As the sun rose over the beautiful city of Marseille it lit up the jumps and ramps of the inaugural ‘CLLCTV Lemoine Invitational. An event conceptualized and brought to life by Tomas Lemoine and hosted in his hometown of Marseille, it was not planned purely as a contest, but as a cultural event, with a packed schedule of riding, music, and even tattoo artists. There was no better place to be than the All Road Skatepark in May. Now, you can relive the action as main event partner Canyon has released a 6-minute highlight video, available for your viewing pleasure below.
It was never going to be easy to defeat a local legend on home soil, but the contest was won by Tim Bringer (FRA) with Tomas Lemoine finishing 2nd, ahead of the always impressive Nicholi Rogatkin (USA).
The Muc-Off Best Trick took off late in the afternoon, with some amazing performances but it was again Bringer who took the win home with a flip whip to bar on the wooden box. The Best style was awarded to Lukas Schäfer (GER).
“I’m so happy about this week and how the event was, all the riders sent it! The riding level was serious, and I was impressed to see each one’s creativity, and style in the park. I was dreaming about having an international park contest in MTB and we made it, I hope we will be back for more because the vibe was insane all week.” – Tomas Lemoine
“We love that Lemoine’s approach to MTB pushes boundaries and defies convention. So, when Tomas came to us with an idea to host a park contest for MTB, we were stoked to support and witness his vision brought to life. It was awesome to see all the riders having a good time and so many fans enjoying the show all week. Bring on the next Lemoine Invitational!” Jack Noy, Brand Manager, Canyon MTB | Gravity.
Crankworx Innsbruck is always one of the highlights of the year for RASOULUTION. A 2-hour drive from Munich gives the team the opportunity to attend the event in person and to support the athletes that we manage, to meet our network and watch spectacular mountain bike action of the highest level. This year was no different, with multiple podiums for our athletes over the weekend, including a record-breaking performance by Emil Johansson (SWE), who won his seventh Crankworx FMBA Slopestyle World Championship (SWC) contest in a row, a streak that goes back to 2019, when the Swede won his first ever SWC event in Whistler, Canada during Red Bull Joyride. Other podium spots included a Speed & Style win for French rider Tomas Lemoine as well as a second place for German Erik Fedko in Slopestyle.
In perfect conditions and in front of a full house of fans the world witnessed history in the making at the opening event of the 2022 Crankworx World Tour. Sweden’s Emil Johansson took his 7th win in a row with the highest score ever awarded of 98. Erik Fedko out of Germany, known for his amazing style and unique tricks got his own personal best score of 95.25 to finish second ahead of Tim Bringer.
“Honestly, I don’t even know how to put words into today, it’s what I put my heart and soul into. To see the hard work paying off, it’s more like a relief than a surprise, you know?” said Johansson when speaking to Crankworx after the event. “I used to cry a lot on the podiums, now I’ve just been in disbelief in the past year or so. I don’t even have any words to put into this. I am speechless, I guess.”
Emil was the undisputed pre-event favorite and man to beat, and after his first impeccable run, scoring a 98, a first for the sport, it was looked like the win was already secured. The battle for 2nd position was just as impressive as the winning run, with Erik Fedko scoring 95.25 points in a flawless 1st run with his signature 360 Indian Air Seat Grab as one of the highlights. After a solid first run, Tim Bringer was hungry for more than a 3rd place and he laid down an amazing second run, improving his previous score to 93.75, but falling just short of the silver medal marker set by Erik. Lemoine finished in the middle of the pack, taking home a 7th place with a stylish run that included a manual to barspin off the start drop, a trick that had the crowd screaming with excitement.
Max Fredriksson unfortunately had to give up his spot in the finals after suffering a heavy crash during practice.
The day before Slopestyle finals is traditionally reserved for Speed & Style, a discipline in which Tomas Lemoine has established his dominance over the years. Working his way through the round of 32, 16 and 8 in traditional Lil’ Moine fashion, with blazing speed and a solid bag of tricks, the French rider turned on the afterburners during the finals against Teodor Kovac (CZE) and winning his 5th Speed & Style contest, as well as his third in a row.
“Crankworx Innsbruck was an amazing start to the season, so happy to win a third time in a row during Speed & Style. The level just gets better every year. I’m pretty happy with a solid 7th place on Slopestyle with some mistakes in my run still; happy to bring some new moves to it also, the level was insane, the boys are on it! it’s going to be a good season I’m super excited and motivated for what’s to come!” Tomas Lemoine
Check out some impressions from the Crankworx Innsbruck contests courtesy of Clint Trahan, CWX staff photographer.
Young Swedish rider Alma Wiggberg will be the second female athlete to join the RASOULUTION roster, following the signing of Olympic medalist Nikita Ducarroz. She will be supported in all aspects of athlete management, press relations and communications strategies. The Swedish young gun shows us that the younger MTB generation is fierce and ready to make their mark, following in the footsteps of riders like Emil Johansson, Max Fredriksson and Martin Soderstrom.
Alma burst onto the scene in 2020 and was spotted immediately for her potential by Red Bull and was named one to watch. Quickly making a name for herself since then, she’s proven that she can handle the biggest jumps and races against the clock, already having two Swedish National Championships wins to her name, one in Pumptrack and one in Enduro. In 2021, she was an integral part of the amazing women’s event at Audi Nines and just a few weeks back, she finished second at the Zurich Dirt Contest.
RASOULUTION will be supporting Alma when it comes to her brand partnerships, and has recently joined the global Specialized team, which is one of the first agreements put in place by us. This adds to her existing partnerships with Sixpack, Crankbrothers and SICK.
Alma has already featured in a number of movies, including Connection 2, a full-length MTB film starring some of the best Swedish riders and riding locations, as well as Esperanto, a film about exploring how we, as riders, share our dreams through a universal two-wheeled language no matter what our native tongue may be.
It’s safe to say that 19-year-old Alma Wiggberg is well on her way to join the top ranks of the sport in 2022.
“I am more than pleased to have Alma as the first female mountain bike freerider in our roster of world class athletes. Alma has been a strong part of the European progression of women’s freeriding. With her skills and dedication for two wheels she is already motivating others to join her not only on the ground, but often in the air!
We are very happy to be supporting her young career.” – Tarek Rasouli
The moment British brand Skarper reached out to us and told us about their idea and their mission, we were hooked. At Rasoulution, we’ve always done everything for the love of two wheels and to get the opportunity to accompany a brand that could revolutionise the industry is what drives us on our day-to-day.
So what is Skarper’s mission exactly? Their answer: “To create high-performance and flexible eBikes for everyone.”
In their pursuit of this mission, the team behind Skarper have developed a clip-on drive system that can transform practically any bike into an e-powered bicycle, all thanks to an innovative system they call “DiskDrive” which transfers the battery power to your wheel through the disk brake, rather than a complex system that would require cyclists to retrofit the majority of their bike. To read more about the tech, head over to their website.
Our first order of business was assisting the British start-up with their approach to communication and media releases ahead of the product launch. We identified the most important talking points, our PR Team got on the phone with journalists around the world and crafted an exciting press release that covered all bases, which has resulted in numerous publications around the world, from dedicated bike media and websites that told the story from a cycling perspective to IT outlets that did a deep dive into the technology behind the Skarper DiskDrive.
Alongside our media work, we’re in the middle of assisting Skarper with their trade show presence, which includes creating mockups of the Skarper booth, trade show logistics, event planning but also showing the brand how they should portray themselves on the world’s biggest bicycle trade show, the Eurobike, which takes place in Frankfurt, Germany mid-July.
We’re extremely excited about what the future holds for our collaboration, so keep an eye on our Journal to find out.
When the ninth edition of the Wings For Life World Run (WFLWR) is going to take place on May 8th, the whole RASOULUTION team will put on their running shoes to make miles for the good cause. With RASOULUTION founder Tarek Rasouli being a Wings For Life Ambassador, for us, participating is a point of honor.
Normally being held in over 30 locations around the globe, the WFLWR charity run encourages people to run for those who can’t. 100 per cent of the money raised via entry fee will go to the not-for-profit Wings For Life Foundation, that supports research and studies about spinal cord injuries financially, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for these injuries as well as for para- and quadriplegia.
This year, the Wings For Life World Run will take place both as flagship runs in a few selected cities and as app-run for runners anywhere in the world to be able to participate to the event in their own way. Participants will run individually on their own track, but still be joined virtually via app.
As in the past, our RASOULUTION team for the WFLWR unites the RASOULUTION crew, our athletes, partners and friends. But we do not stop there: If you feel like joining the run to support the cause and if you are still looking for a team enter, you are more than welcome to run with us.
“For 20 years, I have been paralyzed and of course, I sometimes think: what if I could walk again one day and how much would I give to walk again? Wings for Life is a foundation that puts all their energy into finding a cure for guys like me. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people find themselves in a wheelchair, due to accidents in everyday life. With the Wings for Life World Run, I am happy to see that many people around the world make the effort and run for those who cannot. I am thankful to everyone that joins the event on May 8th, whether they run, walk, or just donate.” – Tarek Rasouli
The Wings For Life World Run takes place on May 8, starting at 1 pm CET. For further information on the run itself, how to participate or enter a team, please visit www.wingsforlifewolrdrun.com.
Overcoming the adversity and uncertainty of 2021, Emil Johansson managed to make the most out of his season, with new partnerships, great collaborations, cool projects, and even the famous Crankworx triple crown. Building on this very successful season, Emil started 2022 with two major projects and now has his eyes set on the next Crankworx contests.
PARTNERSHIPS – Signature products and new helmet partnership
Known for his perfectionism and focus on detail, Emil has always wanted to translate this into his signature collaborations with his partners, helping them to develop products that best suit his riding style, skills and values.
2021 started with the reveal of a new Etnies partnership and without hesitation, Emil started to work closely with them. In August, the brand launched the new Emil Johansson signature colorway of the Camber Crank. We assisted him every step of the way.
To round up 2021, Emil launched, with Sixpack, a new EJ collection with a signature saddle.
In the first months of 2022, RASOULUTION and Emil worked on launching a new collaboration with Giro as well as a new EJ signature stem from Sixpack.
CONTESTS & EVENTS – Simply unbeatable
Emil started the 2021 season more eager than ever. He managed to secure gold in all the contests he participated in and brought home his 4th, 5th and 6th back-to-back wins at Crankworx, becoming the second ever Triple Crown Champion in Slopestyle. Add to that a win at Red Bull Copenride to make it an undefeated season.
It’s difficult to define perfection but 2021 has been a great season for Emil and we are proud to have made it possible for him to achieve his objectives.
CONTENT & PROJECTS – Empty Spaces, Emil’s happy place
Every rider has their own space to train, refine and innovate, and Emil wanted to show his happy place to the world. In 2021, we wanted to help him make that wish come true and managed to transform this idea into reality, with the help of his partners Sram and RockShox, in the form of Empty Spaces.
2021 brought back a mountain bike World Cup season in the way we love and enjoy it – six World Cup races per discipline, suspense until final races and, last but not least, spectators back on-site. Of course, all who could not make it to the venues all across Europe and the US, were able to watch the full action of every World Cup race live on Red Bull TV. RASOULUTION were tasked with communications and media activation for this livestream and the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in general.
As a long-term partner of the Red Bull Media House, RASOULUTION had been providing PR and media activation for the events and their broadcast for several years now. For the last two years however, the focus of our communication has changed. With the mountain bike community already heavily activated, the spotlight shifted away from special interest media, towards a more general audience.
For this new audience, that might previously of had no connection to mountain biking at all, a new communications strategy had to be developed and employed. With a niche sport like mountain biking – at least compared with more mainstream sports like football, tennis, or formula 1 – that rarely crosses the threshold of general interest media, new perspectives and story angles had to pass the gatekeeper.
To accomplish the new goal, RASOULUTION had to delve deep into details of the World Cup circus to single out personalities of certain athletes that would provide an interesting story within a specific media outlet or research and develop story approaches suitable for the different countries’ audiences.
Next to stories and content it has been a crucial part of our work to identify the key contact persons for each respective story, to find the one journalist from each media office that has an open ear for mountain bike stories.
Despite strong competition for media awareness in 2021 (like the UEFA European Championships, the Olympic Games, etc.), we were able to facilitate 18 print and online publications in seven countries globally, ranging from classical news media like CNN, Le Figaro or F.A.Z. to big sports outlets like AS or national lifestyle magazines like SHAPE. We helped journalists to create explanatory pieces on downhill mountain biking, presented mountain bike racers as role models, organized interviews with World Cup leaders and local heroes and provided race reports at the right time to achieve the biggest impact.
With our work on behalf of the Red Bull Media House we not only push the numbers of live broadcast viewers, but also, and maybe even more important, push mountain biking. Step by step help this fantastic sport to reach the recognition it deserves. The 2022 season is about to start and we cannot wait to keep working in this direction.
RASOULUTION’s very own Mexican freerider Juan Diego Salido aka Johny Salido is a mountain bike rider who is already very well known in the scene. The 22-year-old is an extremely talented rider who takes part in international competitions like Red Bull Hardline and Proving Grounds. His ultimate ambition is to participate in Red Bull Rampage. Contests are only a small part of what Johny does and where his passions lay. When he joined RASOULUTION’s roster of athletes, his positive mindset struck us. He always rides with good vibes and has put this feeling into his own event, Freeride Fiesta, with the aim of growing the MTB scene in Mexico. Freeride Fiesta is all about sharing the passion for riding bikes, great vibes and sending big jumps.
