Measuring the value of PR is one of the biggest challenges in our industry. There are countless books, articles and seminars on the subject. At Backbone we’ve worked hard to develop PR metrics that we can report to our clients to show ROI. But sometimes talking about PR hits, impressions, ad equivalency and share of voice gets a little…dull.
This past week at the Interbike tradeshow we got to see the power of PR first-hand, in all its glitzy Vegas glory.
A few months ago we were approached by some of our longtime friends and riding buddies from the Roaring Fork Valley. Bill Emerson (a masters racer who regularly rides our legs off) and Neal Beidleman (an aerospace engineer/badass alpinist) had a new product they wanted to show us. It was a road cycling pedal, but it looked like it was missing half its hardware—namely the pedal platform. All that was left was a spindle with a spring-loaded barrel to secure the cleat.
Bill Emerson (right) shows Mike Shea (left) and Max Taam an early prototype of the Ultralite pedals
Like any good curmudgeonly cyclist would be, we were skeptical. Are they easy to get in and out of? Can you walk in them? Do they have float? (Yes, yes and yes.) At 112 grams, the pedal system is less than half the weight of the next lightest system on the market. But how did they ride?
Bill, Mike and Max out product testing
In a word: buttery.
We were sold and psyched to help Bill and Neal launch their new company, Ultralite Sports. We planned a PR launch strategy that would maximize exposure for the pedals in all the key vertical cycling and triathlon media outlets in an effort to drive as much interest and excitement as possible for Ultralite going into Interbike. We sent pre-production pedals to the most influential writers and spent a day in Boulder meeting with everyone from Velo, to Cycling News, to Bicycling.
On the day our PR embargo lifted, there was a feeding frenzy. Velo and Bike Radar engaged in a virtual battle to write about the pedals first. Bike Rumor, Red Kite Prayer and the Gear Junkie quickly followed suit. The Ultralite website blew up with traffic. The cycling forums were abuzz about the pedals.
All the initial coverage of the pedals was awesome, but the question still remained if it would it amount to anything for the guys at Ultralite.
A few minutes into day one of Interbike and the answer was clear. The Ultralite booth was situated in the basement of the tradeshow, in a hard to find location. But, shortly after the show opened there was line of people waiting to see the pedals. Everyone who came by said they had read about the pedals and wanted to see them first-hand. A steady stream of traffic came to the booth throughout the show. Ultralite also had several conversations with big players in the cycling industry who expressed interest in the pedal technology. Nothing’s been solidified, but the future looks bright for our friends at Ultralite.
The crowning achievement for us came at the end of day two as were heading out the door when we literally ran into Aaron Gulley from Outside magazine. Aaron was on the way to the Ultralite booth to deliver a coveted “Gear of the Show” award, one of just five the magazine delivered.
Aaron Gulley (left) from Outside presents the GOTS award to Neal, Jamie Emerson and Bill
It was the cherry on top of a great launch for a new company. We’re proud of our successful PR efforts, but mostly we’re just psyched to be helping out our friends.