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July 28, 2005
Cadillac Bicycles: Schwinn Rises from the Dustbin of Cycling History
In a stroke of marketing and branding genius, a bike company has put together a line of middle to high-middle priced bikes emblazoned with the Cadillac crest.
The company, Cadillac Bicycles, is completely separate from General Motors, but has spent two years designing the bikes and working with GM to get the brand on the bikes, while ensuring the quality is up to spec. There are six Cadillac Bicycle models that range in price from $500 to $1,900 -- they're sold in select shops and online, at the Cadillac Bike Store.
Why do I say this is a genius move? Having been a cycling enthusiast for nearly 20 years, having worked in a bike shop and being generally opinionated, here's what I think:
-- The consumer with money to spend on a bike wants a good one -- meaning good quality, comfortable and fun to ride.
-- They're not going to enter the Tour DeLance.
-- They hate the way they're treated in bike shops, by nerds we refer to as members of the "bike tribe," which is why most bikes are bought at Wal-Mart and sporting goods stores.
-- Whenever a tribe member tries to sell a general consumer on a brand name, the suggestion often triggers a contrarian effect, because the customer hates the punk that much.
However, look at the first issue -- consumers with money want a good bike. They don't want an $89 mountain bike from a department store, and yet they still hate going into bike shops and being told what to do by a guy with shaved legs.
Here's where the new line of Cadillac bikes comes in -- it's a recognizable, upscale [newly rehabbed, too] brand name that people trust. It conveys quality, reliability and a certain Richie Richness.
The specs for the bikes are all top end stuff and result in a quality ride. What the general public does not know and really doesn't care about, is that most bike companies now are nothing more than marketers of two-wheelers essentially assembled from a bin of third-party parts. Which is why there are so many crappy, cheap bikes out there.
However, the Cadillac bikes look good, they use fine components and they have the imprimatur of a long-known brand.
My friends, Schwinn is back from the dead!
Seriously, before the high-tech and mountain bike craze took off, and before Schwinn's management destroyed the company, it was the most famous bicycle brand name in existence.
They sold good bikes for the time, stylish and coveted like the Stingray and the Schwinn Continental, and had a tremendous cachet long before branding was a recognized marketing term.
This seems to me to be exactly what Cadillac Bicycles are all about. In essence, what they've really done is reenvision the Schwinn value proposition with a new brand. It's going to work, I bet.
I believe that newbies with cash, who can afford a good quality bike but don't want to join the bike tribe, will go for the Cadillac brand. In my own personal consumption history, one time I was sold on buying a very expensive backpack [Dana Design], when the outdoor store guy hit me with this phrase:
"Dude, it's the Cadillac of Packs."
At that point, I was owned. And I spent more on that pack than I had budgeted -- and it turned out to be one of my better purchases ever. Even more important, from a branding psychology standpoint, I used to recite that same line to other people about my pack -- and now I'm doing it here. In other words, I was the million dollar customer, the guy who got sold and then went on -- for ten years -- selling others.
All because of the Cadillac name.
Now imagine this scenario, which I call the double-reverse contrarian:
-- Customer goes into one of the 30-some bike shops selling Cadillac Bicycles.
-- Customer is drawn to Cadillac bike, asks bike tribe member for more info.
-- Tribe member derides bike.
-- Customer now insists on buying Cadillac bike.
-- Tribe members tsk-tsks, making customer incensed on buying Cadillac bike.
-- Customer happily rides Cadillac bike into sunset.
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Other bicycle-related articles from Car Buyer's Notebook:
Mercedes Introduces Three New ... Bicycles
How the Automobile Industry is like the Bicycle Market
Posted by Frank at July 28, 2005 1:31 PM | Filed under Auto News
| Cadillac
| GM