Built foundation for recycled manufacturing company to shift from selling products to selling an overall brand. Process included interviews with wholesale customers, bike shop owners, and bike enthusiasts; a comprehensive mapping of current bike culture; and a series of internal decision-making workshops.
Resource Revival started making high-end products out of recycled bicycle parts over 20 years ago, long before the environment was a presidential focus and before bike sales outpaced cars.
Focusing on the gift market, they built a thriving international business -which recently attracted would-be competitors who threatened to offer similar products at discounted rates. They needed to strengthen their brand beyond the dimensions of product and price by clearly communicating the most interesting and impactful elements of their story to a wider audience.
Through our exploratory research we identified our own particular place and role within bike culture –a powerful and compelling social movement with passionate supporters, fashion, events, media and even particular cities that have made it apart of their urban identity.
The answer was Rebike -the intersection of the bicycles, the green movement and art. It included organizations who rebuild bikes for the poor, art bikes, bike art and, or course, Resource Revival.
At bike-focused events their booth shifted from simply selling product to a much more interactive experience by pointing riders to donate their chain to local bike shops, by supporting local organizations who rebuild bikes, and by making bike art on the spot.
The company website added a link to a Rebike blog & Facebook page that championed the news, events and players in this area.
The Rebike Facebook page attracted over 3000 fans in the first 3 months (vs 300 for their company-only page). Which not only built the brand but allowed us to market directly to the friends of those bike enthusiasts with gift ideas.
All of this moves the conversation from simply ‘buy our stuff’ to a much more engaging and generative discussion of ‘what’s going on with the Rebike movement.’
Tags: Business-to-business, customer interviews, brand identity, brand platform, manufacturing, gifting, social media
Emily Reed 