Montane, the global outdoor brand known for its lightweight specialist clothing and equipment, has appointed Newcastle-based communications agency Karol Marketing as its retained public relations agency to handle all UK communications across consumer, trade and regional media. Montane, which was founded over 20 years ago, engineers lightweight, breathable clothing and equipment for endurance sports and activities.
With nearly 25 years’ experience of working with brands in the outdoor industry, Karol has a proven track-record of raising awareness of technical performance clothing and equipment brands amongst wider consumer audiences. The appointment comes during an exciting period of growth for the award-winning agency, which also has a business PR division working across the aviation, healthcare, oil & gas, property, engineering, and retail and leisure sectors.
Karol’s founder and managing director Stefan Lepkowski commented, “We are thrilled to be working with Montane. At Karol we pride ourselves on delivering outstanding campaigns that add value and as a result we have a strong heritage of attracting the best names in the industry to work with. We’re really looking forward to raising the profile of this high-energy global brand and working alongside another great North East-based business.”
The appointment was announced as North East-based Montane become the first UK technical outdoor brand to receive a license to use Gore-Tex, awaterproof, breathable fabric membrane, in over a decade. With the brand’s new Gore-Tex products scheduled to hit the market for the forthcoming Autumn / Winter 2016 season, its partnership with Gore-Tex and corresponding ‘Engineered for Performance’ campaign is intended to raise wider consumer awareness of its credentials.
Montane’s brand director Jonathan Petty said, “Our new performance range of products featuring Gore-Tex fabrics will spearhead the company’s growth plans over the coming seasons. Montane is already enjoying a consistent 20% year-on-year average growth rate and the addition of Gore-Tex into our collection will help propel further growth around the globe.”
He continued, “We were inspired by Karol Marketing’s passion for our brand and the thorough, engaging approach to our brief. The team at Karol have one of the best reputations in the industry and are extremely well placed to help take the Montane brand to the next level.”
Karol Marketing is one of the most awarded public relations and marketing agencies in the North East of England. It was recently shortlisted for eight Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) PRide awards, including Regional Campaign of the Year, Best Corporate and Business Communications Campaign, and Best Media Relations Campaign. Established in 1992, it will next year celebrate its 25th birthday.