Campaign: Coast Bike’s “Blazing Saddles”

Strategy

By poking fun at the warmer weather, alluding to our hot bike seats in the campaign’s “Blazing Saddles” branding, I aimed to overcome the most significant barrier to getting people on bikes during the summer. Targeted new riders don’t typically realize that the slight movement of a bicycle provides a cooling breeze.

Tactics

Scheduling this campaign in conjunction with events across the summer will expose new riders to the fun of riding even in the warmest months of the year. To maximize the exposure of the campaign, two key events bookended a number of co-marketed events.

The campaign kicked off with an Instameet, a group of photographers taking pictures later shared on Instagram. Through a partnership with @IgersTampa, I sent a personal invitation to a select few photographers with huge followings, as well as the general public. In total, 70 riders were hosted, featuring millions of collective followers, launching the campaign with maximum exposure at no cost.

This publicity was utilized to promote three co-marketed bike events, each piggybacking on the campaign theme. History Bike Tampa’s “Blazing the Trail to Tampa” tour, riffing on the campaign, featured the local history of the Rough Riders. Coast’s monthly Pedals and Pints ride co-marketed with Ferg’s Live continued its monthly tradition. Finally, the Urban Restaurant Tour cooled things off with a Pool Party tour.

The campaign closed with a summer, bicycle-based scavenger hunt featuring and promoting dozens of local businesses raising money for the charity OnBikes at the CL Space in Ybor. The scavenger hunt utilized social media as the tool in which to track points providing additional exposure to those businesses participating while simultaneously promoting the bike share program.