STEF TRANSFORMS THE BIATHLON SEASON INTO STRAVA CHALLENGES FOR ALL

Official partner of the French biathlon team until 2026, STEF is reaching a milestone with this new wave of activation which transposes, for the general public, the rhythm of a World Cup season. The STEF Sports Club, a Strava club open to all, becomes the playground for this parallel season, designed to encourage the French to stay active during the winter, even though 36% of them consider this period not conducive to sport according to a STEF/Kantar study carried out in 2023.

A “BIATHLON SEASON” FOR EVERYONE ON STRAVA

The stated objective is threefold: “share the pleasure of moving”, “experience the season with the same intensity as the athletes” and “support the preservation of the mountains”, while climate change has a direct impact on snow cover and the biathlon calendar. Implicitly, STEF continues to embody its positioning as a “pure player in the food supply chain” committed to a climate trajectory, by linking sports practice, well-being and environmental responsibility.

FOUR MONTHS, FOUR CHALLENGES TO KEEP MOVING

The system is structured around four successive challenges, timed to the winter calendar and the highlights of the Biathlon World Cup. Each month has its theme, with objectives deliberately accessible to create regularity rather than pure performance, in a “general public – supporters of the Blues” spirit.

December – “Warming up”: restart the machine with at least two 30-minute activities (walking, running, cycling or other) to “awaken winter energy”, like biathletes who find their feet after preparation.

January – “Motivation Mission”: carry out three activities during the month, including one on January 19, “Blue Monday”, to combat winter gloom and work on regularity.

February – “In line of sight”: highlight winter sports with at least one winter activity among the Strava formats: hiking/walking, ice skating, alpine skiing, ski touring, Nordic skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing.

March – “General mobilization”: final collective relay with a target of 9,000 hours of cumulative activities, in reference to the 9,000 km covered by the French biathlon team over a full season.

This increase in power makes it possible to support the emotional tempo of the season, from the first races in December to the major meetings in February, before the final sprint in March. For the participants, the challenge is as much sporting as it is symbolic: to include their own outings in the dynamics of the World Cup, alongside the Blues.

A DONATION FOR MOUNTAIN RIDERS AT THE KEY

Beyond the “fan engagement” dimension, the campaign is part of a solidarity approach structured around Mountain Riders, a leading association for education in ecological transition in the mountains. Each activity recorded within the STEF Sports Club contributes to a collective counter (kilometers, hours, sessions) which triggers a global donation in favor of this structure committed in particular to the reduction of waste at altitude and raising awareness among practitioners.

For STEF, this alliance with Mountain Riders extends a now central concern in biathlon: the future of winter, snow cover and mountain areas. The biathletes of the French Team, direct witnesses to changing conditions, are associated with the campaign via dedicated content, in order to relay educational and mobilization messages to the general public.

AN ACTIVATION FULLY ANCHORED IN THE SEASON

From a calendar point of view, the brand is relying on ideal timing with the Annecy – Le Grand-Bornand World Cup round, scheduled from December 15 to 21, 2025, the only French stage of the season. This meeting, which has made Grand-Bornand the “land of choice” for biathlon in France, constitutes a privileged media window to launch the December challenge at a time when the French team is playing at home.

For the future, the recommendation is to pace communication at the start of each month, in line with the four Strava challenges, in order to maintain the narrative thread of the “STEF Sports Club season” until the end of March. The presence of STEF on athletes’ rifles and shooting coaches’ binoculars, combined with the digital content ecosystem (biathlon.stef.com site, Strava, Instagram @stef_group), guarantees continuity of visibility between the field, screens and training application.

A SCHOOL CASE OF “USEFUL” SPONSORSHIP ACTIVATION

With this system, STEF illustrates a form of “useful” activation of sponsorship, where the brand is not satisfied with a presentation but offers a concrete and accessible use of the partnership. By transforming the biathlon season into a common thread of practice for the general public, the company links its historical territory (food logistics, the “care” of its 2022-2026 strategic plan) to issues of health, well-being and climate.

For sports marketing players, the STEF Sports Club ticks several boxes: scalable digital activation via Strava, logic of progressive challenges, fine articulation with the World Cup calendar and tangible contribution to a legitimate environmental cause for biathlon. An interesting field of observation as brands seek, more than ever, to demonstrate the concrete impact of their commitments, well beyond simple visibility on bibs.

Alain Jouve