Wavemaker in the saddle for global Zwift media brief

Wavemaker has been hired as media consultant for at-home fitness company Zwift.

The agency beat Dentsu’s Carat and Omnicom’s PHD to the business. Publicis Media’s Zenith withdrew early into a pitch process led by The Aperto Partnership.

Campaign understands the brief includes helping Zwift with a consumer launch strategy ahead of more traditional media planning and buying services.

Industry sources estimate Zwift spends north of $100 million on media globally.

Wavemaker’s scope involves internal paid media team across a range of projects, such as addressable TV, biddable media, audience science and strategic planning, working alongside long term agency of record Shift Active Media.

Zwift will continue to work with Shift—a specialist cycling-focused marketing agency—on marketing to the cycling community.

Zwift provides hardware and software that allows users to train and compete in socially interactive multiplayer virtual environments at home. 

The US company, which is seen as a rival to Peloton and has been valued at more than $1 billion, handles performance marketing in-house and is looking to appoint a global media agency network as it focuses on brand-building.

It has users in more than 190 countries worldwide with four million registered accounts.

“We are looking to complement our existing media expertise with a partner that not only understands our growth ambitions but also how to realise them in truly disruptive ways,” Zwift chief marketing officer Steve Beckett said. 

“As we continue to scale our global media footprint beyond endemic media we are looking for a partner who can help us unlock those goals, and the Wavemaker team proved to be the kind of progressive thinkers we were hoping for.”

Zwift’s global media operations are based in the UK – where Wavemaker will lead the account in a brief that covers core markets across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. 

Wavemaker’s global client president Alastair Bannerman added: “Our ethos of Positive Provocation really matched well with Zwift’s aggressive growth trajectory and future ambitions. The partnership reflects our expanding credentials as the right strategic partner for a growing new economy sector.” 

Wavemaker has recently added new economy clients including Bumble, Coinbase, DiDi, Flixmobility and TikTok to its roster.