Good Cycles is a cycling business grounded in social purpose: every purchase helps disadvantaged young people into work. To raise awareness of its brand and bring customers into its new CBD store, the social enterprise needed a marketing strategy and a quick campaign, that would capture the heart of the Melbourne commuter.

Good Cycles came to Ellis Jones with in mind its exciting store opening in Melbourne’s CBD: an opportunity to deepen brand awareness and engagement with its retail offering and underlying social purpose.

Our marketing strategy capitalised on the inherent difference that comes with purchasing through Good Cycles, showing their value within the Melbourne cycling scene. It considered opportunities for coordinated delivery across the Good Cycles team and ours to build in-house capacity to keep going after we left.

It included:

• A refined value proposition and exciting campaign concept to launch the new CBD store.
• A digital marketing plan to create and connect with community.
• Approaches to driving traffic in store, increasing membership, embedding e-bikes into the organisation’s communications and creating a corporate Active Cycling Service pilot program.
• An annual event proposition to activate the brand with its CBD audience.

The campaign’s tagline “two-wheeled freedom never felt so good”, and its visual identity, connected with the everyday commuter, and communicated the positive feelings that come with cycling for purpose. Bright, witty and relevant, it was designed to win hearts and eyeballs at the street level and online, with call to actions enticing you to learn more and visit in store. The brand’s use of ‘type-as-image’ was also incorporated into campaign visuals, with physical characteristics of fonts supporting the meaning of the words. The campaign was delivered on outdoor street posters located close to the CBD store, to drive traffic, and through social media advertising, where Good Cycles had an active community.

Ellis Jones developed other valuable strategic assets for Good Cycles, including:

• Photography for ongoing digital use.
• In-store signage recommendations including membership touchpoints to increase uptake of the membership program.
• Digital assessment of the social enterprise landscape and recommendations for the Good Cycles website.

The marketing strategy, short campaign, and other assets assisted Good Cycles in raising awareness of its brand and of its CBD store. Initial results for the 2-week campaign showed:

• An average of 1,727,200 vehicles per day seeing the 200 outdoor posters.
• A 6% increase in website users.
• A 13% increase in Google impressions.
• A 129% increase in social media traffic.

The campaign increased searches for, and traffic to, the Good Cycles website, capturing the attention of the intended audience.

Importantly, the strategy and collateral delivered built a strong base, and in-house capacity, for Good Cycles to continue to deliver impactful communications for years to come. This will empower the organisation to fulfill its important mission: to increase job opportunities for young people who’ve hit a major bump on the road.