Stadsbader activates silent ambassadors
through sports challenges

Stadsbader portfolio covers various domains of the construction sector: road works and infrastructure, industrial and commercial construction projects, civil engineering, demolition works and more, both for government and private works.

As a constructor, Stadsbader strives in the first place to maintain a stable position in the sector of the public and industrial projects. With 1200 employees, one of the focus points of Stadsbader’s marketing team has been transforming employees and customers into real brand ambassadors.

Even though Stadsbader has a strong reputation in the construction world, they want to extend their strong reach by increasing the focus on ambassador marketing. This customer story shows different solutions we worked out for Stadsbader that offer an unique ambassador marketing approach through company fashion.

Infrastructure works, building projects or electromechanical equipment, Stadsbader does its utmost to offer a customised solution to the public and private customers with a better future as a central starting point. With headquarters in Harelbeke in West Flanders, Stadsbader’s history began in 1946. Today 75 years later, Stadsbader is directed by a second and third generation. Every day more than 1,200 employees are active on 125 construction sites in Belgium and the neighboring countries.

Even as a major actor in the construction industry, building your ambassadors (internally and externally) should be a priority in your revenue generation plan. That’s why organising a big event for all your stakeholders is a great first step for your plan. Stadsbader recently organised the fourth edition of their biennial Stadsbader Challenge. A quarter triathlon or -duathlon for their stakeholders that caught the sports microbe, to join individually or in a team.

Yet the effect of an event is limited in time and the ROI very short. In our extensive experience we learned that personalized fashion is the key accelerator in our unique ambassador marketing approach. A way of acting in which Stadsbader fully agreed. For them the difficulty laid in finding a partner that could deliver quality fashion wearables with a strong focus on their branding. As we both no longer see this project as merchandise, our Sunday designers were set to work, and triggered to make the fourth Stadsbader Challenge successful.

The purpose of Stadsbader is to guarantee the satisfaction of the customers by means of high-quality, punctual and correct realisation of the projects. Exactly what we want to become with our customers. We combined Stadbader’s goals with ours by creating company fashion with the aim of creating visibility, transforming employees and delivering quality. By rewarding the participants for their positive brand ambassadorship with unique branded apparel, we motivated real ambassadors who in their place activate silent ambassadors.

We designed classic white T-shirts featuring the logo in their striking Stadsbader-red and -grey. Because we’re working with side to side print, we were able to create a unique design using the exact pantone colors. Why not go for a sports jersey? Together we decided that the classic T-shirt gives even more opportunities to be worn by their stakeholders. Everytime they wear the t-shirt, they will remember the happy feeling they felt during the event or everytime someone wears the apparel at the office or at home, the Stadsbader challenge will be top of mind again.

In addition, each participant was also given a big weekend bag when they registered for the event in the same striking red of their brand guide. In the first proposal, Stadsbader wanted tote bags as a participant gift. But that soon changed, when they also opted for the classic white T-shirt. The weekend bag says it all, combines better with the t-shirt and will also be used more on the weekend. The finishing, the details and the quality provided the final decision in favor of the weekend bag.

As we invest in long-term partnerships with dialogue, responsibility and mutual respect as the basis for good cooperation, we only deliver products in the highest quality produced in a sustainable way. Despite the fact that the deadlines were very tight, Stadsbader was fully involved in the process and the timeline of the production process. Everything was communicated in a completely transparent manner. The challengers truly stand out during the event, while wearing the t-shirts the group feeling strengthened even more.

By implementing fashion items we increase the ROI in time and generate a lot of engagement. Since the colors and logo were very important, promoting visibility was an objective at the top of the list. The positive reactions from the participants on the t-shirt and weekend bag were endless. As they will wear your brand everywhere and remember the event for years, new brand ambassadors are created, increasing the brand awareness massively.

Not only the participants created a lot of buzz, a large reorder of the t-shirts and the weekend bags for the employees are proof of that. As an extra bonus, Sunday received from this project with Stadsbader a number of requests from new clients for the creation of personalized weekend bags! Made out of the many social media posts, we can look back on a successful event.

As an additional power supply: Company fashion is the very best way to transform your current happy stakeholders into real ambassadors and mobilize your current employees to attract new people.