Launched on 13 July to leverage spiking biking interest around the sport’s showpiece Tour De France, bike brand Specialized has released a new campaign called ‘Peter Sagan vs Grandma Joan’.
Sagan, the reigning Tour De France green jersey winner and current points leader, shot the spot for the Swiss bike brand which supplies the race bikes for his team BORA – hansgrohe.
The three-time world champion and the brightest star in the cycling world is a brand ambassador for Specialized and this spot sees him lines up for the start of a hill climb in San Francisco against Grandma Joan.
The 81-year-old rides a third generation of the Specialized Turbo electric bike.
Thus the spot pits arguably the world’s fastest cyclist against what the company calls ‘the world’s fastest electric bike’.
The video sees the two start up the hill: Sagan pedaling furiously while Joan casually takes the lead with an easy, relaxed smile – all set to classic Western gunfight style music.
The campaign’s spearhead spot runs on the bike brand’s social platforms such as YouTube
and Instagram.
“We’re excited to introduce on the Tour de France this unusual product demo featuring two unlikely competitors. Will an electric bike help a grandma beat the world’s fastest cyclist in an uphill, head-to-head race? Let’s see,” said Mike Sinyard, founder and chief executive of Specialized.
Created in partnership with agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the initiative was produced by Specialized and the lead spot was helmed by director Nicholas Maggio.
“Electric bikes are leveling the playing field for the future of cycling. This spot shows that even a grandma could give the champ a run for his money. Now imagine what it could do for those who just want to move around in an even more efficient way,” added avid cyclist Rich Silverstein, co-chairman and founder at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
Comment:
This campaign looks cheeky, fun and looks set for success.
Much like Sagan himself – professional road racing’s biggest personality and its undoubted super star.
While Sagan has previously been in trouble for sexist behaviour (most notably pinching the bottom of a podium girl during an at race presentation), this Specialised campaign at least manages to avoid to sexist backlash of rival Pinaerello’s previous electric road bike campaign.
The Italian bike brand was accused of both sexism and ageism following its ad campaign for the launch of its first electric road bike – the ‘Nytro’ e-bike – which defined its intended audience as a “wide target, from the one that has no time to train but would never miss a weekend ride with friends, to women who would like to follow easily the men’s pace, or even the ones who desire to experience cycling as a new way of life, climbing easily and going downhill safely, enjoying every single minute on the bike.”
Pinarello backed the bike release with a series of marketing posts on Instagram that featured female and older cyclists: the former saying she’s chose the bike as ‘keeping up with her boyfriend seemed impossible” and the latter ad starred a suited, 55-year-old man called Frank saying he’d chose it as he had “no time to work out during the week”.
The brand rapidly deleted the posts as the backlash grew.
Links:
Specialised Bicycles
https://www.youtube.com/user/specialized411
https://www.instagram.com/iamspecialized/
Goodby Silverstein & Partners
