Case Study

GoPro Builds an Army of 40k+ Brand Evangelists with eXperticity

World’s Leading Action Camera Company Reaches Broader, More Diverse Audience and Delivers Higher ROI over Traditional Marketing with eXperticity Online Training and Edu-Games

As the premier provider of the worlds’ most versatile cameras and

a pioneer in action cameras, GoPro wants everyone to “Be a HERO,”

capturing and sharing their most memorable moments and awesome

adventures with its stellar line of wearable and gear-mountable cameras

and accessories. GoPro’s newest HERO3 cameras are loved by action

sports fans and outdoor enthusiasts for capturing every 360, holeshot,

sick twist and killer trail — even by parents who want to experience

baby’s-eye view of the world.

With such a diverse audience, GoPro has enjoyed exponential year-over-

year growth in sales, market position and distribution. Now available in

more than 15,000 retail stores and 80 countries, GoPro products are

found in specialty retailers and outdoor outfitters like REI and Cabela’s,

electronics superstore BestBuy and even Walmart.

Company Profile

GoProSan Mateo, California

GoPro is the world’s leading

activity image capture company.

www.gopro.com

Highlights

Trained more than 41,000 associates in 18 months

Created a new pro shop sales channel

Enabled up-to-date training to reach every retail location on demand

Gained the flexibility to add new modules, features and functionality to meet evolving needs

Empowered thousands of new brand ambassadors to share their knowledge and product experience with customers

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THE CHALLENGE OF

EQUIPPING THE TROOPS

By the fall of 2011, the explosion in demand and

distribution had created a very real challenge for

GoPro: its retail-associate training program was

underequipped to educate its tens of thousands

of salespeople about the benefits, advantages and

creative uses of GoPro cameras.

“We had a team of two individuals executing an

e-learning program, but it just wasn’t enough,” said

Nick Stagge, GoPro’s senior global training manager.

“In the past, we were reliant upon our consumer-

focused marketing, packaging and our website, but

this wasn’t really providing assistance to salespeople

on how to convey the benefits of the camera to

the consumer.”

But, GoPro saw an opportunity beyond simply

wanting a more efficient way to train associates on

how to answer customer questions about technical

features and functionality. Staying true to its get-

out-there-and-explore corporate culture, the

company needed an innovative way to convey

its lifestyle brand and turn associates into brand

advocates—evangelists who use the product

themselves and are eager to share the excitement,

adventure and creativity GoPro cameras

make possible.

“Action sports are very aspirational, and our cameras

give enthusiasts an incredible way to share their

experience with others like never before,” Stagge

said. But, aside from just giving play-it-safe

“”

In the past, we were reliant upon our consumer-focused marketing, packaging and our website, but this wasn’t really providing assistance to salespeople on how to convey the benefits of the camera to the consumer.

“”

Retail employees share their impressions with hundreds of customers every year,” Stagge said. “If we can arm one employee with pertinent product knowledge, they’ll pass it along to their customer base. Over time, the value of reaching a sales associate is invaluable.

Realizing GoPro was in serious need of a mechanism

to reach thousands of salespeople more efficiently,

the training team turned to eXperticity’s online

training platform to provide engaging instruction

that’s accessible to every associate at every store,

24/7. With eXperticity, retail employees can log in to

the GoPro training platform any time to take

advantage of GoPro’s custom-designed, video-

based educational content to learn more about the

products, take quizzes, play Edu-Games and track

their progress.

GoPro offers three basic training modules through

eXperticity. As employees complete each one, they

must achieve a minimum score on that module’s

Edu-Game to proceed to the next level. Employees

who successfully complete each module earn pro-

shop rewards that allow them to purchase GoPro

products at a steep discount—an incentive designed

to create firsthand experts among those most

responsible for influencing in-store customer

buying decisions.

The Right Partner for the

Job: eXperticity

types a way to live vicariously through thrill-seekers,

GoPro products are also perfect for capturing

everyday moments. “We wanted to equip our sales

associates to also explain how our cameras are great

for riding bikes with their kids and other everyday

adventures. It’s imperative that retail employees

have our camera, use it and share their excitement

about it.”

Reaching such a diverse group of associates in

a wide range of markets was just one part of the

challenge. Because retail turnover is notoriously

high, keeping up with training new employees is also

a major hurdle. With its conventional system of face-

to-face training, backed by a bit of e-learning, “By

the time we’d get to the store, do the training and

then come back around again, it might be a whole

new sales team,” Stagge said.

eXperticity helps the world’s largest community

of influential category experts and retail sales

professionals gain critical product expertise that

translates into stronger sales, better shopping

experiences and satisfied customers. Through our

services you can identify and educate influential

experts, foster first-hand product experience, and

collect important retail insights on your brand and

products. Learn more at www.experticity.com.

About eXperticity

Building an Army of

Brand Ambassadors

eXperticity: a Trusted Partner

“Retail employees share their impressions with

hundreds of customers every year,” Stagge said.

“If we can arm one employee with pertinent

product knowledge, they’ll pass it along to their

customer base. Over time, the value of reaching

a sales associate is invaluable.”

To support its international expansion, GoPro even

offers the modules in multiple languages, including

French Canadian, French, German and Italian, with

Spanish versions under development. Next year, the

company plans to expand the program into Asia.

In addition to providing a user-friendly system for

brand training, Stagge says the value proposition of

the eXperticity platform is very easy to communicate

to retailers. They easily see the benefits of having

better trained associates and making the training

available for them to complete on their own time.

GoPro has also used eXperticity to conduct surveys

gathering detailed information from retail employees

about what information they need to see in the

training programs to make the content even more

valuable to them.

Along the way, Stagge says the eXperticity team

has become a valued partner, responding eagerly to

feedback and continuously improving the platform

to meet the needs of both GoPro and other brands—

even working to devise solutions to support specific

customer accounts as needed.

“That’s one of the things I love most about

eXperticity: they’re always working to push

boundaries, challenge themselves and find new

solutions,” he said. “The platform today will be

trumped by the platform six months from now.”

“Our team and our associates love it,” Stagge

added. “I would highly encourage any brand to

take advantage of this system to train their retail

associates and turn them into brand ambassadors.”

In just the first 18 months, nearly 41,000 retail

associates logged into the eXperticity GoPro on-

demand training platform, completing 125,000

training modules to increase their product and brand

expertise. The platform has enabled GoPro to extend

its training reach into more than 4,900 active retail

locations—far more than would have been possible

with its small training staff. And just as exciting as the

dramatically expanded reach is the fact that more

than 30,000 sales associates have purchased from

the GoPro pro shop, and for many, it’s become the

primary source for buying GoPro products.

“Not only have we been able to track the number

of employees logging in and the frequency of their

training, but we’ve also created a very nice channel

of new business for our company through the sales

volume coming from all these pro deals,” Stagge said.

“In that way alone, the eXperticity system pays

for itself.”

In terms of value, Stagge says eXperticity provides

outstanding ROI compared to traditional marketing

efforts. And with a goal of training 100,000

associates through eXperticity, expanding GoPro’s

reach will only help to grow its pro channel sales.