What do you get if you mix a high technology racing binding with a couple of comedians and some Olympic champions, and invite them all to a bar in Oslo?
- A binding’s night, says the host and wishes the 300 guests welcome to the launch of the new Xcelerator.
Out of the box
The evening opens with an introduction of the revolutionary binding and the company behind. The design team, whose work is now presented by a new logo and slogan, gets an equal opportunity to show their latest reference work. New binding, new profile. The perfect occasion for a celebration.
The walls of the bar in downtown Oslo are covered with magenta colored snowflakes, and “Rottefella” is written in the most trendsetting fonts of today. The producer of the bindings is truly Norwegian, but the new image is far away from the typical Norwegian signature in red, white and blue. The colors of pink and black are chosen to be visible, to stand out. We associate speed. Strength.
The King
There are rumors among the guests that Petter Northug is observed behind the scenes. And here he comes. The Elvis of cross-country as Norwegian newspapers has named him lately. The King is followed by his teammate in the Olympic sprint 2010, Øystein Pettersen, and the last to enter the scene is Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset.
The boys are having a great time up there in the limelight, encouraged by laughter and cheering from the audience. We can easily imagine how this energy make their trainingcamps a little more interesting, and how the same energy is soon to be found in the tracks of this season’s World Cup and World Champs.
Gathering gold
The norwegian cross country elite already tested Rottefella’s new binding in some of last season’s competitions, for example in Whistler, Canada. The first Olympic medals for the Xcelerator will sure not be the last, and Northug & co are looking forward to mounting this featherweight binding to all of their pair of skies.
Goodiebag
Together with another Norwegian comedian the boys make sure we get our daily dose of laughter this evening, and our cheeks are still stiff when we leave the party some hours later. There are goodiebags to collect on the way out, of course. Inside we find a pair of the Xcelerator binding. Of course.