As 2025 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on a year shaped by momentum, movement and new partnerships.
Across continents, categories and communities to landmark activations and big strategic leaps, 2025 reminded us why we do what we do: build brands that get more people active and loving sport.
Showing Up Across The Industry
This year, the Brandwave team travelled far and wide – attending 21 industry events and trade shows across the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, including UTMB, Eurobike, Blue Earth Summit, ISPO, Performance Days and Kendal Mountain Festival.
From product innovation showcases to sustainability forums and the year’s biggest outdoor gatherings, we were there to listen, learn and contribute to the conversations shaping what comes next.
Creative and Strategic Highlights
2025 saw some of our most exciting creative and strategic work to date come to life.
On the creative side, we started to bring our newly created Bahrain Surf Park brand to life, designed a new brand image for Toray’s BYOKAN range, continued to grow INEOS Energy Station through ongoing digital development, produced a new Polyver animation and worked on several SHIMANO creative campaign concepts. We even had time to bring the SHIMANO Accessories Campaign to life with a full-day shoot in the South Downs, capturing riders, product and environment in perfect balance.
Strategically, we kicked off a major global project with Dry-Tex in China, beginning with a full brand strategy, positioning and product hierarchy before translating it into a comprehensive set of brand guidelines to support long-term growth.
We also spent two days closer to Brandwave HQ, in Gosport with Clipper, running an in-depth strategy workshop to define their direction for 2026 and beyond – complete with a behind-the-scenes tour of a Clipper race boat.
Activations That Brought Communities Together
This year’s activations took us from fells to festivals and from morning ride-outs to full industry gatherings.
At Lakeland 50/100, the esteemed trail running event held annually in the Lakes, we delivered Montane Basecamp, a hub for inspiration, recovery and community across an unforgettable weekend.
For Vango, in collaboration with CampWild, we realised two standout outdoor experiences: Vango Into the Wild, a 24-hour camping immersion, and Vango Into the Unknown, a women’s wild camping experience in the South Downs designed to empower through confidence outdoors.
We also brought the Joy Ride to London with Beeline x Brompton – an early-morning spin celebrating navigation, community and two brands designed for the urban explorer.
Meanwhile, as Kendal Mountain Festival continued to grow, so did our presence there, with a keynote and three BrandLABs at the inaugural Outdoor Connections, a Famous First Words inspired Industry Insiders party, in collaboration with Merrell, and a frosty morning, coffee-fuelled shakeout run, to name a few highlights.
And in Bracklesham, the windsurfing community gathered at The Beach for the launch of Windsurfer Magazine Issue 1 – a project we supported from strategy through to launch, culminating in an evening of stories, celebration and sea breeze.
PR Coverage and Global Reach
2025 delivered standout media moments across outdoor, travel, lifestyle and performance culture.
With the Bahrain Surf Park brand launched and opening set for summer 2026, PR coverage across the GCC and global surf titles was strong. MSN.com offered the first big reveal with a striking bird’s-eye view of the park, while The Arab Traveller landed a double-page spread during the Riyadh Travel Fair – just ahead of F1 weekend.
Waterspeed earned a full feature in Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, spotlighting the app as a must-have tool across over 30 watersports disciplines. Beeline coverage wins included a feature in Proper Magazine’s August Proper Picks list and a stand-out review of the Velo 2 in the Evening Standard.
Merrell made the headlines with an exclusive interview published in Drapers. Meanwhile, their approach to balancing technical performance with everyday style was also profiled in Outdoor Industry Compass, featuring the iconic headline: “We build for the mountains – and the pub.”
Hanwag generated quality coverage across Highsnobiety, Escapism and The Independent and Fjällräven continued to secure meaningful storytelling-led features with CircleZeroEight, Outdoor License and more.
Brandwave Events and Thought Leadership
This year’s NetworkB theme – Brands Breaking Barriers – brought together leaders from across the sport and outdoors industry to explore innovation, connection and the changing expectations of modern audiences.
Our BrandLAB series continued to evolve, making appearances at Blue Earth Summit, IRX, Surf Skate Expo and Kendal Mountain Festival. Each session created space for collaboration and real-world problem solving – the heart of what BrandLAB was designed for.
And our Coffee Bars continued to grow into a regular event series that brings together some of the most respected voices in the sport, performance, and outdoor industries.
Team Sporting Highlights
It wouldn’t be a Brandwave recap without the team selecting their own personal sporting highlight.
Dan surfed the world’s longest wave in Pacasmayo, Peru, James took on the Goodwood Half Marathon, Ollie completed the Rome Marathon, Vikki raced the Unsanctioned Athletics event at UTMB, Evie hiked the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, Tania walked the entire South Downs Way, Al discovered a new love for running, Tayler set a personal best at Budapest Marathon, Tanya and her son Frank ran their first fun run together and Will launched his EZ Running Series.
Supporting Our Charity Partners
Our commitment to the Youth Adventure Trust also continued as strong as ever through 2025 with Hike, Bike, Paddle, where taking part helps support the charity’s mission to empower vulnerable young people through outdoor adventure. It remains one of the most meaningful partnerships in our calendar.
Growing the Team
Of course, all this wouldn’t have been possible without more bodies aboard the Brandwave ship. Throughout 2025 we welcomed Vikki (PR Director), Tania (Senior Account Manager) and Evie (PR Executive) to the team, each bringing new energy, expertise and perspectives across strategy, creative and production.
See you all in 2026!
Brandwave Team
