Hey there!
Dang! It has been about a month since I last wrote. Whereas last summer I dropped the ball on the newsletter due to difficult circumstances, this time its been due to project enhancements!
2019's summer months have been everything but relaxed & Twotone has been picking up the pace since the 2nd half of the year started.
Though I typically wax poetic for these intros, this time I'm sharing a quick recap of a few current projects of which, we're quite proud:
• We assembled an international team to pitch non-cycling media about Specialized's new Creo SL during Le Tour across France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium and England. With 8 people in 5 countries, this project is our biggest yet!
• We've ensured that several cool activations (like this one, and this one) with Bram Tankink, the KNWU & Nederlandse Loterij garnered local and national coverage here in The Netherlands. (Thank you again Michiel for this one!)
• We got Cannondale's Tesoro & Quick Neo featured in de Volkskrant and Financiele Dagblaad here in Holland. As well as beginning to planning an upcoming international event for them.
• For Ampler, we not only produced but also shot and had our own colleague Guy and his girlfriend Esther star in a photoshoot here in Amsterdam and will do so again in Switzerland in a few weeks.
• We kicked of a rack contest with Pelago and are gearing up for international expansion across the globe with them. They turn 10 this month!
• SILCA has big news here in Europe coming up + some new b2b and public marketing initiatives coming up. Not to mention some great content we helped create for them.
• For both Wahoo and Komoot, we've been focused on The Netherlands for editorial reviews, media campaigns, ride activations and some other newness coming up in the pipeline.
On a personal note, a year of struggling to find the stoke, I've recently been plotting a few audacious adventures, work related weekend rides and other awesome excuses to get out on the bike:
* FURTHER | August 23rd - 26th – the start of this race is coming up quick and much like my vibe before Silk Road last year: I know I have what it takes but this time, I'm in a better frame of mind. And, dare I say: in it, to win it! FRTHR.CO
* The VOTEC Gravel Fondo | August 31 - Sept 7 – I've seen this event from afar for years and this year was invited to attend. I'll do a talk about The Silk Road Mountain Race that weekend during the fondo and then ride with the Votec team ~300km to Eurobike. Votec Gravel Fondo
* BOHEMIAN BORDER BASH | Sept 12 - 15 – The Bohemian Border Bash is being put on by my good friend Ondrej of Chimpanzee Bars. If you can make it, this event is not to be missed: BOHEMIANBORDERBASH.COM
* Ride to Road Worlds | Sept 27 - 30 – I'm riding with the Dutch Cycling Federation along with a number of other guests including media to the UCI Road Worlds Champs for our project supporting the Dutch Lottery: Yorkshire 2019
* #TPRNo1 | Oct 4th - 9 (?) - The Trans Pyrenees Race is gonna be a big one. Climbing some of the most famous routes of the Pyrenees including Col d'Aubisque, Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aspin + lots of other surprises: TRANSPYRENEES.CC
If you'll be at any of these events (Eurobike too!), let me know and let's catch up!
As always, thank you for reading : )
with appreciation,
Jon
p.s.
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Cycling
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Absolutely awe inspiring and stunning. Congratulations Fiona!
Hydration and Reality
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You could wear it on your bike, Ornot.
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Startups
Homerun's guide to Diversity & Inclusion
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It's not who you know. It's who you trust.
Cooper is a trusted professional network built on meaningful introductions and real relationships.
I'll be trying it out with the intro's I make and that are requested of me.
Sales & PR
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They say someone's name, to them, is the sweetest word in the English language.
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An exclusive look at Binet and Field’s new B2B marketing research | The Drum
Those findings, in brief:
- Advertising does work in B2B “Share of voice is a relevant metric in B2B. How fast a brand grows to a very large depends on its share of voice and in particular whether its share of voice is above or below its share of market. That rule seems to apply almost exactly to B2B."
- 54% sales activation and 46% brand building As compared to B2C: 60% brand, 40% activation
- "Reach is the name of the game" Campaigns that take a broad approach to increasing the customer base work best of all
- Brand building is emotional, activation is rational Works the same in B2B as B2C, tho B2B should be slightly more rational
Radness
HULL TO YORK & BACK | ~190km of mixed terrain on a tandem & a bmx!
Two weeks ago, Kristy, Errol (8) and Brayden (15) set off from the ferry port in Hull to ride nearly 90km to York. Peek the route on Komoot. Kudos to Brayden for doing 18okm on the weekend on a BMX! Oof!
We traveled there to celebrate #10yearsoffeather. Ricky & Sally had invited me back before Bristol even and it was the perfect opportunity to visit a corner of the UK that none of us had been before.
Seeing nearly 40 Feather Cycles in one room and so many friends, customers and family supporting Ricky's past 10 years of effort was quite inspiring. He and Sally are recently engaged too, so the celebratory vibe was high indeed! Plus, we got a soggy group ride in to boot!
The ride back the next day had less trails & gravel but a flat tire and grumpy kids. We made it to the ferry with 15mins to spare! More photos on Kristy's insta!
Feather has built ~300 frames in 10 years!
Check #10yearsoffeather for more photos.