DEFINE THE BRAND

BRAND PLANNING PROJECT BRINGS NEW LIFE, DIRECTION

“What is Bell at its best?” -- This is the essential question we asked during an intensive brand assessment and planning project begun in 2011. Numerous management and ownership changes, competing internal priorities and transactionally focused business practices left the brand without a clear sense of direction. While still profitable, the signs of erosion became more evident as market share and brand perception slowly declined. Add an increase in competition, a fragmented internal structure and a complex distribution model to the mix and you can see why some soul searching was in order.

A small, strategic strike force assembled to delve into the brand history and DNA; identify the pinnacle moments, people, products and ideas; and translate it all into a strategic trajectory. With backing from the company’s highest level, the Bell Bran Plan is not just a marketing play, but a far-reaching blueprint to refocus, tune and revamp everything from the core mission to product development to the way we do business from the ground up.

The first deliverables from the project were the Bell Shop Manual and Field Guide excerpted below. These rich collateral pieces help articulate the company's origins, identify brand truths, and point to a purposeful future trajectory. Subsequent visual guides and brand foundation documents serve as the tactical manuals for executing the plan. Finally, prescriptive industrial design language guidelines were put into place to drive product creation.

The Bell Shop Manual and Field Guide both articulated the brand plan and serve as the visual archetype for other collateral.

HERO THE PRODUCT

USING HERO ATHLETES TO DESIGN AND CHAMPION NEW PRODUCTS

With two World Cup overall titles and nine individual race wins, Bell Rider Aaron Gwin has completely dominated downhill racing the past two seasons. As an American with a motocross background who trains under the auspices of all-time Bell great John Tomac, Aaron represents the perfect storm of brand-right attributes. Not only have we made him the focus of our mountain bike marketing, but we've harnessed his technical acumen to help us bring a new, ground-breaking helmet to market. By putting Aaron front-and-center and leveraging him everywhere--in-store, online, in-person, in advertising and collateral, on t-shirts and swag--we've been able to re-establish Bell at the top of the mountain.

A limited edition poster and t-shirt feteing Aaron's first World Cup title became a much sought piece of swag by shop employees and industry types.

Aaron has become the face of Bell in mountain bike--everything about him embodies the brand. In everything from marketing presentations (above) to heritage videos (forthcoming), the humble yet capable Gwin is a comfortable fit.

With the impending new product launch, the established branded visual is iterated to deliver product messaging while leveraging sports marketing.

Aaron's second World Cup title was no less sweet, and we ran this ad in both print and online executions. You'll note how seamlessly it meshes with the brand visual identity--one we feel is both appropriate and "ownable."

Aaron looms large in Bell's mountain bike marketing...quite literally in this case.

Gwinny was all too happy to sign autographs and shake hands at the Interbike trade show despite an injured wrist. A true champion and professional.

Aaron made numerous trips to work on the new helmet. He was quite insistent and proud to sign off the final prototype (below).

CURATE CULTURE

PARTICIPATING IN ADJACENT CULTURES ENRICHES BRAND

Partnering with '50's-style hot rod builder and pinstripe artist Skratch, we created a marketing story that both echoes Bell's "builderly" values as well as emphasizes our brand take on art and style. The story was told across the marketing spectrum--online, social media, in-store, media relations, on-package--and even in-person...Bell used Skratch extensively at trade and consumer events to activate the initiative. The relationship continues to be mutually beneficial with Skratch's work making its way across not only models in the Bell Powersports line, but Cycling as well, helping to unify the brand and leverage assets efficiently and authentically across the business.

The story of Skratch was told across the entire spectrum of touch points, from digital to print to in-store and at events.

Skratch painted dozens of helmets at consumer and trade events to bring the collaboration to life.

BE THERE AND MATTER

BELL SUPER ENDURO STOKES LOCALS, PROVIDES PRODUCT RUNWAY

In the run-up to the formal launch of a new all-mountain/enduro helmet, Bell wanted to build a runway into the category well before the product was even announced. The reason was threefold--first, we wanted to embed ourselves in this quickly growing market segment and gather product insight to specifically serve this rider. Second, we wanted to establish credibility in the space to create an authentic storytelling hook. Third, all-mountain has an accessible, sharable energy to it--something that echos Bell's democratic spirit and appeals to our notion of growing the sports we both live for and live from. In that spirit, we commissioned a video to document our sponsorship of the Bell Super Enduro--a race on our local trails that was part of the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival. The video begot new rider and event sponsorships and that begot the eventual unveiling of the helmet during the fall trade show season. The reception is astounding, and the Super is by far the most anticipated helmet from Bell in a decade.

