Kadisco Interview: Meredith Giske & the Tour de Fat

In my line of work, I pay close attention to the non-bike brands that are involved in various cycling communities. Most of them are trying to reach cycling’s audience through the traditional sponsorship channels, but some are creating their own channels and using the image of the bicycle to reach their own audiences. I’m interested in how and why these companies are leveraging bike culture in their own distinct ways, and it’s a trend that I’ll be exploring on this site.

The first interview that I posted in December was a conversation with Antonio Bertone, chief marketing officer of Puma AG. Puma has used bikes in their marketing for well over a decade, creating their own branded events and launching the Puma bike in 2007. Next up is Meredith Giske of New Belgium Brewing, the folks behind Fat Tire Ale and the Tour de Fat. In addition to being a great time, the Tour de Fat has created a whimsical, quirky image of bicycling that’s become almost a branded subculture unto itself. In this 8-minute interview, Meredith talks about that, sustainability, and the bicycle’s role in New Belgium’s story and personality.

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My take: As with the interview with Antonio, the implication of what Meredith has to say is that the bicycle is a universal symbol that holds meaning for everyone, whether or not they consider themselves as cyclists. In addition, the Tour de Fat’s emphasis on playfulness runs counter to the traditional tent that grown-up cyclists should fight the perception that the bicycle is merely a children’s toy. Is there room in the tent for silliness? I hope so.

A final note: During our interview, Meredith mentioned that, in addition to the Tour de Fat, New Belgium tries to sponsor bike events that are non-competitive, grassroots, local, and that support bicycle advocacy. But the interview was recorded before the Tour of California, where New Belgium was the beer sponsor in the VIP tents - kind of the opposite of the events Meredith had described. I asked her about that and she responded:

There’s a lot of angles you can look at the value of an event from. For us, the three broadest areas are one, telling our brand story. Two, giving our sales team something to leverage at retail. Three, how big is the reach, both in quantity and quality (craft beer drinking audience, and size of the audience, both at the event and beyond via advertising).

Sometimes, we ring all those bells at once, and it’s a sweet, sweet sound. Most of the time, some angles we can hit harder than others, and the value of, say the retail tie in, is greater than the brand storytelling opportunity, or visa versa.

In the case of the Tour of California, the chance to tie in with retailers along the route was a pretty great benefit. The reach was solid, and the brand storytelling was not off the mark. Yes, we prefer non-competitive, grassroots events, but in this instance we decided to break our own rule to take advantage of those other benefits. In my opinion, as long as we don’t stray consistently or drastically from our sponsorship goals, there’s always room to be flexible.

Enjoy the interview, and let me know if you have any feedback or comments. Also, a few more links… New Belgium Brewing Blog, New Belgium on Twitter, tourdefat tag on Flickr. Thanks Meredith!