Just Riding Along

Kinetic gambles on Tour ads

You've got to respect the guts of Kinetic.  They're spending a ton of money to advertise on OLN during the Tour.  This fledgling company must really believe in their stationary trainers to put so many of their eggs into one basket.

Here's a quote from Kinetic's Lee Ann Gustafson:

"We needed to get the name out there...we're really gambling on it."

In my opinion, it was money well spent.  Besides reaching millions of cycling fans, nude images of Bob Roll have been floating around the blogosphere and the ad just got front page coverage in the July 15th issue of Bicycle Retailer Magazine.

Kudos to the Kinetics marketing team for finding a way to get people talking about a product as unsexy and uninteresting as stationary trainers.   This is the kind of bold campaign our industry needs more of.

Bike ads go too far

Has anyone else noticed Giant's new ad campaign for the Magenta Reign?  Here's the tagline:

It's all about: Going over anything that gets in your way.

Wait, is this an ad for a bicycle...or an SUV?

Think of the irony:  on one hand we've got  IMBA working their butts off to convince politicians and anti-biking groups how nice and friendly mountain bikes are...and on the other hand we've got ads like this from manufacturers who want so badly to cash in on the extreme riding image that they produce taglines no different than what automakers are using to sell SUVs.  Sad but true.

I know it's cool to appeal to young, aggro, freeriders and sponsor teenagers that throw bikes over cliffs (the parties alone must be worth it).  But these ads promote irresponsible trail use and give riders the green light to bomb down the local singletrack on a Saturday morning in full body armor.

Sorry for the rant, but if you've ever had your favorite trails threatened to be closed because of a few punk downhillers that "ride over anything that gets in their way," you might feel the same way.

Specialized creates new superstars

I love Specialized's current ad campaign touting upcoming superstars, especially the one that features the National U-23 team.  With all the talk about how the industry will fare without Lance, and with the debacle surrounding Tyler, I'm glad to see someone with Specialized's clout, marketing panache, and ad budget thinking ahead.

Not only is it just good business to promote upcoming riders, but I think it's a smart campaign from a branding perspective because it gives Specialized that underdog, grassroots vibe that enthusiasts respect.