Delivering the Message

SMBsuccess

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

Delivering the Message A Minneapolis bike purveyor manifests its expanded retail presence by tapping into local cycling traditions

BY CHRISTINE BIRKNER | SENIOR STAFF WRITER

 cbirkner@ama.org

W

hen Minneapolis-based bike retailer Freewheel Bike wanted to raise awareness for its three locations, it took a cue from local biking culture and created a promotional campaign that prompted customers to go mobile—in the action-oriented sense.

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Freewheel Bike has been a fixture in Minneapolis for 40 years. Since opening its doors in downtown Minneapolis in 1974, the company has expanded to three stores. It’s now located in Minneapolis’ West Bank and Midtown neighborhoods, and in the suburb of Eden Prairie. To raise awareness of those locations,

increase store traffic at the start of its busy summer cycling season and kick off promotional efforts for its 40th anniversary, Freewheel Bike launched a promotional scavenger hunt—a nod to local cycling traditions, says Ben Hovland, Freewheel Bike’s marketing and multimedia manager. “There are ‘Alleycats,’ these unofficial bike races that [bike] messengers put on, and now everyone does them. They’re scavenger hunts, where they give you a manifest and you go around and complete that manifest. In our case, there wasn’t a real race, but that’s where we got this idea.”

From May 2 to May 12, customers were given scavenger hunt cards directing them around the city to collect stamps at all three

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EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

“There are ‘Alleycats,’ these unofficial bike races that [bike] messengers put on. They’re scavenger hunts. …

That’s where we got this idea.”

BEN HOVLAND, FREEWHEEL BIKE

Photo courtesy of Freewheel Bike.

of Freewheel Bike’s stores. The “manifest” also included instructions to visit the site of the company’s original store location, which now houses a yoga studio, and to record the name of a “mystery object” adorned with a Freewheel sticker. “The mystery object was a bike rack. It was something that everyone could easily find, and everyone got it right. It actually wasn’t too much of a mystery,” Hovland says.

Customers could present their completed cards at any of Freewheel Bike’s locations to receive prizes. Three completed boxes earned them a free water bottle and four completed boxes garnered a coupon for 20% off one in-store, non-sale item.

To promote the effort, Hovland, the company’s sole marketing staffer, included a link to the scavenger hunt card in Freewheel Bike’s biweekly e-newsletter and mentioned it on the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages. He also discussed the effort with the company’s sales team and store employees to make sure that they were equipped to answer campaign-related questions and keep customers on track.

The scavenger hunt was a first for Freewheel Bike. To market its brand, the company usually relies on social media, the sponsorship of year-round cycling events and ads in local print and online publications such as the Minnesota Women’s Press. “It was the first time we did something like this and it was definitely an experiment. The budget was very small and we had to optimize our resources. Hiring for our busy season was slower this year, so by creating the scavenger hunt, it lessened the need for specific event staff to be pulled away from other parts of their jobs. All of our salespeople could take part in getting the word out, and this helped us optimize the staff we already had,” Hovland says.

Freewheel Bike did not respond to requests for information about the campaign’s budget by deadline, but Hovland says that the effort was a success. “Some customers biked to all of the stores and they enjoyed it. It gave them an excuse to ride their bikes all

SMBsuccess

To raise awareness of its three retail locations, Freewheel Bike launched an experiential marketing effort featuring a scavenger hunt.

day, and they got a little kickback from us when they came in and completed the manifest. That’s what we were hoping

for,” Hovland says. “We want to make our customers feel like they’re along for the ride with us.” m

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