Social media: Barbour turns the camera on photographer
Author: CIMCOM
A professional photographer for over 15 years, Sean Conway found himself in the frame for Barbour’s social media campaign. But he’s no shy slouch, as extreme adventure is all part of Sean’s DNA. He became the first and the only man to swim the length of Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2013, a watery journey of some 900 miles. His intrepid exploits also saw him cycle the length of Britain in 2008, that’s 1300 miles. In 2015 he completed his self-styled length of Britain triathlon by running 1011 miles from John O'Groats to Land’s End, carrying everything he needed himself, in just 44 days. Not a bad choice of ambassador for an outdoor clothing brand.
Clothing campaign born from the archives
Barbour’s campaign ‘Heritage of Adventure’ promotes the launch of the Autumn/Winter collection with an atmospheric video that brought Sean Conway out from behind the camera as the brand’s champion. The heritage collection takes inspiration from the Barbour archive, with Barbour’s great coat used on Arctic expeditions by explorers of the past, now being re-presented to today’s adventurous types. The film, created by digital communication agency Cult LDN, follows Sean, suitably clad in Barbour attire, on a journey into the wild landscapes of the British countryside. The video takes place over a day in the Lake District as photographer Sean seeks out the perfect shot.
If you enjoy the natural beauty of the great outdoors the video will indulge your senses.
The video also appears on the brand’s campaign page.
#HeritageOfAdventure
The social media campaign encouraged the public to share their photos and video clips of the great outdoors - on Twitter and Instagram - using the hashtag #HeritageOfAdventure. The brand provided a straightforward incentive of a £500 prize fund for one winner to spend on either the men’s Great Coat and or the women’s Arctic Expedition collection.
Entries were curated with the best showcased on a campaign landing page on Barbour.com. Submissions were judged by Sean Conway himself, who selected the winning image and photographer.
There are over 500 images in the Instagram image gallery
The hashtag has been widely used with images posted on Twitter.
Within its first week, the hashtag #HeritageOfAdventure reached over 8 million impressions across both Twitter and Instagram with the film being viewed over 10,000 times.
Social media activity has led to what agency Cult LDN term “a significant rise in Heritage of Adventure Ecom sales, (we just can’t show you those exact figures!)”.
The campaign draws on the brand’s authentic British heritage and adds a little sparkle to the utilitarian benefits of the outdoor clothing range by showing where the brand can take you as a modern-day adventurer.