Announced in the fall of 2012, the Bell Super has a direct connection to the Bell Super Enduro race both in name and product development--a number of Bell's sponsored-riders gave valuable product development input as the result of testing and training done in muddy conditions before the race.

We created a suggested route map as a companion to the event so non-competitors could enjoy the trails without getting lost. The map can be downloaded here.

FIND YOUR VOICE

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE MAKES CAMPAIGN DISTINCTIVE, MEMORABLE

The Hard Road is a campaign we developed to launch the Bell Gage road cycling helmet in the spring of 2012. We sought to develop a point-of-view for the category that set Bell apart from its competitors and to reflect the brand's gritty, blue collar, motorsports-inspired DNA. We also wanted to attach the product to marquee athletes and leverage them to tell our story. Though we hoped for some race wins in the spring Classics season to add an exclamation point to the campaign, they never materialized. Fortunately,we designed the concept to be agile and  realized a successful launch regardless. The campaign included digital banner ads, social media, print ads, a video short, in-store materials and shop stoke swag.


This short video aligned product, sports marketing and Bell's brand POV. Its aesthetics were carried throughout digital, in-store and print communications.

MAKE IT WORK

FINDING THE HOOK WHEN NONE IS APPARENT

This is an example of successful brand storytelling despite having the deck stacked against us. Though Mongoose got into the high-end titanium bike business for all the wrong reasons, we were fortunate to have a visionary product manager named Chris Conroy (now of Yeti Cycles) who was resolute and uncompromising in developing product. Just as Chris had done his very best on the product side, I did my best on the marketing side, hiring the best rider we could find with the money we had--Steve Larsen, now dearly departed--and leveraging him to tell our product story despite not having the right ammo or even the right gun. I would neither have picked TV as the medium nor the Tour de France as the vessel--it was inefficient, expensive and inauthentic--we had no team in the race. But those were the marching orders. Undaunted, I tapped Steve's personality and pedigree as the creative basis for the spots and think the work holds up to this day. Wish I could say the same for the music we picked.

CREATE A STORY

PEOPLE CAN TELL WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN--SO DON'T BE AFRAID

This is a hurried shoot and edit I did just to get used to the cameras and editing gear. While neither professional nor polished, I think it's indicative of my storytelling instincts and ability. I call on these skills daily whether producing a video, putting together a presentation or creating, say, a portfolio. 

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WRITING SAMPLE #1

In October of 2012, I participated in a tour of bicycle shops conducted by the trade publication Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. BRAIN subsequently asked me to provide commentary on the tour which published in their November issue:

OF BAGPIPES AND CARPET SWEEPS: 
Portland’s bike culture more than skin deep

I thought I could escape unnoticed by doing the sheepish, fast walk, don’t-make-eye-contact thing as I rolled my grimy bike down the freshly-swept hallway. But no dice—the mechanical carpet sweeper stopped moving and I could feel his eyes on me.

“Hey,” said the hotel cleaning guy as I braced for a WTF?

Fun absurdities are but one 

aspect of Portland's vibrant 

cycling culture. 

Photo: Bearly Rambling

“That blinky light is insanely bright—what kind is it?” he continued, apparently unconcerned about the grit stripe I just painted on his carpet.

I gave him the run-down on the Blackburn Flea light clipped to my backpack, then ducked into my room for its USB charger and gifted him the kit for his third-shift commutes.

While we had our share of Portlandia moments during the BRAIN Dealer Tour, I took this encounter as an encouraging harbinger—proof that bikes here are about more than the “Unipiper”—a guy dressed as Darth Vader in kilt who plays the bagpipes while unicycling. No, this was just a regular guy, working an everyday, real world job—THIS is the guy we as an industry want to connect with. While our tour of Portland’s finest bike dealers was enlightening and educational, this was my ah-ha moment.

I was reminded of the democratic nature of bikes and, how given the right confluence of culture, necessity and infrastructure, they can be truly transformative. I ride away with a renewed vigor for both our industry and advocacy, because it occurs to me that we’d be a whole lot better off with more hotel guys on bikes…and maybe even another Unipiper or two.

Don Palermini

Director of Marketing, Bell and Blackburn

WRITING SAMPLE #2

I recently started writing for the cycling review websites Mountain Bike Review (MTBr) and Road Bike Review as a contributing editor. This is a technical review I wrote that went live in late February 2012:

Brilliant MRP G3 brings chainguide performance, maintenance to new heights

by Don Palermini

The sleeker, more integrated G3 represents a functional and aesthetic step up from the competition.

Aside from a crash, a mechanical failure, or an encounter with Sasquatch, the last thing you want when barreling at mach speed through a rock garden is to have your chain bounce off. Catastrophes aside, the distraction anxiety of chain slap also ranks high on the Unwanted List. Finally, protecting your one and only chainring from inevitable impacts on rocks and logs is mission critical in the middle of nowhere, and mission really-nice-to-have even when you're close to civilization.

