Salomon Sports and Stage Ten Strike Multi-season Deal to Power Social Broadcasting for the Golden Trail Series on Facebook Live

Toronto(29 Jun 2018)

Stage Ten the Toronto, Ontario-based social broadcasting startup and Salomon Sports today jointly announced a multi-season software licensing deal to use the Stage Ten social broadcasting platform to produce and stream the Golden Trail Series, a series of trail running races supported by Salomon on Facebook Live through the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Salomon’s decision to use Stage Ten, rather than employ an outside production company, marks the beginning of a shift from major brands to take their social video operations in-house.

The announcement of this agreement follows the successful broadcast of the inaugural Golden Trail Series Race, the famed Zegama-Aizkori mountain marathon in Spain’s beautiful Basque Country. This was the first time in Salomon’s history that the brand broadcasted an entire race in real-time.

The Zegama broadcasts were produced on the Stage Ten platform and directed on a laptop inside a temporary makeshift studio at the finish line. Amongst other notable features, the livestream included integrated live camera feeds from Basque National TV, video streams from Salomon brand ambassadors positioned throughout the 42 km course, dozens of race graphics with updating stats and results, and remote live commentary from Salomon athlete, Killian Jornet.

Commenting on the announcement, Simon Brizard, Global Social Media Specialist & Digital Community Lead for Salomon revealed, “When evaluating different streaming platforms for the Golden Trail Series, we considered versatility and ease of implementation to be paramount. We needed a lean production solution that was able to deliver the quality and style that our fans expect from the Salomon brand. Stage Ten stood apart as not only the easiest to use, but also the most robust platform available on the market. We are looking forward to continuing to develop our partnership with the Stage Ten team and are eager to show audiences the innovative new content that we have in the pipeline.”

Recent statistics indicate that 80% of customers would prefer watch live video from brands as opposed to other posts on social media. This trend explains why video watch time on Facebook is 3x higher for Live than other forms of video. These results rang true for the Salomon Zegama broadcast, which drove nearly 100K views and thousands of likes, comments, and shares from the audience - performance that was many levels of magnitude higher than previous video posts.

“Salomon has been a pioneer in adventure sports since it was founded in 1947. It is wonderful to see this culture of innovation and creativity influence every aspect of Salomon’s business - from product design to social video strategy,” stated Trevor Mengel, Chief Business Officer at Stage Ten.

Stage Ten Chief Executive Officer and founder, Dave Lazar added, “We are proud to partner with Salomon on the Golden Trail Series and excited to have earned their team’s trust from the first race at Zegama. The choice to use Stage Ten to power the broadcasts for the both the 2018 and 2019 seasons is a testament to the hard work of our respective teams and our mutual desire to transform the traditional notions of branded media production.”

The next Golden Trail Series event will take place on July 1st in Chamonix, France, where the best trail runners in the world will compete in the Marathon du Mont Blanc. Audiences can tune into the race live on Facebook at 12:30am Eastern and 9:30pm (June 30th) Pacific on the Salomon Running Facebook Page.

About Stage Ten:

Launched in late 2017, Stage Ten is a social OTT production, distribution, and engagement platform designed to simplify social broadcasting and live content development. Their proprietary platform distills the functionality of a live production studio and control room into a web application that publishers, broadcasters, and brands can use to transform their Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and OTT properties into social TV networks.

About Salomon:

Born in the French Alps in 1947, Salomon is committed to pushing the boundaries of mountain sports through the creation of innovative equipment that allows people to play, progress and challenge themselves in their chosen outdoor sports. The company produces and sells premium footwear, winter sports and mountaineering equipment, hiking equipment, and apparel specifically designed for all of those disciplines. Products are developed in the company’s Annecy Design Center, where engineers, designers and athletes collaborate to create innovative solutions that continually improve the outdoor experiences of those who see nature as a vast playground.