Curious about the news? Watch the personal video-message from our CEO Gert de Caluwe enclosed in this mail.
May we ask to keep this news confidential for now as a press release will follow at latest tomorrow evening
Sincere thanks.
Along with the new year comes a new distinct look for Team Sunweb. Shifting away from the predominantly white design that has animated the peloton and podiums during the previous years, the team embarks on their new chapter with Craft with a new eye-catching kit design. Once again, all three programs will share the same kit.
Their new Sunweb red colours proudly retain their recognisable two-stripe design for the sixth consecutive year, continuing the team’s reference to their Keep Challenging DNA. Besides the clearly-visible stripes, also KC watermark stripes are added. The left stripe represents the continuous development of the riders both as individuals and as athletes. The right stripe represents the development of the elite sports environment.
New Year, New chapter:
2019 marks the start of a new chapter for Team Sunweb, as they welcome on board a bundle of new (technical) partners including Craft. Craft, a big name in the clothing industry and the team’s new apparel partner will manufacture their state-of-the-art race kit using the latest technologies, with aerodynamics and safety at the core of their designs. Next to race clothing, the Scandinavian brand will also produce all casual and formal clothing for riders and staff.
A Passion for Innovation.
Sharing innovative qualities, Craft, Team Sunweb’s experts and other innovation partners will work closely together to make the next steps in aerodynamics, as well as safety improvements and temperature control through clothing. The protective shorts will continue to be used with more applications of DSM Dyneema’s protective fibres expected in 2019, adding an extra layer of protection to the kit, enhancing safety and confidence.
It's official: new partnership between Cervélo and Team Sunweb, beginning on 1st january 2019. as of that moment Cervélo will be the bike of choice of both the men and women WorldTour programs, as well as Team Sunweb’s development program.
“We’re very excited to partner with Team Sunweb, for us it’s the perfect match in ambition and performance,” explained Richard Keeskamp, Sports Marketing Director at Cervélo. “The team is word-class and active in a wide range of fields and disciplines with men, women and U23 programs – competitive in the one-day races, time trials, sprints and grand tours, which requires very specific equipment to be able to make the difference over competition. It challenges us to raise the bar even further in developing and delivering new and state-of-art technologies.
“We proudly launch the new S5, which heralds a new era for our company and stunning advances in aero and engineering technology for Team Sunweb’s riders. The partnership will allow us excellent R&D opportunities to continue to develop new technologies in close cooperation with the team, benefiting from their feedback and experience.”
On Cervélo bikes Team Sunweb have prospects of taking things to the next level in 2019. Team Sunweb CEO, Iwan Spekenbrink said:
“We’re thrilled to welcome one of the most high-tech brands in the industry to our team. Having the resources and knowledge at hand to make our equipment lighter, better and faster will make the difference. Time trials and road races are sometimes won or lost by a fraction of a second, which is a confirmation to us that these efforts do pay off. We’ve a shared DNA to keep pushing technology forward and innovation is key to both our organisations, which makes for the perfect fit. Behind the scenes Cervélo has been working hard on the new S5 race bikes revealed today, this emphasizes their commitment to helping us and we’re already looking forward to kicking off the 2019 season.”
Music Festival Tomorrowland partners up with Sunweb for its new festival: Tomorrowland Winter. In March 2019 Tomorrowland will make it possible to experience its magic in a totally new surrounding and during the most magical season of the year… winter. "The Hymn of the Frozen Lotus" is the theme of this magical new journey… Tomorrowland Winter will be held in the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez in France. The festival area and stages will be throughout the ski resort and the village that only visitors of Tomorrowland will have access to.
Sunweb will use her expertise in travel and winter sport to complete the Tomorrowland Winter packages. Together with Tomorrowland we created 7 or 4-days Tomorrowland Winter packages including lodging, festival access, ski & lift pass and optional bus or flight tickets from all over Europe. Packages will only be bookable on www.tomorrowland.com
You want to join? Pre-register now and book your package on the 8th or 15th of September.
Unite with 30 000 People of Tomorrow from all over the world on an altitude of more than 2000 meters, guided by the Tomorrowland magic.
Live Today, Love Tomorrow, Unite Forever
Tim van den Bergh, CCO of Sunweb Group, explains why Sunweb has launched a lifestyle platform:
“In the current media landscape, it is increasingly difficult to reach consumers in a way which they perceive as pleasant. In 2016, we began a sport sponsoring initiative aimed at further accelerating our international growth—the professional bike racing Team Sunweb was the result.”
The team, which includes successful Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin, is an important source of insights, tips and behind-the-scenes content for The Prologue.
The activation of the partnership between Sunweb and Team Sunweb is essential. “The focus should be on explaining who Sunweb is, and what we do,” says Van den Bergh. “Not just to Team Sunweb fans—but also the fans of other bike racing teams, and all other practitioners of this increasingly popular sport.” The choice of an online platform is logical, since Sunweb is an e-commerce company. Van den Bergh: “What better way is there to reach our audience in a sympathetic way than through an international cycling platform with great content?”
