Manchester’s Love Your Bike Campaign
Wed ,29/03/2006Last week bike campaigners in Manchester staged a publicity event and launched an ad campaign which can be seen on billboard ads and on the back of buses around Manchester.
Love Your Bike ad Great Bridgewater St Manchester
The aim is to persuade car drivers to switch to the bike to get to work. The ad points out the three main benefits of commuting by bike: Burn calories, save cash, get there on time.
But for many would-be bike users there are two issues that may dissuade them from cycling: road safety and security of the bike whilst parked.
EOM is in favour of the ‘Love Your Bike’ campaign, if only to try and recapture the spirit of a time when there were fewer cars on the road.
But the guiding principle should be the ‘rule of thirds’: One section of travelling public will never ever use a bike, many others are already committed bike users and need no convincing. In the middle are the ‘floaters’, the ones who might be tempted onto two wheels – with a bit of gentle persuasion.
These are the people who should be targeted. After seeing the campaign, EOM has vowed to dust off the bike, currently languishing in the garage, and cycle the conurbation again. But does the campaign successfully target that middle group and does it address the issues of safety and security?
Make up your own mind by going to www.loveyourbike.org.
The campaign has been initiated by Friends of the Earth Manchester, with the support of Manchester City Council.
Here are some images of cyclists captured in the rain on Wilmslow Rd and in Whitworth Park on Wednesday 29 March 2006. Click to see an 800×600 version.
Footnote 30 November 2006: The Love Your Bike campaign, put together by Manchester-based agency Creative Concern, was a winner at the 2006 Green Awards www.greenawards.co.uk.
The award for Best Integrated Campaign under £100k was presented to Manchester Friends of the Earth for its joint public awareness campaign with Manchester City Council, at the Guildhall in London 29 November 2006.