Mountain Racing Products (MRP) have built a solid reputation for solving such issues, initially developing dependable, lightweight chainguides and bashguards for the gravity market, then iterating the designs for the trail ride and all-mountain segments as well as cross country use. They even have a cyclocross-specific 1x guide. The versatile G3 cuts a fairly wide swath across the gravity side of the spectrum with intentions ranging from aggressive all-mountain riding and enduro racing to downhill and freeride.

MRP adds better serviceability to proven formula

The G3 features MRP's proven three-point retention/protection matrix of an upper guide, a lower guide/chain tensioner and a bashguard or "skid" as the company calls it. New to the equation is the integration of the skid and lower guide into a single part, paving the way for Swingset--a clever pair of pivots designed to improve drivetrain serviceability, chainring swaps, and fine tuning. Throw the thoughtful use of just one hex bolt size (4mm) for all mounting and adjustment hardware, and you begin to see how well MRP thinks things through.

The G3's Swingset makes getting at drivetrain parts easy. Simply remove two fixing bolts--one on the upper guide and one on the skid and you're in. 

In addition to better serviceability, the sleek, integrated design of the skid and lower guide makes the G3 lighter and stronger than previous designs where these parts were separately bolted to the backplate. Made of durable polycarbonate, the lower guide comes with a sealed-bearing idler pulley installed. Fine-tuning the idler is as simple as loosening the mounting bolt and sliding it fore or aft then re-tightening. A captured nut on the back of the guide make these adjustments thankfully fumble-free and easy. MRP also includes the optional G-Slide block, a slippery urethane slider with no moving parts that can be swapped with the pulley for muddy conditions.

Since parts of both the upper and lower guides overlap the chainring to keep the chain secure, prior designs required full removal to get at the parts underneath. To change a chainring on the G2--this guide's predecessor--you'd end up with a hand full of small parts, bolts and washers which were fiddly to reinstall. With Swingset, you simply remove one fixing bolt from the lower guide and it pivots away. Remove one more bolt to open the upper guide and you have access to everything. The parts remain installed, vastly simplifying the act of servicing or changing the chain, chainring and cranks.

The nylon upper guide is also keyed to the backplate so it holds itself up during installation, eliminating the multi-finger balancing act of lesser designs. It too employs captured hardware, so the mounting nut is always at the ready. A small amount of adjustability is built-in for fine-tuning the guide's angle to help further minimize chain rub. A short piece of soft plastic tubing on the guide's tail quiets up-and-down chain slap against the unit itself. Finally, MRP took care to etch the backplate with a height adjustment guide based on chainring size. All one need do is align the top of the guide with the corresponding tooth number--in my case 33--and tighten the bolt. Simple.

G3 targets wide range of bikes, gearing options

According to MRP Marketing Manager Noah Sears--a pro downhill and enduro racer himself--the G3 is made for single-chainring bikes using 8-, 9-, 10- and 11-speed cassettes with standard-tension rear derailleurs. For newer clutch-style mechs--SRAM's Type 2 and Shimano's Shadow Plus--as well as for trail bike use, Sears recommends the company's AMG guide which eschews the lower guide for a slightly lighter, lower-friction setup.

The G3 is compatible with a wide range of current bikes, most of which are listed along with their mount type on the MRP website's Tech and Fit section. If you don't see your bike listed, call the company at (970) 241-3518 for compatibility info.

Aluminum, carbon and multiple mounting options available

The standard G3 features an aluminum backplate and is available in three mounting configurations--ISCG-05, ISCG and bottom bracket mount. It also comes in two chainring ranges--the 170 gram G3 Mini for 32-36 tooth chainrings, and the 190 gram G3 Mega for 36-40 tooth setups. Both are available in black or white and retail for $150.

MRP also offers a $200 version of the G3 with a carbon backplate in either ISCG-05 or ISCG mountings. The carbon not only knocks 50 grams off the standard version, but adds unexpected durability to the package. While carbon has a reputation for brittleness, MRP uses a special blend that flexes and returns after impacts. It's similar to the carbon used in outer space satellite dishes which are crumpled for deployment but spring back to their original shape when released in orbit.

The carbon backplate is available separately as an upgrade, but at $125, it makes more sense to buy a complete carbon G3 from the get-go if you're going to go the composite route.

G3 flaunts bomb-proof trail manners

I put the G3 through it’s paces on my all-mountain sled--a 160mm travel Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon equipped with a SRAM XO 10-speed (non-clutch) rear derailleur, and a Shimano XT (2X) crankset hosting a single, 33-tooth Praxis Works chainring.