The media brand The Prologue is aimed at a broader cycling audience, rather than just race fans. Wayne Parker Kent has developed the visual identity and the technical infrastructure behind the platform. All the content production is also created in-house at the Amsterdam-based agency, where an editorial team creates new articles on a daily basis. Editor-in-Chief Mike Cooper says:
“We are very passionate about bike racing, but also the wider cycling culture. We love touring and racing, but equally enjoy a ride to a coffee bar on the fixie. The cycling lifestyle, beyond the sport, is just as interesting.” According to Cooper, The Prologue is a wide-ranging platform aimed at both racers, racing fans and people who have just bought a new bike and want to know more. “Sports cycling culture is growing exponentially,” says Cooper. “We want to help men and women better understand and experience this sport. The range of our stories is therefore very wide: from practical tips on riding, nutrition and training, to inspiring, exclusive background stories on well-known professional riders.”
The Prologue currently appears in both English and Dutch, with German and French versions to follow in a later phase.
More info on: www.theprologue.com
As of 2018 Sundio Group International becomes Sunweb Group, symbolizing the international expansion led by its flagship-brand Sunweb.
Sunweb Group adopts in it’s logo the new visual property of Sunweb that was presented for the first time to the public on the new racing kit of Team Sunweb in Berlin on 04/01/2018.
In January at the official Launch of the German team at Münster-Osnabrück, Germany, Sunweb outlined their responsibilities and intentions within the sport of cycling. As one of the major investors within the sport, Sunweb has highlighted that they will be actively taking a strong stance against doping.
New culture and mindset in the sport of cycling since the implementation of the “biological passport” in 2008.
The sport of cycling is in the process of leaving its turbulent years behind and has been quite successful in implementing a new culture and mindset. The culture where a significant amount of the people from within the highest tier of the sport considered doping as regrettable, but relatively inevitable has gradually been removed. Instead, cycling’s culture today consists of people that have adapted the mind-set that for the sport to continue to display its beauty and excitement on a global scale and in order to positively increase its global impact the key requirement is to eliminate doping completely.
A key factor for cycling to achieve that gradual culture change was in 2008, with the implementation of one of the most sophisticated and extensive anti-doping programs that exists today in professional sports. Through that program, professional cycling has been recognized as an example for other sports, in terms of the unprecedented, extensive and comprehensive blood and urine testing to which all of its top tier athletes must undergo. This program had a great preventive effect with regards to the use of prohibited substances and it has proven to substantially improve the methods of detecting usage. The series of test results from each athlete make up their so-called “biological passport”, which allows their blood profiles to be monitored closely. This passport can be an important indicator of good ethics as well as any wrongdoing.
Regulation and coordination by the UCI, execution by the independent CADF
In elite cycling the international cycling federation UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) regulates and coordinates the sport’s anti-doping policy. The execution of that policy in the highest tier of cycling is largely conducted by the independent body CADF, through a program of thorough testing and monitoring through both in and out of competition anti-doping tests. The out of competition tests are performed based on the permanent whereabouts system of the riders which enables regular unannounced testing.
Sunweb invests in an additional anti-doping program and shows its extra commitment to the sport of cycling
At the very beginning of their exclusive title partnership with the team, during the 2017 Launch of Team Sunweb in January, Swiss based tour operator Sunweb made its vision on anti-doping clear. This vision is now made concrete by the additional annual investment which Sunweb is making to allow Team Sunweb to go one step further in the efforts towards a clean sport. Their investment means that the team can sign up with the CADF to implement the new additional independent anti-doping program.
Sunweb’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tim Van den Bergh, explained: “For a company investing in professional sports there are only two options with regards to anti-doping.
The first benefits from the beauty and great impact of the sport and abandons the team on the day that there is a doping case. The second option chooses not to ignore that what is the case in normal life also applies to sports: alongside all of those with good intentions, there are always a few individuals who at certain moments choose to do the wrong thing."
Tim Van den Bergh continues: "A company that takes responsibility for the sport and for the team must put efforts into protecting those who choose to do the right thing and who participate clean in sports. The best protection is to increase the efforts to detect those who perform their sport with undesirable morals in terms of doping.
Within this context, detecting a ‘positive case’ is not only something regrettable, but is at the same time a victory for clean athletes and for the sport. Our company’s fundamental view of our responsibility towards the fight against doping is to help ensure the creation of a fair playing field for athletes, which is what sport is all about. This is the priority for the future of cycling, and of any sport. Detecting those who undermine the system is a win for the sport, even if ultimately one of Team Sunweb’s own riders were ever to be detected.”
The tour operator’s vision on strengthening the credibility of the sport and enhancing the anti-doping program is a strategic corner stone of its commitment to cycling and to Team Sunweb, founded and run by the team’s CEO Iwan Spekenbrink. Tim Van den Bergh concludes that Sunweb hopes that other companies that invest in sports, and particularly in pro cycling teams, will follow in their footsteps in providing extra funding towards strengthening teams’ independent anti-doping efforts.
