B-cycle debut SXSW


What better place for Alex "The Dude" Bogusky to debut his new cycle-sharing program than before this standing room-only oversupply in bike-sympathetic Austin? Well, he didn't think they'd let an advertizing guy talk near bike sharing at SXSW–although we highly doubtfulness that they would have barred entry to La Bogusky and his adoring fans–so instead, his presentation is entitled "Sticking Your Nose Where it Doesn't Vest" and includes a full range of olfactory organ puns and imagery (cue first image of Bogusky'southward nose inches abroad from someone's butt).

In fact, simply about everything Crispin Porter + Bogusky has been able to attain has been a result of sticking their noses where they don't vest, says Bogusky, from the anti-SUV Mini campaign to but most every uncomfortable situation they create for that creepy Burger Male monarch graphic symbol. And when it came to bike sharing, it wasn't any different. When they moved the firm from Miami to bike-crazy Boulder, they saw an opportunity to make a deviation by getting a few cars off the route, and they just started doing it.

They looked at Paris' successful bike sharing program Velib, but when information technology came to finding the answers for their own program, it came from within. They tapped Dave Kingsbury, an employee at CP+B who commutes to work even in the snow (even rigged his ski boots to clip into his pedals, sweet!), as their biking expert, and connected with metropolis officials in Boulder. They partnered with health care company Humana, whose vested involvement in health and practise made them an ideal collaborator, and then tapped Trek, longtime client and friends of the agency, to design the bikes. Enter B-cycle, a three-part bike sharing collaboration.

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They designed a system that corrals the bikes into sleek solar-powered stations. The graphics are based on a "B" that they designed to look like it had been office of city iconography forever, but like the "P" for Parking. Trek designed a custom one-size-fits-all bicycle (not easy) that's extra-rugged for city riding, and will handle repairs through their dealer network. Y'all swipe a credit card (or apply your B-wheel membership card), the locking system releases the bike, and abroad y'all go.

The bikes were tested on the DC Mall with the National Park Service, and in Louisville with three stations on the Humana campus. They as well had bike sharing stations at both Democratic and Republican conventions where they logged 7523 bipartisan bike rides. 100 bikes are going into Denver one time the funding is secured (thank you for this announcement).

Bogusky says that a big metropolis requires a $i.viii-1000000-a-year investment to maintain it, only that's the nearly interesting function:  Paris' Velib system is really managed by outdoor advertising company JC Decaux and funded largely by would-be billboard advertisers. Bogusky thinks this program is fifty-fifty more sustainable considering their bicycle organisation is made for ads:  The front basket of the bike is a TV-sized surface begging for some clever message. Plus, since information technology's new, they're certain to attract more eyeballs than a bus shelter. Someone who'south working on the committee in Denver says the sponsorship won't be the problem, information technology'due south pricing. They think they'll be able to give the first half and hour of rental abroad for gratis, to encourage people to employ it, merely are having a difficult fourth dimension deciding how much to charge, and how much people will desire to pay.

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Someone makes the comment that this is not advertising but more than like pattern thinking and asked if CP+B is trying to become the next IDEO (prompting some depression, sustained "oooohs" from the oversupply). "Many great products market themselves and don't need the overlay of marketing," says Bogusky, by mode of skirting the question. "IDEO could become an advertisement bureau."

"But this isn't about bike sharing, this presentation is about noses," Bogusky reminds the audition (shot of Bogusky, finger inserted in nose). "It's about doing something a little scrap outside of what y'all're doing every mean solar day. The best thing near technology is that we're ix times as productive as we used to be, only you don't accept to focus that productivity on 1 thing, you should sprinkle it around." We're guessing we should listen to him; after all, Bogusky nose best (couldn't resist).

Related: Can Alex Bogusky Help Microsoft Vanquish Apple?