Across a wide range of trail and urban conditions, dislodging the chain proved impossible--even when doing stupid things to encourage such. Not only did the chain stay put during the course of more than two months of aggressive all-mountain rides, but drivetrain clatter was remarkably minimal.

Sessioning rocky, rough trail sections with the rear suspension intentionally locked-out did more to rattle my dental work than upset the drivetrain. Whether big hits or rapid-fire staccato stutter, the G3 handled the rough stuff like the Honeybadger handles a snake--which is to say, it don't care. In urban drop-to-flat scenarios, the results were the same--rock solid retention and chain slap-free performance. The G3 also performed flawlessly in more realistic trail-ride situations, impervious to disruption no matter the pedigree--uphills, flowy sections, and small to mid-size jumps and drops produced no ill effects.

The G3 handled all manner of roots, rocks, stutter bumps and drops with aplomb.

Installation trials keep guide a few millimeters shy of perfection

So given the G3's awesome performance, light weight, smart features and reasonable price, what's not to like? Well, nothing MRP has any control over, and nothing that's not commonplace on any chainguide. Following the G3's instructions precisely, I set the spacing between the frame and the guide's backplate using the prescribed amount of spacers for the Nomad's 73mm bottom bracket shell. Unfortunately, once I had everything reassembled, the chain rubbed significantly against the upper guide when the chain was in the two highest gears. Figuring it perhaps needed to wear itself in, I left it that way for a few rides until I realized the rubbing wouldn't subside on its own.

In an attempt to remedy the situation, I added another spacer behind the backplate to push the unit away from the frame--MRP includes washers of varying thickness for this purpose. This simply moved the rubbing to my low gears at the other side of the cluster. After grinding up a couple extended steeps, I concluded it was worse than my original setup because it introduced more drag when I could afford it least--while climbing.

Frustrated, I finished my ride and gave a call to MRP's Mr. Sears who patiently and thoroughly explained the many variables effecting installation. The facing and/or alignment of ISCG tabs and bottom bracket shells can vary slightly in depth, influencing the side-to-side alignment of the crank, and ultimately the chainring in relation to the guide. Things like spindle length and chainline--which is different between 2x and 3x cranks, incidentally--come into play as well, and can easily account for the kind of rubbing issues I was having. The best manufacturers can do is give users a reasonable starting point and suggest some experimentation. In my case it took four variations of spacer combinations to get acceptable results--which is now a small but bearable amount of rub in both the largest and smallest gear.

While the captured hardware and Swingset feature removed some of the PIA-factor from the G3, you still need some trial-and-error on the initial install. Well worth it in the end though.

 Despite the huge advantage of MRPs Swingset for regular maintenance, there's no getting around the trail-and-error portion of the initial setup. During my four attempts, I dropped the spacers several times resulting in extended cussing and multiple do-overs. Note to MRP or Park Tool or somebody: Please make a (magnetic?) tool shaped like a BB wrench with ISCG-patterned washer perches you can use to hold spacers in place until you get the mounting bolts threaded--thanks.

The bottom line on the G3

Despite the setup niggles, the G3 is an excellent, well-designed, functional and lightweight chain retention and bashguard solution for aggressive riding. While my testing did not include true downhill use, its flawless performance in aggressive all-mountain environments suggests the discipline's heightened rigor would be well within its capability. With the likes of the Trek World Racing and Giant downhill teams, as well as all-time gravity legends Cedric Gracia and Brian Lopes putting time and input into the G3, you can ride assured it performs at a world class-level. Of all the stories I've heard from the World Cup circuit, Danny Hart scrambling away from Sasquatch after throwing a chain is not one of them.

Plusses

- Flawless performance

- Quality construction

- Smart, considered design

- Swingset makes service a breeze

- Lightweight

- Excellent phone and on-line customer support

- Sasquatch-resistant

- Reasonable price

- Carbon option

Minuses

- Potentially finicky initial setup

- Minor chain rub

Pricing Configuration

- G3 with aluminum backplate in ISCG-05, ISCG or BB mount in Mini (32-36 tooth) or Mega (36-40 tooth) configurations, $150

- G3 with carbon backplate in ISCG-05 or ISCG in Mini (32-36 tooth) or Mega (36-40 tooth) configurations, $200

More info at

mountainracingproducts.com

970-241-3518

Review originally posted here: MTBr MRP G3 review

OTHER WORK

ROLAND SANDS SPEED FREAK 2011


ANATOMY OF A WIN 2012

ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW 2012


BELL MUNI AND ARELLA INTRO 2011


BELL-DIRT SERIES VIDEO 2010