Ideas We Love: Korda Fishing Tackle 🎣

Issue 38: A masterclass in modern world building from a place you’d least expect

Hi, how are you? We hope you managed to get some well earned R&R over the Christmas holiday.

Whilst Matt was off he spent some time with friends down in Whitstable. One of whom - Darren - is a keen angler with a passion for carp fishing. His love of fishing has proven infectious and has rubbed off on Matt’s kids who are now keen anglers themselves. Here’s Matt’s youngest showing off his first catch from a few years ago.

Fast forward a couple of years and the by-product of this fascination with all things fish and fishing is that The Prentis household now significantly over-indexes on time spent watching programs like Monster Carp when it pops up on The SKY+ box.

Little did Matt know, until talking to Darren over a spin-off episode they’d found to entertain Matt’s kids on YouTube last week, that The Prentis Family had unwittingly spent dozens of hours over the past couple of years engaging with….#brandedcontent. Eurgh.

Darren revealed the origin story a brand started by his friend Danny, a brand that started as a humble fishing tackle business but was now behind the show we Matt and his family watch. That origin story gave us the inspiration for this week’s newsletter.

The Idea: Korda Fishing Tackle 🎣

A business that started from humble beginnings when founder Danny Fairbrass started selling lead fishing weights he made in his garage alongside snacks and drinks out of a wheelbarrow to anglers in and around the fishing lakes of Dartford.

Over time, Korda has morphed into a multi-line brand and business that spans fishing products, content publishing and passion projects that not only aim to recruit the next generation of anglers but ensure there are suitable habitats for them to fish for generations to come.

Why we love it 💕

#1. A Masterclass in modern “World building”

There’s lots of chatter in and around the world of marketing communications around world-building, fly-wheels, fans and fandoms at the moment.

Many of which riff either explicitly or thematically off the blueprint that Disney laid down in the 1950s for how different elements of their business feed one another by design to grow the cultural and commercial potential of their catalogue of IP and business performance.

Korda’s approach creates a similar flywheel affect - with lots of different parts feeding one another, creating something greater than the sum of it’s parts.

#2. A brilliant product, co-created & endorsed by elite anglers that others look up to 🐟

Korda’s range of fishing equipment, tackle, accessories and apparel sit at the centre of the flywheel. The products are created by anglers, for anglers.

Korda’s range is both used by and designed by a small squad of elite carp anglers that are recruited to represent the brand. The adventures of these angles are captured, published and shared across an ongoing content platform called the Korda Mindset.

A combination of videography, photography and written word shares the technical and tactical attributes required to catch monster carp iin both the UK and abroad.

#3. Broadcast IP that broadens appeal 📺

Not content with self-publishing across YouTube & Social Media, Korda’s flagship television project, Monster Carp, brought carp fishing to U.K. national broadcaster ITV’s ITV4. Each of the four-episode long seasons has proved to be a big hit both with anglers and non-anglers alike since first airing in 2016; which is now distributed to over 80 countries worldwide. It’s a great example of marketing which generates attention in and of it’s own right, rather than just renting it.

#4. Spin-offs with unexpected stars that share a passion for fishing ⚽️

With the talent fronting and featuring on the main show, Dovey & Spooner, both part of the Korda family, create spin-off shows with talent from other fields who also love to go fish.

A recent example being a YouTube video featuring Manchester City and England’s star midfielder, Phil Foden, who shares his love of fishing and how it came about over a weekend on the lake.

So Korda are giving people the motivation to fish the biggest carp out there and the tools to do so, but what about somewhere to catch them?

#5. Hello Gigantica!! 🌊

Danny Fairbrass, the brand’s founder, always dreamt of owning his own lake, and in 2008 that became a reality when he bought a 35-acre water in France known as St. Christophe, which he renamed Gigantica due to the huge carp that lived there. Strong branding : )

Since then, Gigantica has become one of the most popular carp fishing holiday complexes in Europe, with a second lake – the 26 acre Road Lake – being added, as well as a stock pond which is now providing the complex with all the new fish that it needs and preserving the genetics of a strain of carp that have a proven history of growing to XXXXXL.

#6. Creating a sustainable future so fishing can continue to thrive 🌎

Not only do they own and run pinnacle lakes, but like brands such as Patagonia Korda is now investing to protecting the future of fishing and the habitats required for it to continue.

Korda’s Project Embryo creates new fisheries, helps protect existing ones and provides a sustainable future for carp fishing in the UK and across Europe with two main functions.

1. Set up and run our their own fisheries as affordable venues that anyone can join
2. Help others protect their lakes from the increasing threat of predation

Hats off to them…

What we’d love to do with it 💕

This part of the newsletter flexes the brand or idea in question toward the things we might do if we were working for or with the brand or business in question.

The team at Korda seem to know what they’re doing, but it feels like there might be some other spaces they might exploit to cross-over further into the mainstream that can grow the sport of fishing and their share of it even further moving forwards.

#1. From ITV to Net-flix 🎥

The first one is a simple media play. Why not take a winning formula from UK broadcaster ITV to one of the streaming platforms that can broaden distribution internationally and help Korda break into new markets and audiences?

#2. Further Collaborations & Content Cross-Overs 🤝

The Phil Foden video got us thinking of the recent Autumn/Winter campaign by Burberry “It’s Always Burberry Weather” featuring England footballers Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze amongst others who went for a spot of fishing.

You could imagine a pretty slick tackle box lined in Burberry iconography.

Korda could also seek-out similar plays by other brands and look to co-create product and share talent in mutually beneficial ways. Be it for for their core business or even to create new fisheries. Clarkson’s Fishery perhaps?

#3. AirTNT ⛺️ 🎣

For those (like Matt) with none of the gear and no idea; why not use part of Project Embryo to create a go-to-market proposition for people that are curious about fishing to park, stay and play on the banks.

Like AirBNB, but for fishing. AirTent’n’Tackle.

Complete with an experienced angler (like Darren for The Prentis Family) who can help set you up and get you out of any fiddly situations.

If you like this, you’ll love

Korda has expertly built a huge media and experience brand from a little corner of British Sport. Here are some other examples of brands and content producers who have broken out through the use of multi-platform thinking.

The North Face

Have created a storytelling-driven ambassador program, featuring world-class athletes like Alex Honnold; leveraging their athletes to create awe-inspiring documentaries, such as Free Solo, which not only highlight their incredible achievements but also showcase the brand's gear in action.

Even though you know he makes it, we dare you to watch Free Solo on the sofa rather than behind it.

GoPro

To promote their action camera range GoPro have built a content engine across YouTube that features a blend of both Professional & User-generated videos and tutorials that celebrate adventurous lifestyles - in the hope they compel more people to capture theirs (with a GoPro).

Offering rewards and visibility to the best creators and integrating their product into the productions of other adventurous content platforms like Red Bull.

Random Golf Club

Random Golf Club is the brain child of Erik Anders Lang and sets out to ‘challenge the notion that a golf club is a physical place’. RGC have evolved from one man posting videos to Youtube about his ‘adventures in golf’ into something that’s one part content business, one part global community of golf fans and one part lifestyle and apparel brand. Not only an interesting experiment in challenging some of the ‘dusty’ preconceptions that exist around Golf, but a demonstration of the ‘riches in the niches’ of internet culture.

Until Next Time

We hope you’ve enjoyed our little trip off the beaten track today. We think it’s further proof that there is a serious advantage to being interested in a wide range of stuff - the stuff that lives outside or adjacent to the categories and brands we typically hold up as case studies…. You never know where inspiration will come from.

Until next time,

Matt & Tom x