PARTNERSHIPS – Stepping up to the top of the scene
2021 was a breakthrough year for Johny as he received his first Red Bull helmet, after teaming up with the Austrian energy drink company. His portfolio of sponsors keeps expanding as Johny partnered with Endura as a clothing supplier, as well as 100% who are equipping him with helmets and goggles.
@dtphotography
CONTESTS – Red Bull Rampage, the ultimate goal
Johny’s ultimate career goal is to take part in Red Bull Rampage. Johny came so close to achieving his big Red Bull Rampage dream in 2019 when a crash in the last training session shortly before the start of the contest ended his first Rampage adventure abruptly. The motivation, however, remained unbroken: Johny cannot wait to get back on the biggest stage of the freeride sport and prove to the world that we should better have him on the slip. His video edit ‘Dreaming of Rampage – Keep on Keeping on’ goes in-depth on his drive to ride the biggest Freeride event in the world on the cliffs of Utah.
EVENTS – Freeride Fiesta, Johny’s contribution to the growth of MTB in Mexico
Mountain biking has been growing in Mexico over the past years, and Johny Salido is one of its drivers of growth. He created his own event ‘Freeride Fiesta’ in 2021, in an effort to show the world that Mexico has everything it takes to become ‘the place to be’ when it comes to mountain biking. The event took place in 2021 and 2022 and is a ‘must attend’ event in the regional calendar.
“The next Freeride Fiesta event will be taking place here in Mexico in 2023. The event took place twice already and both times, it was a huge success. Having my own Freeride event is really important to me because since I started my professional career, I’ve always wanted for more Mexican riders to have the same opportunities I had, to become professionals in the sport and this event is a big step towards that direction.“ – Johny Salido
Riding Culture is a young brand that strives to combine comfort and style when it comes to urban clothing for all motorbikes and bicycles related activities. Having acquired a lot of experience in the motorcycle clothing market thanks to its mother brand THE ROKKER COMPANY, Riding Culture approached us early 2021 in order to use our knowledge of the cycling market to create a dedicated penetration strategy. Such projects are always very challenging and very rewarding as they include a lot of initial strategic work, followed by a complex execution involving our core knowledge. Seeing a lot of potential in the market for Riding Culture’s products – especially for their unique abrasion resistant jeans – we seized this challenge and opportunity right away.
BRAND MARKETING – Creating the perfect strategy for Riding Culture
At RASOULUTION, we believe that the ‘magic solution’ does not exist when it comes to marketing strategy and activations. Each brand/athlete/event has very specific values, ways of working and constraints that need to be carefully studied before even considering specific marketing activations. For that reason, we started our work with Riding Culture with an initial audit on the brand, trying to capture an overall picture of their values, objectives and ambitions. Putting those on paper and discussing thoughts and ideas on the next steps to follow made it possible for us to identify key channels for brand activations, involving athletes sponsoring, press relations, social media communication and content creation.
ATHLETES – Increasing brand awareness through collaborations with top athletes
Stepping into a new segment can be difficult because it requires quite an important initial investment for awareness, with an ROI that can sometimes be difficult to measure. Another challenge related to that first effort is the need to build brand credibility while staying authentic. To reach that objective, we recommended Riding Culture establish long term partnerships with athletes at the top of the scene.
With our help, Riding Culture signed an agreement with Tokyo 2020 BMX Freestyle Park bronze medalist Nikita Ducarroz, adding a reference of BMX to the list of partners. On top of bringing a whole new reach to the brand, Nikita’s input will be vital for the brand on all women specific product developments, making it a multi-faceted partnership. Another major collaboration we brought to life is the one with Gabriel Wibmer. The 19-year-old Austrian DH rider and content creator now boasts a community of over 1.6 million followers across his social media channels and will make sure that all of them know what Riding Culture is all about.
PRESS RELATIONS – Putting the word out among all stakeholders, from industry leaders to end consumers
Another part of our work for Riding Culture includes press relations. With an in-house PR team within the agency with a strong focus on the MTB industry, it is natural for us to put the word out to our contacts about Riding Culture’s innovative line of products.
Based on our initial strategy meetings, we identified key media that would fit Riding Culture’s customer targets and offered them to try out their innovative pants to review them in an editorial piece later on. Combined with a very specific offering for journalists and an initial global press release, RASOULUTION seeded product for reviews with key outlets. Since this initial action, review articles have been flourishing in cycling media, each of them bringing a considerable amount of extra reputation – and sales – to Riding Culture.
