.”
The new branding will roll out in two new product collections – another duality in the Pursuit and Escape lines – to be officially revealed to the cycling category at Interbike in September.
