The big convention in this sector is “bike porn”. Don’t get us wrong, bikes are great, they’re what this sector sells, and they're hugely important to the audience. But one over stylised frame shot looks very much like another. And they all tend to come with dense, self indulgent, long copy narratives.
What is missing from this sector is the emotion, and the visceral thrill of riding. And this is what we tapped into, to our advantage, when launching Lab7 by Cannondale; a new innovation hub, focussed on creating the creme-de-la-creme of performance bikes. And first off the Lab71 line, weighing in at just 6.8kg, was the Lab71 SuperSix EVO. Cannondale’s fastest, lightweight performance road race bike, ever.
Seeing is believing. It’s more than just a bike. It’s like a carbon sculpture.
Which reminded us of something Michelangelo once said about his ‘David’ sculpture, which inspired the launch film.
We supported this launch VOD with OOH, Digital and PR pieces, stripped back to side step the long copy convention
This has been Cannondale's most successful bike launch ever. Online engagement was unprecedented. The world of cycling, from leading journalists, to cycling magazines as well as professional and amateur riders forums were abuzz with positive chatter about Lab71’s launch. And, through paid media, we generated 4.1m video views during the campaign period, exceeding the 2.8m forecast benchmark pre-campaign by 45%.
Commercially, the bike sold out on pre-sale stock of roughly 5,000 bikes, within minutes of going live. And we saw sales, ahead of target, in all international markets, inc USA, Japan, UK and France.