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IMAGERY FOR CONCEPT PURPOSE ONLY

Schwinn

The awakening of an American icon.

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Unfortunately, the Schwinn brand lost its way over the last twenty-plus years. The positive emotions around the brand became a thing of the past, with long-established equity and brand presence being allowed to become diluted, damaged, and forgotten. It’s sad to say that Schwinn had become just another bike brand among so many available for the biking consumer to choose from.

Understanding this, Schwinn turned to United to help them identify where things went wrong and how the brand could be re-positioned, re-branded and revitalized. United partnered closely with Schwinns internal brand team to re-establish the brand in the hearts and minds of today’s biking consumers.

Schwinn is an American Icon; it’s one of the classic brands on which the USA was built. It’s part of the DNA of America; the mere mention of the name brings waves of happy memories to people in their 30s and above. Learning how to ride a bike after learning how to walk is one of a child’s most significant achievements; it’s a landmark event that is imprinted on all our minds, something each of us never forgot. The Schwinn brand name was synonymous with these memories.

BEFORE

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PREVIOUS BRANDING EXECUTIONS

Before you know where you are going, you must know where you have been.

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Like so many iconic brands before, the Schwinn brand became a victim of the dictates and demands of big box retailers. A trend that is detrimental to so many brands in which the brand and the product are sacrificed to meet the demands to deliver a lower-cost product. Additionally, the brand had become reactionary with no guiding principle or vision for the future.

The brand had completely lost its way and an understanding of what it stood for. A litany of brand logos, icons, marketing campaigns, and applications that had no grounding had been created to react to demands of the moment that didn’t align with a definitive brand strategy in any shape or form.

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IMAGERY FOR CONCEPT PURPOSE ONLY

Brand Positioning for a 360° Brand Program

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To ensure the success of the re-positioned brand, we knew we had to offer a more profound and more informed point of view on how to speak to a younger consumer. The first step was to demonstrate what the consumer cared about and the triggers that embodied their world. All aspects were considered: culture, lifestyle, how the audience consumes information, and their shopping patterns. This led to a mutual understanding that not only should the Schwinn brand message be more carefully considered, but the go-to-market strategy should expand to include traditional and digital advertising, in-store point of sale, sponsorship, events, and experiential occasions, to deliver a comprehensive 360° brand program.

Working in tandem with the Schwinn design and brand management teams, we put an emphasis on embedding this 360° brand program into the DNA and ethos of the business model, establishing a meaningful brand-building process that delivered a commercially effective solution.