What is Parkour?
Parkour is about ‘making the urban landscape your personal obstacle course, a playground for strength, freedom, courage and discipline.’ Parkour is an international discipline, sport and hobby that is best described as the art of forward motion in spite of obstacles, or to put it simply: the art of movement. Parkour's chief aim is never to move backward but instead to overcome obstacles fluidly, with strength, originality and speed. (Lawrence, 2011)
The History of Parkour
The roots of Parkour go back over 100 years. It begins with Herbertism. Herbertism was created about 100 years ago by George Hebert. Herbert, a former naval officer, travelled across the world with the French Navy, but was taken aback by the skill and development of the people who resided in Africa.
His observations led him to develop the Natural Method, or méthode natural, which uses only the body and its surroundings for physical development. This encompasses the morale on which the Parkour Philosophy is based. (Chereshka, 2006)
The art of Parkour was understood best by a man called David Belle. As David grew older he adapted what he needed from Herbertism, and incorporated it into his own life in order to help him pursue his own needs and goals.
The art of Parkour was understood best by a man called David Belle. As David grew older he adapted what he needed from Herbertism, and incorporated it into his own life in order to help him pursue his own needs and goals.
Though Belle initially developed Parkour with his friends, he remains in the spotlight due to the fact that he is seen as the discipline’s leader. Other contributors to the development of Parkour include: Sebastien Foucan, Kazuma and Stephane Vigroux.
Parkour Sites and Blogs
The website: http://www.parkour.com/ is a very up to date, international site with links to Parkour events all across the United States and Europe.
Parkour.com is on Facebook with 2,147 followers.
It is very active and up to date, with updates almost daily, and information and videos of free-runners from all over the world.
The Facebook page is linked to lots of smaller parkour group pages, like pages for parkour teams
One such team is the underground London Team, Storm Freerunning: http://www.facebook.com/UnitedByMovement?ref=mf&sk=wall#!/pages/Storm-Freerunning/334989156853
Parkourdotcom is on Twitter but only has 244 Followers
Parkour.com has a subsection called parkour groups. http://www.parkour.com/groups/
Here they have links to Parkour groups from around the world, for example:Durban Parkour: http://www.facebook.com/DurbanParkourNews
Parkour Greece: http://parkour.gr/
Parkour El Salvador: http://freewebs.com/parkoursv/index.htm
Parkour South Africa has an up to date website with forums and a chat facility, as well as a newsletter that one can subscribe too. They have a blog, but it is out of date and not informative... And it looks like it hasn’t been used very often.
Parkour Blogs:
Brand Associations:
Red Bull
Red Bull is known for their association with extreme alternative sporting cultures, and the Parkour culture is no different. This partnership is an ironic one though, as the Parkour subculture is all about mastering ones urban environment and ‘putting it to the man’. This ‘man’ describes the urban environment and the corporations and governments that run it, this includes brands such as Red Bull. Whether the association Red Bull has with Parkour is a contradictory one or not, is a debate for another time.Red Bull has its own Parkour event called the “Red Bull Art of Motion” (redbull.com, 2011). This competition is held in different countries and boasts some of the best Parkour talent around.
Red Bull are a fantastic example of a brand that understands how to use social network platforms to connect with its target audience. Red Bull makes use of popular social platforms like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. On their Facebook page, one can check out Red Bull athletes, look at pictures of events and Red Bull items, play special Red Bull games and even watch Red Bull web TV. The Red Bull games provide a fun and convenient way of engaging with the brand and forging relationships with it. Web TV is a “TV stream” (facebook.com/red bull, 2011) of all “the best content the world of Red Bull has to offer from action sports and motor sports to music and lifestyle” (facebook.com/red bull, 2011). Red Bull have also come up with an interesting idea called Red Bull Messenger (redbull.com, 2011). This service allows you to “find out what your favourite Red Bull athlete has been up to over the last seven days” (redbull.com, 2011) by collecting all the Facebook and Twitter feed from these athletes and hosting it on their website. This initiative has been a successful way of showing the athletes that have a relationship with the Red Bull brand and make following your favorite athlete easy to do. Red Bull have also created a selection of widgets that can be placed on any website, blog, social network, and more. These widgets allow for engagement with the brand across a multitude of online platforms that are not run and managed by Red Bull. This also gives fans a chance to host and support the Red Bull brand on their own personal blogs and websites. Red Bull also have their own YouTube channel where their audiences can go check out everything ‘Red Bull’, from F1 to Red Bull Records. YouTube users have been using the site to create their own Red Bull virals, which create word of mouth and strengthen consumer relationships.