The urine and blood tests of this additional anti-doping program, which are made available by CADF to WorldTour and ProContinental cycling teams, are carried out on the same basis and in addition to the current CADF anti-doping program, which the riders of all WorldTour and ProContinental teams are already subject to.
The additional anti-doping program is the next step to creating a clean sport as it further intensifies the testing of the team’s athletes. Team Sunweb’s men’s WorldTour riders will participate in this additional program and the program will also foresee the testing of the team’s WorldTour women and Development riders.
“Why not open a big house with bloggers from a variety of countries? Eliza, you know so many people and a lot of bloggers too, right?” It is really easy to arrange such a concept. You simply book a few flights, hire cars, rent a house and arrange for bloggers to meet there. However, in reality it is slightly different. If you would like to carry out (micro-) influencer marketing in an effective and smart manner, there has to be a clear DNA match between the influencers and the brand. In addition you must also strongly believe in what you do. With that as a foundation, the travel organisation Eliza was here has opened its first international blogger house in Cyprus.
From its first day of existence, one would hear about Eliza was here through a tip from a friend, colleague or relative. Over the years it has continued to grow through this manner. Customer research shows that over 35% of clients discovered Eliza was here through word of mouth, additional to a customer repeater rate of 35%,over the past 2 years. Without a doubt you can say that Eliza has been able to keep its brand promise, as well as to create fans who will act as its ambassadors within their social circles. You can “freely” interpret this into organic influencer marketing. Based on this success, Eliza was here has now chosen to enter the commercial market, by actively approaching and using social influencers and influencer marketing.
This is why Eliza has decided to open its first international bloggers house. Fifteen bloggers from the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark were invited by Eliza to visit Cyprus during May 5-13, where they would experience a wonderful journey with Eliza was here. Bloggers that participated include: Claartje Schröder (Foodness, NL), Niel van Herck (Tjoolaard, BE) and Mie Kristine Quist (Wewonder, DK).
An eye for attention and details
No buying of range
"We do not put restrictions on influencers and we do not ask them for a required number of blogs, posts, hashtags etc.", said Yuri Deutekom, Director of Eliza was here. “The vision of Eliza was here is that when someone's experience is good, they are more likely to want to share it with others. We are confident and convinced of our promise: always an authentic and special experience.”
The travel organization believes that, if the experiences are positive then the influencers will decide to share them with their followers. The content that flows from this type of communication is so much more relevant than content that flows from mandatory posted pictures and posts, making its reach much more valuable. If an influencer decides not to write or share something, it will be because the experience we offered to them would simply not have been exciting enough to write about. This is a risk that we are willing and daring to take.
From influencer to ambassador
“Obviously, we will try and estimate which and how many people we can reach, by the number of visits, views and other indicators. However, how the post or picture registers with followers; will always have to be an assumption; and whether it changes the decision of buying the holiday, is very difficult to measure. We believe in this effect. We compare influencer marketing with word-of-mouth advertising, which in our opinion, is a strong way of promoting your product. You see, it is truly valuable when someone during party mentions what an excellent holiday they had with Eliza was here. This is the moment that “that someone”, becomes an ambassador of our brand. The others, while having a beer or sipping a glass of wine will become enthusiastic. They will see and take this information more seriously, because the person, who is telling the story, shares the same values and belief system, with them. Everyone is always looking for common grounds and common values. Most of the time people who share this, are the people that “believe”. That client, who tells others of his experiences, without us having any influence on it, is our ambassador. This is exactly what influencer-marketing is about. Our goal is to turn all of our influencers into ambassadors. People that want to share their experience. The followers are the ones standing around and listening to the stories of our clients who had an unforgettable holiday. The next day the followers will be curious to know more about Eliza was here.”
Companies renew their successful collaboration for the future. This collaboration supports the growth strategy of the two organisations. Sundio and Transavia Airlines today also unveiled 2 new Sunweb aircrafts that will be used this summer.
The acquisition of the German youngster specialist is an expansion of Sundio’s youth portfolio and supports its internationalization in this travel segment. It is also in line with the European expansion strategy of the travel group.
JAM! Reisen, launched in 2002, offers spring break and party trips for students and youngsters. Every year JAM! Reisen sends over 40.000 travelers to amazing party destinations, mainly in the North of Spain. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, JAM! Reisen generates a revenue of approximately €20 million.
The team in Hamburg led by Nico and Tim Vogler, both managing and owning the company from the start, will ensure the continuity and the further development of JAM! Reisen. Sundio’s international strength and infrastructure will allow JAM! Reisen to grow further in the German student and youth travel segment.
About JAM! Reisen
JAM! Reisen is the no.1 travel brand in Germany for 16-25 year-olds. JAM! Reisen is specialized in “spring break”-like trips for college graduates and party holidays for youngsters.
“JAM! Reisen, dein perfekter Sommer und die beste Party deines Lebens!”