Additionally, we launched the aforementioned athlete partnerships by sending out press releases to relevant global press contacts in order to maximize the awareness of Riding Culture’s collaborations with Nikita Ducarroz and Gabriel Wibmer. This gave the partnerships an initial thrust and the potential for the brand to reach new heights.
SOCIAL MEDIA & CONTENT – Communicating to a very specific target audience with perfect content
Last but not least, our work with Riding Culture includes the creation and maintenance of a bicycle product line dedicated Instagram account. Indeed, the brand having lots of very different target audiences with different interests, we immediately recommended the creation of a separate channel in order to interact with the bicycle riders in the best way there is (@ridingculturebicycle). Our objective being to maximize sales via click through traffic, we focused on maintaining a very high engagement rate through very authentic and relatable communications. The first months were a big success with an engagement rate that was no less than 25%. It logically decreased as the community grew but stabilized around 10%, more than most of brands competitors, proving their credibility and authenticity on the cycling market.
Good social media communication is only possible when it comes hand in hand with excellent content creation. From the creation of concepts to their execution, we have been actively working on creating unique pieces to help the brand differentiate from its competitors and best portray itself online. Want to see the result? Here is a sample of our first production ‘To The East’ shot in Warsaw in October 2021.There is much more to come.
Ahead of the IAA Mobility 2021, the world’s largest mobility show, German automobile manufacturer Porsche reached out to us with a special request; in support of the imminent launch of the Porsche CROSS E-MTB, they needed support with content creation and athlete sourcing.
Our mission was two-fold; on one side, we had to find the right athlete to represent the product as well as be on stage during the IAA in order to be part of a panel on the future of mobility, while on the other side, we also had to find the perfect location for the Porsche CROSS E-MTB video shoot. The briefing was clear, we needed a location that had stretches of flowy downhill and challenging uphill sections. In order to find this, we looked towards one of our other clients; the bike region of Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis which, besides the famous bike park, also has a large offering of single trail riding.
Once in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, we headed up the mountain to the infamous Frommestrail – which heads from the Schönjoch summit high above the idyllic trio of mountain towns all the way down to the town of Fiss. Perfect for what we needed, the trail features a mix of rooty terrain, rock gardens, flowy descents and some technical uphill, the perfect playground for the Porsche CROSS. In order to showcase the versatility of the CROSS, we pitted it against a ‘regular’ mountain bike as well, one without a motor and we did the full descent multiple times, first using the regular mountain bike and then once again with the CROSS E-MTB. Starting early in the morning and going until well past sundown, the added bonus was that viewers got to see the Frommestrail in all of its glory.
To compare and contrast the two bicycles, a split-screen approach was used, alongside a series of animations – a digital top-down view, timers and more.
The end result of the production day was premiered to guests in attendance at the Porsche booth and was shown multiple times over three different days as part of a mobility panel in which Tarek Rasouli, founder of RASOULUTION, and Kathrin Baumann, star of the Porsche video, spoke about the future of mobility, the development of E-MTB’s and its effect on the industry and cycling culture as a whole.
Being one of Europe’s leading mountain bike destinations, Swiss Alpine resort Lenzerheide has everything mountain bikers could ever imagine. Bike Kingdom encompasses two bike parks, offers nearly 900 kilometers of single trails and knows how to impress with outstanding events like UCI Mountain Bike World Cups as well as the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. At RASOULUTION we are proud to be part of this project as partner for PR and communication.
With the Lenzerheide bike park celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, we are glad to take a detailed look back at our successful cooperation with Bike Kingdom. Our shared path began six years ago with the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2016 for which RASOULUTION was led communication and media relations. Our work consisted of pre and post event media relations covering announcements, story placements and race reports. Onsite during the event, our duties included maintaining the mixed zone and press office, journalist relations and production of content for social media.
Since the reintroduction of Lenzerheide as Bike Kingdom in 2020, RASOULUTION has also been tasked with classic PR and media activation for the destination itself next to the still ongoing world cup PR. With the Bike Kingdom launch video “The Legend of Tommy G” starring Belgian rider Thomas Genon, the synergies from the different RASOULUTION units, PR and ATHLETES, led to a huge success of this Anthill Films production and created awareness all around the globe for the newly proclaimed Bike Kingdom. During this first year of the Bike Kingdom, our focus was to raise awareness in quantitative means, while of course pointing out the features and characteristics that give the Swiss destination its unique identity, like the Bike Kingdom App, as well as their efforts to separate mountain biker riders and hikers and, last but not least, its vast amount of trails for mountain biking.
