As runners begin to return to the streets and races, Olympikus wants to reinforce the discourse of democratizing access to running shoes and the positioning of being the brand that understands Brazilians, as opposed to international brands.
A movement that is now reinforced by the launch of the world’s first graphene plate sneaker, the “Corre Graphene”, which hits stores starting this Monday (21). The model, in limited edition, represents Olympikus’ head start in a field dominated by major international brands, that of high performance, and has the highest cost among all products in its portfolio, R$699.99.
“The moment is now to demonstrate that Brazil is capable of developing products of the highest sports technology. Graphene shows the level where Brazil is, the current stage and values our specialists”, says Márcio Callage, marketing director of the company. The sneaker’s launch movie even reinforces this Brazilianness, from development to the raw material used in manufacturing.
He says that the product was developed over a year and that the choice of graphene, known for being an extremely strong material – 200 times more than steel -, and at the same time thin and light (at the thickness of an atom), started from the company’s search to present a story that could be unique. Today, other brands have invested in carbon plate.
“Corre Grafeno” is part of a larger family, “Corre”, composed of two other releases. “Corre 2”, an evolution of “Corre 1” and co-created with running specialists, and “Corre Vento”, scheduled to enter the market in the next 30 days.
“They are a milestone and a watershed that place Olympikus within high performance racing”, explains the executive, who says he is euphoric with this moment of resumption of events.
Despite the high expectations with the news, the executive is clear about the challenge that awaits the brand. In the world of high-performance racing, international companies are regularly remembered.
“The biggest challenge is for people’s attention. It’s not enough to have the right elements if people aren’t paying attention to the story. We are close to the running community, dialoguing consistently so that they start paying attention to the brand”, she says. For this reason, in addition to a campaign on social networks and OOH media, the brand is preparing a series of activations to get closer to the running public over the next six months.
“We will have a very strong work with athletes and influencers because we know that the opinions of others are what matters”, he explains. The actions also involve sponsorship of the São Paulo Marathon and the creation of the “Casa do Corre”, where the technologies must be presented before the race in São Paulo; the return of the brand’s proprietary races within the “Bota pra Correr” platform, with courses in paradisiacal destinations in the country; as well as training and partnerships with runners’ advice.
In addition, the Executive also believes that the price is attractive for people to test the product. “In a crisis, maybe people are also open to trying something new.” With the launches of international brands arriving in Brazil with prices in the range of one thousand reais, having a product with a plate that costs approximately 30% cheaper can be a differential.
