If you are out in NYC’s east village past midnight, you can’t help noticing an increase in the number of bicycles circulating. Which is indeed exciting news! Can this be the start of a big trend in America?
 | Is bike culture only for the die-hard bikers? |
I myself have been contemplating getting a bike to use for my daily transportation for the longest time. The only thing holding me back is a lack of storage issue, common to many New Yorkers (and the fact that I pay attention to everything, but the road and could easily get killed by a taxi). But that was until I took a closer look at the bikers circulating and noticed that they were not ‘regular people’ riding their bikes. These were serious bikesters!
They were clearly not only using their bikes with the intent of transportation. It was not just, about getting you from A to B quickly, in a ‘healthier for you, better for the environment and yet fun’ way. To put it simply, bikes are now accessories. Hipster accessories.
| Rafale - Drive video |
Now, if I get a bike, will people label me a hipster? Or even worse, will I be labeled a wannabe hipster? If I go the mountain bike route, then I’d be associated with biker short outfits and that’s not me either.
So one asks . . . ‘what to do?’
Contemplating all the “cool kids” biking in their ready-to-party outfits made me think of a much bigger marketing issue, which is in reverse to what we as marketers are always trying to create: Can we buy something without buying into the culture surrounding it? Is it ok to pick and choose our ideologies? Is it ok to want to buy something, but not want to be associated with it? Why is it becoming harder and harder to buy a product and not a culture? Does everyone want to badly belong to groups? Am I the only one that wants to be mostly association free?
Links to consider: