Here's one for lovers of big S
Last Post 04/06/2016 12:30 PM by Kenny Gonzales. 6 Replies.
Author Messages
ChinookPass

Posts:809

--
04/05/2016 05:07 PM
http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2016/04/05/specialized-apologizes-for-better-bike-shop-ad-on-wreckage-of-greenwood-bike-shop/

Background: a few weeks ago, there was a gas explosion in Seattle which blew up most of a city block and severely damaged a local bike shop (not a brand S dealer).

Now this:



Quoted from the blog post:
The bicycle giant Specialized apologized today after G&O Family Cyclery tweeted photos of a street advertising campaign pasted on the wreckage of their former Greenwood shop that says, “BETTER BIKES COME FROM BETTER BIKE SHOPS.” G&O was severely damaged in a major gas explosion a month ago, prompting a big community effort to raise money to help the shop find a new location and keep its expert staff (including a fundraiser organized by this blog, Peddler Brewing and Familybike Seattle). G&O recently announced a new temporary location a block north on Greenwood Ave. “I feed bad about it,” said Erick Marcheschi, Global Marketing Manager at Specialized. “It was 100 percent not intentional.” Marcheschi said the company contracts with street advertising companies in several cities including Seattle. Specialized provides the artwork for the ads, but the contracted companies (in this case Poster Giant) finds and chooses the locations. “They’re looking to opportunities where there are plywood surfaces they can put these wheatpastings on,” said Marcheschi. “It’s really unfortunate that this was one of those surfaces.” He has contacted Poster Giant to have them remove the ads as soon as possible. “We stand pretty firm behind independent bike dealers,” said Marcheschi, which is why he said he “feels like an arsehole” that this happened to the former G&O shop. G&O is not a Specialized dealer. The plywood covered in Greenwood were covered in community-generated murals following the explosion, many of which have since been covered by these and other ads. KUOW has a great roundup of the Greenwood murals from back when they were created. I gave a question out to Poster Giant and will update if I hear back.
SideBySide

Posts:444

--
04/05/2016 06:43 PM
Lame!
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

--
04/05/2016 07:29 PM
Yeesh.....I know Erich and he is a stand-up guy. I believe what he said 100%, but man, the optics on this we really bad!
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
79pmooney

Posts:3180

--
04/06/2016 12:12 AM
I know specialized had nothing to do with what its sub-contractor did here, but - Specialized does have a history of contracting firms that support Specialized with unethical behavior. (Anyone remember their law firm going after a small shop in Canada for the use of the word Roubaix, a word Specialized doesn't even own?)

What I don't see or sense from Specialized is any sense that ethics is part of their mindset when working with subcontractors. I used to work for a company where high ethic behavior was modeled from the top. Anyone dealing with them felt that at all levels. It can be done. And you cannot convince me that Speciaized is in such shaky grounds that such a stance might jeopardize its existence.

Ben
Dale

Posts:1767

--
04/06/2016 07:45 AM
^^ Ben nails it. Ethic start at the top
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

--
04/06/2016 08:01 AM
Yeah, great way to remind us of the Cafe Roubaix fiasco. Well done Specialized!
Gonzo Cyclist

Posts:568

--
04/06/2016 12:30 PM
wow, the Big "S" puts it's foot in it's mouth, again.............
if you read the comments on the story, everyone's major issue is with the contractor, Poster Giant, these guys must get paid for how many of these things they can throw up in a day, so, I imagine that led to a very poor choice, especially if they covered up a mural. Have some respect for the artists!!

"Better Bikes come from Better Bike Shops" ???

The article about the Spez E Bikes, and the Playboy Bunnies was pretty funny, I'm sorry, but:
Motor + Bike = Motorbike



---
Active Forums 4.1
NOT LICENSED FOR PRODUCTION USE
www.activemodules.com