In 2021, the second year of our extended cooperation, Tommy G handed the torch over to another champion of the sport: Local hero and Cross-Country legend Nino Schurter became the new ambassador of the Bike Kingdom and our strategy shifted from raising awareness towards a more qualitative approach within their key market, Germany. We were focused on the organization of press trips, placement of stories, media collaborations and interviews in order to give journalists and their audiences an even clearer picture of what makes Bike Kingdom the mountain bike destination. Last season, we also reached out to the non-endemic outlets to communicate with audiences who might not know yet how great mountain biking actually is – especially in Lenzerheide of course, and can not wait to pursue those efforts in 2022!
Scottish mountain bike and trials superstar Danny MacAskill enjoyed a busy and quite frankly jealousy-inducing year. With travel options limited for the majority of the year, Danny spent his time at home doing what Danny does, riding his bike. The thing with Danny riding his bike is that it’s virtually impossible for him to contain his creativity. The result is a seemingly effortless onslaught of content that wows his millions of fans and presents his partners in an organic, natural way. Well, that is if you don’t consider his skills to be out of this world.
CONTENT – Back to where it all started
Danny’s first highlight of the year was quite literally a return to where it all began – Scotland’s Isle of Sky. ‘The Slabs’ saw Danny return home to tackle a project that had been on his mind since the filming of his legendary video ‘The Ridge’. In his own words: “The last few years I’ve really been inspired by rock climbers – finding and developing new routes on cliffs unchanged for millennia.”
‘The Slabs’ saw Danny tackle one of the UK’s most scenic climbing routes, the Dubh Slabs, but in reverse. Bringing his unique blend of trials and mountain biking to the 500 vertical meters of uninterrupted slab rock, Danny once again left viewers with their jaws dropped to the floor as he descended a mountain face most of us wouldn’t climb without a rope – on his bike. This video really left us wondering what the most spectacular part was. The view, the riding, or the cinematography?
X-Games and new audiences
Following up ‘The Slabs’ was Danny’s entry for the first-ever edition of the X-Games Real MTB competition. Broadcasted nationwide on America’s ABC Network as well as on YouTube, Danny’s entry not only placed second in the fan vote but introduced his riding as well as his partners to a whole new audience that doesn’t traditionally follow mountain biking.
Extending his reach further were interviews and appearances in TV shows like BBC Breakfast as well as on TV channels spanning the globe from Austria’s Servus TV to America’s CBS and Germany’s NTV as well as countless magazine features ranging from the mountain bike press to major national and international daily papers like The Sun (UK) or Bild Zeitung (Germany).
EVENTS – More edits for his partners and the Drop and Roll Tour
Following up on the success of his first two major short films (which also were backed-up by separate behind-the-scenes edits), Danny set out to specifically film for his partners Endura, Magura and Red Bull, resulting in ‘This and That presented by Endura’ with BMX-Legend Kris Kyle, an episode for Magura’s ‘Who stops you’-series and ‘The Ultimate Red Bull Rampage Experience’.
As travel restrictions eased, Danny also took to the road with his ‘Drop and Roll Tour’ to bring his riding directly to his fans whether that was the Eurobike show in Germany or the season-closing festivities in Austria’s Sölden.
COP26 – Riding 70m high in the air to fight climate change
Closing out a year of highlight-edits and spectacular content, Danny took to the skies for climate change ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. Challenged by YouTube Originals to highlight the potential of wind energy as key piece of the puzzle to fight climate change ahead of COP26, Danny took his skills and custom Santa Cruz trials bike to a wind turbine factory and performed a trick for each percent of the energy mix that wind energy currently has. Combining his entertaining, spectacular riding with educational facts for a worthy cause, the video ends with what has to be one of the most breathtaking visuals ever recorded in cycling – riding on the blade of a wind turbine 70 meters in the air as the sun sets over Scotland.
Supporting Danny every step of the way
RASOULUTION has supported Danny for 12 years to make sure that he can focus on what he loves most – riding his bike, coming up with crazy ideas and producing breathtaking content for his millions of fans around the world. Next to support with the planning and scheduling of his various shoots as well the logistics of the projects themselves, RASOULUTION’s work includes partner acquisition and communications, securing the financing of his projects, taking care of travel arrangements and bookings as well as supporting Danny and his projects through media placements, interviews and handling his PR and media communications.
Wondering what’s next for Danny? We’d love to tell you, but you’ll have to wait to find out. One thing is for sure – it’s going to be spectacular. What we can tell you is; that one lucky fan gets to be part of it.
