BikeBiz talks to PaceUp Media about their Rebrand

This piece first appeared in the February edition of BikeBiz magazine – not subscribed? Get a free subscription. 

BikeBiz catches up with PaceUp Media to talk about their rebrand and plans for 2025.

How do you reflect on six years of PaceUp Media?

It’s been a journey, one that’s flown by! I set out with a vision for the agency but never predicted the extent to which other like-minded people would align with that vision and want to meaningfully contribute. We have the privilege to work in an industry which crosses over with our passions as individuals too, which sees us inspired daily by the projects we’re across. We’ve worked, and continue to work, with some amazing client partners across the outdoor industry, and have created a brand that industry leaders around the world trust.

From a personal perspective, I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved to date and the moments we’ve shared together. Seeing members of our team grow and develop is hugely motivating. Six years in, we’re no longer the plucky start-up agency entering the room. My biggest takeaway from the past six years is how exciting the next six and beyond will be.

What have been the biggest learning curves and highlights through this period?

Every single year has brought forward new opportunities to grow and learn as a team. I started the agency with the primary goal of empowering elite sports teams and leading brands to bring partnerships to life with greater impact than had previously been the norm. This stemmed from spending several years working both in and with cycling teams at the highest level and seeing the pitfalls in how things were done.

Over time, we’ve refined our approach and are bringing new concepts and ideas to life, and I feel that we, as well as others, have contributed to driving the quality of brand partnerships in the cycling and broader outdoor space. Naturally, as we grew and explored our own capabilities, we found ourselves working across a much wider range of missions and remits with a diverse base of client partners. The consequence of this was what you see in front of you now: a full-suite communications agency using sport as inspiration for action by elevating the way that brands, teams, events and athletes communicate.

That growth has presented the biggest single learning: finding a balance between letting the agency grow organically to meet the needs of clients, whilst remaining true to the core founding principles that underpinned PaceUp’s formation.

Another learning has been how to traverse across new sporting communities, taking the right amount of understanding in cycling, and leaving the right amount of space to learn best how to work with leaders across running, triathlon, multisports and even disciplines like hiking too. All with the same goal of elevating communication and inspiring communities.

There’s been learnings from influences out of our control too, including the pandemic and reacting to the fast moving situation, one with no precedent but a period of time that helped reinforce trust from our client partners.

Lastly, I’d add that we’ve learned the importance in presenting ourselves how we see ourselves and want to be seen by others. We’ve wanted to refresh things for some time, but client partner activity has always taken priority. Now we’ve started the process, it’s been insightful, inspiring and even cathartic to dive back into the roots of why we exist as an agency and the pathway that we’re on.

How have client expectations changed in that time?

Expectations have developed rather than changed. For example, we’ve invested a lot of time and effort into growing our international network of partners, collaborators, press and wider industry contacts to be able to provide more for our client partners. From international perspectives and insights, to reach through the press and content creators, creativity and more. With this growth, our partners have naturally understood the wider value we offer and we’ve adapted our focus in line with that growth.

A great example of this is with one of our long-standing partners, MAAP. We started working with the brand three years ago on European PR activity with a focus on the UK in particular, aiming to grow their share of voice in cycling. Fast-forward to today and we’ve taken on the brand’s activity in North America and other international markets, with a much broader focus than just within cycling media. As MAAP has grown, so too has PaceUp alongside them.

Over the past six years, our client partners have also grown to understand the value that we can add beyond just the services we’re enlisted to provide. As both experts in our space and avid athletes across multiple sports (both taking part in and consuming media from multiple activities) we can share this insight and benefit other departments at our partners. This is especially true with our international client partners – over 60% of our client partners are based outside of the UK now.

Why is now the time for a refresh and what do you hope it achieves?

The time for a refresh was probably already a short while ago, but now is still a great moment to do so given our growth and development as a team. We’re grateful to be in a position to have received insightful feedback from partners, as well as the wider industry, around being too modest when presenting our capabilities as an agency.
The new visual identity seeks to inject (and project) greater confidence, in order to show who we really are. By realigning the way we project ourselves externally with who we know ourselves to be, we increase authenticity. And ultimately, it’s only through our own authenticity that we’re able to help our client partners tell stories that represent the truest versions of themselves. We set out with a goal of presenting a more established and serious brand, whilst reinforcing the fun and approachable personality to the agency.

Our ‘product’ is our time as people, and bringing these people to the fore more will continue to spotlight this. We want contacts old and new to have a much better understanding of who we are and how we can benefit their brand, team or event before we’ve even picked up the phone. In practical terms, this means being more open, better communicating our services, skills and network, and being much more present on an international level across multiple sports.

What are your plans moving into 2025?

We’re really proud of the retention we have as an agency with our clients, with many of these partners having been with us from year one. Continuing to develop and grow these relationships with our current client partners is key, first and foremost. We’re fortunate to work with partners who are constantly on the front foot, and will be kicking off some big projects right from the start of the year.

Alongside this, we’re in the middle of establishing a number of new collaborations and partnerships on an international level to reinforce our network and capabilities in key markets. 

Taking the time to be more introspective and reflective has highlighted a number of structural and process driven changes to work on to ensure we can grow as a team and as individuals. Personal development is something we’ve always tried to make time for but will be even more important next year and beyond. 

And finally, the rebrand process is far from over. It’s much more than just a new logo and breath of fresh air. It’s a moment to pivot slightly and kick on, and so there’s still plenty of work to be done in this respect.

All of this has given us a huge collective motivation to take another big step forward, whilst ensuring that we also make time for physically partaking in the sports we work across as well. We all work in sport because we’re passionate about it away from the office too and this will always remain core to who we are and what we do. So, roll on 2025 – you’ll be seeing a lot more of us!

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PaceUp Media is a communications agency rooted in endurance on a mission to elevate the way that sports brands communicate. Founded by Tom Copeland in 2018, the London and Brighton-based agency works with brands, teams, events and athletes from around the globe, including the likes of Le Tour de France and Le Tour de France Femmes, London Marathon Events, MAAP, ROUVY, Basso and more. In 2024, PaceUp launched a new visual identity as part of a brand-wide repositioning.