Tour 21 Documentary For NBC Sports
The Tour 21 raised more than £1 million for Cure Leukaemia
Freeride has partnered with leading UK charity Cure Leukaemia on a five-part documentary mini-series for NBC Sports. The documentary formed part of a wider content and communications project to activate the charity’s £1 million Tour 21 cycling challenge.
Brief
After a year of key event cancellations in 2020, national blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia were left with a significant fundraising shortfall and a clear objective to reclaim that in 2021.
Freeride were approached by the charity to support with the activation of their flagship fundraising event - the Tour 21 - which sees 25 amateur cyclists take on the full 21 stages of the Tour de France route one week ahead of the pros in June 2021 on a mission to raise £1 million to fund life-saving clinical trials. The event was spearheaded by Cure Leukaemia Patron and ex-England footballer, Geoff Thomas. Cure Leukaemia is the official charity partner of the Tour de France in the UK.
What We Did
The Freeride production crew followed the Tour 21 team across France for the duration of the 3-week challenge
Working closely with key stakeholders at the charity, Freeride devised and delivered a robust content and activation plan for the Tour 21. As well as defining key messages for the event, this included strategic recommendations and set out a clear calendar of content and activation events through 2021, including event launch, media activations, and on-event content. This also included the delivery of the charity’s first ever Strava challenge to run at the same time as the Tour 21 event in June-July 2021.
Key deliverables included:
‘100 days to go’ launch film featuring cycling journalist and TV presenter, Rebecca Charlton;
Management and delivery of a series of ‘Tour 21 Zwift group rides’ on indoor training platform Zwift, including supporting promotional content;
Ideation and delivery of the Tour 21 Strava Challenge which saw 127,000 athletes take part, over 12 million impressions generated for Cure Leukaemia and the Tour 21 on the platform, and thousands of £s raised for the charity;
Event content, including event countdowns and course previews and video diary updates hosted by Rebecca Charlton;
Production of a five-part mini-series documenting the Tour 21 for NBC Sports. Titled ‘Riding for Survival’ the series was shot and edited by our production team on the ground in France and delivered to NBC Sports to coincide with their broadcasting of the Tour de France;
Delivery of broadcast packages for Eurosport to feature in ‘The Cycling Show’ aired during the Tour de France.
Results
The Tour 21 smashed its £1 million fundraising target before the end of the event, hundreds of thousands of cyclists engaged with the event through the Strava challenge raising significant additional funds for Cure Leukaemia and the documentary mini-series on NBC Sports has resulted in a considerable increase in leads from riders interested in taking part in, and agreeing to fundraise for, Tour 21 events in 2022 and 2023.
Riding For Survival, Episode 4
100 Days To Go Launch Video
Final Tour 21 Video Diary
Get in touch
Looking for support with communications or content production for your event? Drop an email to oliver@wearefreeride.com or call us on +44 (0) 203 488 4493.