Danny is supported by Red Bull, Santa Cruz, Eberspächer, Adidas, Five Ten, GoPro, Endura, Lezyne, Continental, Evoc and Lizard Skins.
Gabriel might be the young-gun in RASOULUTION’s roster of athletes but he packs quite a punch. A dual-threat with his technical trials riding and adrenaline-fueled downhill racing, Gabriel continues to perform in between the tape as well as in front of the camera.
CONTENT – Racing and spectacular videos
Gabriel excelled in what was a uniquely challenging 2021 season. Attending school whilst managing a packed schedule of downhill racing and filming would already be difficult enough without the special challenges a global pandemic brings with it, but Gabriel breezed through all obstacles as effortlessly as his riding appears in his edits.
Attending the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup in Leogang and Les Gets as well as competing at Crankworx Innsbruck and at the Downhill European Championships, Gabriel delivered solid results despite a challenging pre-season of lockdowns, shifting schedules and studying from home. Far from letting outside forces hold him down, Gabriel focused on improving his riding and used the opportunity to plan and execute several projects. With hundreds-of-thousands of followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok awaiting spectacular edits, Gabriel released Late for School 2 in partnership with Canyon and a TV advert for his new partner NEOH that ran nationwide in Austria in the process- just 2 of the standout items on his busy channels.
PARTNERSHIPS – New partners and signature products
Gabriel started the year strong with RASOULUTION’s support, acquiring a number of new partners. The young Austrian’s switch to Canyon bikes was accompanied by a video detailing Gabriel’s new ride and strong campaigns developed by RASOULTION on social media as well as traditional online and print media. Further new partnerships acquired were Fizik, Private Sport Shop and NEOH who were all introduced in a similar high-profile fashion.
Adding to his partnerships, Gabriel and his partner SICK, introduced a signature ‘Late for School’ clothing line. There was also a signature product of Zanier gloves, which he promoted at Crankworx Innsbruck.
RACING – Stepping up into the Elite category and even bigger projects in the pipeline
As the 2021 season drew to a close, Gabriel started his mandatory Austrian military service, an experience that is bringing something new every day. He already has his sights set on his second season in the Elite category and racing the European stops of the 2022 UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup and UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets, France. Alongside this, RASOULUTION is working closely with Gabriel on his strategy on and off the bike for 2022 and beyond.
Gabriel Wibmer is without a doubt one to watch out for in 2022.
It might have been delayed by a year, but Tokyo 2020 was worth the wait for Swiss Freestyle BMX star Nikita Ducarroz who took a stunning bronze medal. She followed that up by taking the European Championship title in Moscow in November and now finishes the year with RASOULUTION at her side.
When Nikita and RASOULUTION started talking about her joining the agencies’ roster of athletes, we immediately felt like there was something truly unique about her.
Born in Nice, France, to a Swiss father and an American mother, Nikita grew up fluent in French and English while spending school months in Northern California and summers in Geneva. Scrolling through videos on YouTube, Nikita discovered BMX: “I’m not sure if I found BMX or BMX found me. Through some YouTube videos, as an anxiety-ridden 14 year old who couldn’t leave the house, I ended up finding my passion, and the thing that kept me going. From the moment I stepped on my BMX, I couldn’t stop. Everything from the challenge, the creativity, the freedom, to the family and community that came with this amazing sport. I haven’t been able to look back since.“
After spending days and nights at the skatepark, Nikita took the big step and started competing. Since then, the 25-year-old rider has finished on the podium overall three times in the UCI World Cup Overall podium three times. 2021 was a huge year for Nikita, taking the European championship win, following 2nd at the World Championships and the 3rd at the Tokyo Olympics.
Nikita Ducarroz rides at Sk8 Cary park in Cary, North Carolina. Credit: Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
Mental health struggles are unfortunately quite common among youngsters involved in top level sports, and Nikita had to deal with her fair share of it during her teen years. While it still is a topic that lacks public awareness, Nikita uses her personal experience every day in order to help shed a light on that situation and improve the lives of those affected. To do so, she created the Instagram account @m1ndtricks, showing anyone going through a similar situation how she overcome it and that they are not alone.
RASOULUTION will be putting all their efforts into assisting Nikita be at the top of her game while being able to focus on her riding. We will use our knowledge and experience to establish a partnership strategy for her as well as provide advice on her communications strategy and press relations. It is not every day that you get to work with an Olympic medalist and it brings us a lot of exciting challenges and opportunities.
