Rip Curl’s watch the Search GPS 1 hadn’t been updated since it launched in 2013. While other brands are constantly rolling out new features, surfers everywhere were leaving the brand behind for gnarlier competitors. To launch our Search GPS 2, we wanted to give surfers a reason to come back to the brand, while celebrating every sesh they wore their watch.

What could we do with surfer’s data to surprise and delight without being invasive in data conscious world? Creating the world’s first digital surf comp and launching it by not telling anybody about it, seemed like a sure fire way to tap into that ‘Locals Only’ surfer mentality whilst also gaining widespread talk-ability and earned media. Proving that when it comes to wearable surf tech, Rip Curl is still ahead of the game.

To launch the Rip Curl Search GPS 2 we needed to show off how the watch worked, how it tracks your surf and how that data could make you a better surfer. But surfers care more about style than do about decimal points. So we needed to connect it with something they do care about, competing.

We created the “Rip Curl: Virtual Pro”, the only global surf competition you didn’t know you were a part of. The Virtual Pro was powered through the watch itself and took the data that surfers didn’t used to care about and pitted those stats against every single person on the planet who wore the watch in the water. The data created a total score for each surfer forming a global leader board. We then crowned the winners at the end of the comp and sent the surfing world and Rip Curl sales into frenzy.

Rip Curl's Search GPS 2 tracks surf data like nothing else on the planet. And while surf data is cool and all, getting surfers, even the pros to care about the science of surfing is a hard ask. But outside of cultural nuances in the surfing community the one thing they do care about is competitions. And funnily enough, every data point the watch collects, is a key indicator of surfing ability. The idea of the Virtual Pro was born from this insight, and the tech not only enabled surfers to compete digitally through their watch, but allowed them to share and communicate with elusive surfing communities all without ever leaving the waves.

Everyone who surfed while wearing their GPS 1 or 2 automatically and unknowingly entered the Virtual Pro. Over a 10-day window (The span of a surf comp) we collected their surf data such as distance paddled, wave speed and wavelength. Using that date we created a unique scoring algorithm that scored surfers and placed them on a global leader board.

Each surfer was provided with a bespoke data visualisation, which relieved their best surf. Those videos then became social posts serving as the entry mechanic into the final round of the competition.

The winner was announced live on Sunrise (An Australian breakfast TV news show) receiving an all expense paid trip to Fiji with 4 of their mates and a stable of Rip Curl pro team riders. The total prize package was worth over $40k, a pretty sick prize when all they did was surf like they always do.

The Virtual Pro gave surf wearable tech a whole new dimension, reason to purchase and cemented Rip Curl at the forefront of surfing culture and ingenuity.

The competition was such a success it’s now an annual fixture on the WSL global surfing calendar ( Just like Pipeline or Bells Beach.) After the competition period Rip Curl saw a 220% rise in people using the Search GPS device regularly and 36% increase in search GPS Watch sales.

From a tiny $50k media spend we reached over 14 million people globally.

The campaign received over 3 million dollars in earned media and Rip Curl brand love spiked higher than it has in the past 10 years.

The Virtual Pro was picked up by national and international press including segments on SunriseTV in Australia as well regular segments in internationally renowned surf mag ‘STAB’.