Head

Ein Padel-Spieler auf rotem Platz blickt aus der Vogelperspektive nach oben zum Ball.

Success Stories / HEAD

Consumer Insights for Padel

A deep understanding of this young sport, its communities, and its players creates the foundation for product development, marketing, and brand management.

The Company

World-leading provider of high-quality racket and winter sports equipment

HEAD Sports GmbH, based in Kennelbach, Vorarlberg, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality branded sports equipment in the racket and winter sports segments. The company develops and produces a broad portfolio of tennis, padel, and squash rackets, as well as skis, snowboards, bindings, helmets, goggles, and functional sportswear. In the tennis sector, HEAD is one of the leading international brands. The range includes rackets, balls, apparel, and extensive accessories such as bags and other gear.

Eine große Gruppe junger Menschen posiert vor dem Eingang eines modernen Firmengebäudes.

Our Mission

Key elements of the assignment:

Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports worldwide and is developing with impressive momentum, particularly in markets such as Spain, Sweden, Italy, and South America. For HEAD, as one of the global leaders in racket manufacturing, it is crucial to gain a deep understanding of the sport, its communities, and its future development to make well-founded decisions regarding strategic alignment in the padel segment.

Building an understanding of players, their needs, motivations, and usage patterns
Identification of the most important factors influencing brand perception, purchasing decisions, and brand loyalty in the padel sector
Feedback on internal innovation ideas (new racket generations with new features, new technologies)
Derivation of concrete recommendations for strategic decisions in the product portfolio, innovation, marketing, and brand presence of HEAD in the padel segment

The cornerstones of our approach:

To gain the most authentic and deep understanding possible of the still largely unknown padel target group, IMARK developed a tailored action-research approach together with HEAD. This combines structured research with active experience and observation, making it possible to capture user needs directly within the context of padel communities.

IMARK interviewers work directly on-site in padel clubs across Europe (Stockholm, Rome, Barcelona, Grenoble) with a HEAD team consisting of product management, design, and innovation

Design of the entire research toolkit (interview guides, observation grids, methodical structuring)

Support of on-site data collection by IMARK (own qualitative surveys, coaching of the HEAD team during fieldwork)

Comprehensive analysis and evaluation of all qualitative data by IMARK, deriving central patterns, insights, and strategically relevant fields of action

Preparation of results for internal workshops and management presentations at HEAD to derive strategic and operational measures

Result & Impact

Benefits for HEAD:

The insights gained in the projects create a deep understanding of the target group with concrete, actionable impulses for product development, marketing, and brand management:

Step-by-step know-how building:

The HEAD team is introduced to the style of play and different player typologies using videos, interview excerpts, photos, and authentic field observations.

Strategic foundation for management decisions:

The consumer insights gained sensitize management to a new sport with its own motives, needs, and behavioral patterns. It highlights the levers for successfully positioning an established tennis brand in the padel segment.

Relevant impulses for product development and marketing:

The consumer insights serve as a basis for the development of new rackets and equipment, for the evaluation of existing internal innovation ideas, and more generally for setting priorities in marketing and branding.