MAXTRAX · Off-road recovery gear · King of the Hammers, Johnson Valley · 2024
A US launch from one week in the desert.
MAXTRAX makes the recovery boards half the off-road world already runs. It needed the other half, the American half, to meet the new MAXTRAX LITE. One week at King of the Hammers, the biggest off-road race and gathering in the country, was the window.
The brief we wrote for ourselves: don't just be there. Leave with a launch, a library and a reason for the press to care.
Client · MAXTRAX
Mandate · 360° strategy, US launch of MAXTRAX LITE, content production, PR
Year · 2024, one week on site
Crew · Phil Henderson (strategy, direction, on-site comms, DOP) · on-site video crew [S3 MEDIA]
Deliverables · Teaser, reels, photo library, e-commerce workback, press outreach
01 · We thought it.
A 360° plan built backwards from race week: what the US market needed to hear about LITE, which athletes and rigs would carry it, and what the e-commerce side had to have ready the morning the first reel went live. A teaser to warm up the audience before Hammers, a content plan for every day on the lakebed, and a press angle that gave editors a story instead of a product shot.
02 · We made it.
One week in Johnson Valley with a small crew: launch content for MAXTRAX LITE, athlete and race-day footage, tech and overlanding features, and a photo library the brand is still pulling from. Reels cut on site and shipped while the race was still running.
03 · We launched it.
The UTV Action / Dirt Wheels reel passed 419,000 views. Road & Track ran it to 112,000. Ars Technica wrote it up. And because the e-commerce workback was done, the product was there to buy when the attention arrived, which is the whole point.
Results
419K views on one reel · 112K on Road & Track
1 product launched in the US
Credits
Strategy, direction, on-site comms · Phil Henderson, PHLIK
Photo and video · on-site crew [PHLIK + S3 MEDIA]
Client team · MAXTRAX
Thanks · The athletes and crews who let us ride along