Winners Nikita Ducarroz, Minato Oike and Lara Lessmann celebrate on the podium at the Simple Session in Tallinn, Estonia. Credit: Eisa Bakos/Red Bull Content Pool
Header picture: Robert Snow / Red Bull Content Pool
We’ve been working with ABUS since 2018 and from the start our mission was clear; supporting developing their product range and the move into a new segment – the full-face helmet market. Throughout the years, we’ve assisted the world-renowned German home & mobile security brand with exactly this wish and we’re excited to see what lies in store for the future.
ATHLETES – Matching the right names with the right message
In order to expand and renew their existing helmet range, we were tasked with not just finding the right faces for the brand, but also the right character with the necessary motivation. We found this in two of the world’s most renowned freeriders, known from video segments in classics like Cranked and New World Disorder. We’re talking about Cedric Gracia and Richie Schley.
Additionally, we’ve worked on expanding their athlete roster within the MTB segment and assisted in bringing Max Schumann, Micayla Gatto, Steffi Marth and Gabriel Wibmer to the brand, further helping grow their footprint within different MTB sectors.
CONTENT CREATION – From crafting concepts to producing campaign launch videos
One of our goals for our cooperation with ABUS was renewing their outward appearance when it came to the MTB market and bring it closer to the core audience. Since our first content production in 2018 which took place in Utah, we’ve also completed productions, both video & photo, in France, Austria, Germany and on the island of La Palma, which was one of our biggest ABUS projects to date and the results of which will be published in the coming months.
PR & MARKETING – Putting the word out to the right people
With all the work being done with regards to athletes and content creation, it would be a shame if the public didn’t see all of the results that came from that.
Breaking out into a highly saturated market segment makes what you do more important than ever. We had our work cut out for us when it came to building brand trust and brand awareness, especially as ABUS wasn’t yet well-known in the gravity MTB segment (enduro, downhill, freeride). Using their position within the road riding and racing segment and building upon that, we successfully executed numerous PR campaigns, renewing brand recognition and letting the right people know that ABUS is serious about their expansion.
Hailing from London, Jake100 has been a highly visible rider for many years. It all started for Jake when he was approached by Nike to feature in their now-legendary LDNR ad-campaign. They seized the opportunity to showcase his back-wheel-heavy approach to cycling and continue to work with Jake after the campaign.
At RASOULUTION, when looking at Athlete management we take a unique approach for each athlete; there is no one-size fits all approach. Depending on the sector of the sport, where a rider is from, future plans and where that riders appeal lies, we ensure that each rider has tailored management and communication strategy to exactly match their needs. From his early days in the LDNR campaign Jake has built a strong following on social media, and has featured more in mainstream news, that in the industry specific pages. Building a huge online audience with his edits, Jake eventually became a figure head of a young, urban scene dedicated to creative back-wheel maneuvers dubbed “Bike Life”.With approaching 1.5 million follows on TikTok Jake is now one of the focal points of the industry in the ever-evolving social media window.
Not only do RASOULUTION have a personalized approach to looking after each rider, we also take the same care to ensure each rider fits our agency in all areas, from attitude to outlook as well as their potential in the cycling industry. When Jake joined the roster at RASOULTUION, Managing Director Tarek Rasouli said,“The creativity in his edits as well his positive outlook on life made for a great first impression. When we first talked to him on a zoom call, we instantly had a great feeling about his character. He is absolutely genuine and knows what he wants and is smart beyond his years. We are looking forward to helping Jake develop his career as a bike rider and to elevate his projects and ideas with his partners in years to come.”
Born and raised in East London, UK, Jake grew up riding BMX and playing football.
After a string of knee injuries and surgeries put a halt to his promising career as a footballer, Jake briefly studied physiotherapy before embarking on an apprenticeship as a mechanic at London bike store Paradise Cycles. Working at the shop reignited Jake’s love for cycling and he quickly took to riding the streets of London in every free second he had.
It is important in athlete management to ensure that each person stands out from the crowd whist maintaining authenticity. With Jake this was very easy to identify as he runs the event series and charity under the banner of “Off the Streets”. With events that combine urban street culture with unique cross-disciplinary cycling races like wheelie races and no-front wheel races, the Off the Streets team hope to create opportunities in the cycling industry for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through education and apprenticeships.
Jake has a new edit going out December 2021 which perfectly showcases his riding style on the streets of London. His long-term partnership with Collective Bikes that has forged the signature C100 model septically for the Freestyle Wheelie market will continue to sell and we look forward to bringing new partners to Jakes side over the coming months and years.
