Every once in a while, my favorite subjects manage to come together in exciting ways. In this case, New York City announced that it had agreed to let Alta Bike Share of Portland, Oregon set up a bike sharing program in the city. And so, two of my passions: marketing communications and bike riding in the city, have at last met.
The two strands come together because the NYC program, as with the programs in cities such as Boston, London and Paris, will receive support from advertising on the bikes and their rental kiosks. Marketers in cities where the bike share programs exist have jumped at the opportunity to put their names on them, sometimes in fairly innovative ways. When I visited London in February, I saw that Barclay’s bank had not only put their name on the bikes and kiosks, but also had managed to have some of the kiosks put in front of their locations.
I’d like to see marketers use the opportunity in a more Translinear fashion, of course. By that, I mean that marketers shouldn’t just slap their names on the bikes can call it day, but rather that they should find a way to drive (or, given that we’re talking about bicycles, ride) consumers from a sponsorship to something that actually drives a business objective. I’ve got some suggestions after the jump, and I’d love to hear your ideas as well in the comments below.
