Monday, January 25, 2010

bicycles as marketing

this weekend, i went into a big chain store to get an umbrella since i lost mine during this week of rain & theirs are cheap and sorta girly cute. when i got there i saw some of this phenomenon of bikes as marketing i believed we've talked about before a bit.

bicycle marketing

bicycle marketing

here is a smaller store using the same technique.


i notice that while both seem to be using the "cool" card since "cool" sells things, each store seems to be saying something different. i think the big chain store is saying, hey ride bikes, look cute, get exercise, get fit, get skinny, look good in clothes, buy lots of (our) clothes. the other store seems to be saying, hey, bikes are utilitarian. see, you can put our rugs in a bakfiets and transport it from our store to your store/home/whatever.

anyway, those are some things i've seen in my everyday life of bikes as props. aside from television commercials, i haven't seen it too much around, but i think that's because i don't normally go to stores so much.

also, as an aside, i believe that the display people may have had this display in mind while creating the newer one. ummhmm.

8 comments:

  1. someone def borrowed that display idea from that flickr set. it's like dead on! weird!

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  2. CFS- that bakfiet display is super cool. The bike its self is from a local store which means they are getting exposure (I am quite sure it is on loan) and the carpet shop is recognizing that maybe their clientele are not all Land Rover drivers. It would be great if you could borrow the bike to get your rug home!

    Vee- Just means we are trend setters!

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  3. If you watch TV at all there is ALWAYS a bike in the back-ground in sitcoms and commercials. I don't now why. I guess it's hip and urban to have a bike inside the house or something.

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  4. So does meligrosa get royalties? I definitely see influence.

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  5. i spy the im-80 roller brake on that bakfiets! smart for SF.

    i used to have a "favorite" on flickr of a window display in paris that featured fine leather shoes immediately adjacent to brooks leather saddles. sadly that user's account vanished somehow. does this photo live on flickr calitexican?

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  6. @clever: do you mean if my picture of the bakfiets is on flickr? no, i didn't put it on, but i will. just check my account and then search for bakfiets becaus ei took it awhile ago.

    as for the paris display, it could be that they let their pro account go? i'm not sure as i'm relatively new to flickr.

    thanks for commenting! looking forward to seeing you here on the bloggie again soon :)

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  7. these lights, these stores and these bikes are asking for a disco ball dance.
    ***Let's have some fun, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.**

    tss tssss

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  8. @Noreaster I always thought it was funny how Seinfeld had that green hybrid that he never rode. Or did he?

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