Cube Bikes
European Bike Launch Campaign
Client Type
Private
Project Duties
Creative Director:
Concept
Messaging
Art DIrection
Graphic Design
Always at the forefront of bike technology, it was only a matter of time before Cube Bikes did what others couldn’t: make a sub-40lbs E-bike that rides as well as a trail bike. Cube sought some fresh out-of-house creativity to launch these game-changing bikes.
Working with long-time collaborators Openwide who created the campaign video, I developed a companion campaign that captured the fun factor these low-weight bikes bring to the e-bike sector.
I created display ads, page takeovers, social assets, print and billboard artwork, and a suite of in-house assets to ensure the buzz reached all corners of a rider’s world.
-
At the heart of the concept was the idea that a truly great bike puts a smile on your face, mile after mile. And whilst e-bikes afford you more miles, the weight of full-blown electrification, huge motors and long-range batteries can often take the fun out of those miles, especially when you run out of battery. A subtle consumer pushback has many riders pining for an e-bike that has all the benefits of a longer-range bike but retains the feel of a traditional trail bike - lightweight, easy to handle and FUN!
Working closely with Jamie at Openwide, we focused on capturing this fun factor on the photoshoot, shooting as much off-bike time as possible. With great imagery of the riders having fun on and off the bike, I could in turn ramp up the campaign language and connect with riders on an emotional level, appealing to the social side of riding as much as the on-trail action.
With tight guidelines on some brand elements but let loose on others, I developed a visual style that sat with the global brand but brought a fresh new look and feel. A tightly tiled patchwork of lifestyle, riding and product imagery made for an energetic look that would match the video feel, whilst hitting all the emotional marks needed to really drive the fun factor home.
-
The main headline combines this fun theme with the brand’s stereotypically German engineering prowess. This ensured the single-minded proposition hit home even when the mix of imagery changed across different uses. The subheading makes a bold but ownable sector claim, and the body copy adds detail to this claim whilst calling back to the headline. The CTA varied between product and video focus - the below shows the video version, where using the riders’ names adds a relatable, human angle.
The subheading, body, and CTA were adapted for different stages of the sales journey, different product variants, and various translations.
Print campaign
Full-page print adverts in two of Europe’s biggest bike magazines were at the heart of the above-the-line campaign. Ride Magazine is shown here. I also developed billboards for the company headquarters and stores in Germany.
-
CUBE was founded by Marcus Pürner in 1993 in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and remains owner-managed to this day.
They sell in over 70 countries, have a 1,300-strong workforce and produce and sell 4,500 models every day. They are one of the biggest bicycle companies in the world with a portfolio comprising virtually all types of bikes and e-bikes, as well as an extensive collection of clothing and accessories.
Digital Campaign
I developed assets for the main brand website, as well as page takeovers (Fireplace, full-screen etc) for prominent European MTB websites, a subscriber email newsletter and classic MPU and leaderboard ads.
Early-stage assets like the MTB-News site takeover, below, aimed to strike a balance of bike, lifestyle, and riding imagery, to fully back up the proposition.
Whereas the brand product page, above, was designed to focus more on the product, with lifestyle and riding imagery further down.
With so much copy content on-page, ads like the MTB-News.de desktop takeover shown here used stripped-back messaging to minimise clutter which was balanced with a full range of imagery. The lifestyle imagery was placed closest to the headline ensuring this thematic link was the most prominent with the bike imagery being placed lower down.
I used simple frame animation on the display ads to get more visual standout whilst also showing more of the product detail in the limited real estate.
Social Campaign
This Instagram Carousel Post was at the heart of the launch, alongside a story and the campaign video. Subsequent days saw individual posts focusing in more detail on the bike’s features as well as shorter video edits.