Fun Bicycle Marketing: My New Bern Bear Experience

I went to school for marketing. I love how witty ideas can pop into one’s head and it’s up to that individual to do something about it. One of the things I took away from college (thanks Professor Bridges) is that no matter how crazy or stupid an idea is, write it down because you never know if a portion of that idea will work out. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, I am extremely passionate about what I do and I enjoy sharing with people, hoping it becomes contagious.

Thus, came my New Bern Bear idea. I was working the Historic New Bern MS150 Expo and while we had some downtime, I saw a bear statue. I thought nothing of it at first until someone mentioned they are all over the city. Then popped the idea: Why not take pictures with each bear and a Jack Kane bike?! New Bern, NC is thirty-seven miles north of our headquarters so the locals will (hopefully) love it.

I didn’t have any cue cards, ad-libbed on the spot, shot everything with a DROID X (1080p however!), and some bears took multiple takes (I’m looking at you Captain Black BEARed and Brier Bear). Before I came on board at Jack Kane Custom Racing Bicycles, I worked for a Fortune 10 company and as you can imagine, establishment and red-tape reigned. Freedom to approach progress from a different perspective was looked down upon. Creativity? Non-existent. One of the aspects and visions of Jack Kane Bikes I hope you see as we grow is that we’re different from all the others. Everything is not going to be uniform, static, sterile corporate marketing gobble-dee-goop.

We do custom designed bikes! We try to foster an environment where people can express and display who they are through their bicycles. We’ve put a unicorn and Tazmanian Devils on bikes; made disc wheels look like DVD’s, painted Kona Ironman inspired designs… We have also worked with customers who memorialized the sacrifices of people on 9/11 or honored loved ones So, while everyone else is riding a mass and forced fed design, our riders (the Jack Kane Bike Family) are on another level. It’s more than a bike to you and me. It’s who you are.

Sorry for that brief tangent. Back to the Bear Den. On Saturday, the initial idea was to shoot bike promos with the bears in the background. However, it wasn’t until later that night, I realized it would be fun to do slogans and word-plays with the theme of each bear. So, Sunday, after the MS rider’s rode out on their chariots and I was free to roam, I grabbed some bikes, my bear map, my DROID X, and roam I did. There are just over twenty bears in the New Bern, NC downtown. I was able to capture seventeen of their “confessions”. Like I mentioned, each bear has its own name, theme, and design. It was a riot figuring out what phrases to use in each video. (Once all the videos are uploaded, I’ll post some of the B-sides.)

Once filming was wrapped up, I was zonked, but was pretty amused by what had been accomplished. They are supposed to be simple and raw. No fancy editing. Actually, there isn’t any editing aside from an opening cross fade and adding our contact information at the end.

I’ve been posting the videos for a week now and while they haven’t gone viral (yet). I foresee a New Bern “Key to the City” in my future… or at least a tweet about it.

What is your favorite “Bear Confession”? We want to see YOUR photos of New Bern Bears and your Kane. OR! Your Kane in front of a “monument” special to your city. Send them to info [at] kanebikes [dot] com

Click here for the photo gallery