Red Bull Mobile has recently been launched in South Africa in partnership with Cell C. This service will allow people who have purchased the Red Bull Mobile product to access free internet through the Red Bull Mobile portal. It also give users special invites to events like the Top Gear Live Festival as well as access to some interesting apps and games. (mediaupdate.com, 2011) These apps allow users to engage with their brand on the go and from just about anywhere. Users can download apps to find a coach, get exclusive songs and play games like the Red Bull Augmented Racing game. This game not only lets users play the games but also design the course using Red Bull cans (creativity-online.com, 2011).
It is clear that Red Bull have a host of social media platforms in their arsenal, the portfolio is so successful because of the coordination of all these media to carry heaps of information while still conveying one clear and consistent brand image. This sits well with their audience and they have been able to engage meaningfully with them.
MTV
MTV host their very own
Parkour event called the 'Ultimate Parkour Challenge’, this event brings together some of the world’s best Parkour talent. MTV is positioned as being a young and funky brand and we feel that their association with the Parkour subculture is a fitting and productive one.
The music industry is forever changing. One week Lady Gaga is wearing an outfit made completely out of meat, the next week Eminem is releasing a new album. When it comes down to staying up to date with the music world; the channel to watch is MTV.Music videos from popular artists are displayed and they have been the main pull factor for the channel. However MTV didn’t stop there, they treated the masses to celebrity gossip and news. The viewer would not only watch their favourite videos, but get a closer look at the people making the music we listen to.
MTV added another element to the channel by delving into reality shows such as “MTV Cribs” and the latest craze, “Jersey Shore
MTV became more than ‘that music channel’. An individual can tune in to view more than music. MTV looks at popular culture of the times and with this comes the need to make use of what’s in at the time.
Social media comes in to play here, for the very same teenager watching “Jersey Shore
Twitter is a popular social networking tool that enables people to send and receive messages to their followers and people they are following. MTV wish to capitalize on this tool by finding an individual who will engage with viewers of the channel and keeping MTV updated on feedback from their audience. “Twitter Jockey” is the fancy name given to personality behind the Twitter account and they basically keep in touch with the MTV audience by making posts about events related to MTV. To simplify it all, the “Twitter Jockey” is a reporter on MTV events and the bridge between channel and audience (onlinesocialmedia.net)
To see more of the flips and flops of this ground breaking MTV series, visit the website below:
http://www.mtv.com/shows/parkour/series.jhtml
Bibliography
Sean Calvert. (2011). RED BULL ART OF MOTION: SIX OF THE BEST. Available: http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Article/Best-freerunning-and-parkour-videos-021242965214778. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Red Bull. (2011). Red Bull. Available: http://www.facebook.com/redbull. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Red Bull. (2011). Red Bull’s Channel. Available: http://www.youtube.com/user/redbull?blend=1&ob=4. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
World of Red Bull. (2010). RED BULL MESSENGER. Available: http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Article/Red-Bull-Messenger-021242915064474. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Media-update. (2011). Red Bull Mobile set to give extreme sports fans ‘ mobile wings’. Available: http://www.mediaupdate.co.za/?IDStory=34852. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Red Bull Mobile. (2011). Red Bull Mobile Apps and Games. Available: http://www.redbullmobile.co.za/offer/the-world-of-red-bull/red-bull-apps-games/. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Creativity-online. (2011). Red Bull: Augmented Racing App . Available: http://creativity-online.com/work/red-bull-augmented-racing-app/22599. Last accessed 9th March 2011.
Chereshka. (2006-2011). What is parkour? Retrieved March 5, 2011, from Parkourpedia: http://parkourpedia.com/about/what-is-parkour
Lawrence, C. (1998-2011). How Parkour Works. Retrieved March 8, 2011, from How Stuff Works: http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/urban-sports/parkour.htm
Taylor, D. (2009, September 26). What is Parkour? Retrieved March 3, 2011, from Parkour-Online: http://www.parkour-online.com/What-is-Parkour.html
(MTV Twitter Jockey Social-Media, onlinesocialmedia.net; http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20100614/mtv-tj-twitter-jockey-social-media-vj/ date visited: 9 March 2011)
Done By:
Andrea Golding-19187
Justin Nothling-19211
Kennedy Mosala-19197
Lara Oberholzer-19198
