MONNEM BIKE

It started as a totally normal pitch. The city of Mannheim was looking for an idea for the "closing ceremony" of its 200 year bicycle anniversary celebration. What this turned into could not have been more wonderful or exciting. In the exhilaration of the conceptual design phase, it soon became clear to us that the city needed an overarching brand as well as a great stage show. Something that would quickly, succinctly convey what it was all about. And, to be honest: who knew that the bicycle was invented in Mannheim? We didn't. At least not all of us. After a spontaneous, single-handed mini-market research session in the "square city", we realized that (almost) nobody in Mannheim knew it either.

So, the key question was: How do we manage to get the people of Mannheim to build a relationship with this brand and celebrate it as well? And suddenly it appeared: the idea. "MONNEM BIKE" – the combination of a strong regional reference that the people of Mannheim could accept for themselves and the international word for bicycle. These two words are understandable in Beijing, San Francisco and Moscow. Our idea was received so well that the city of Mannheim not only pronounced us the winner of the pitch process but also made our brand the umbrella brand for the entire anniversary year. What is more, we were directly able to win the next pitch: a conventional advertising campaign for civic participation with integrated voting on a landing page. All under "our" brand and domain monnem-bike.de.

Looking back, we see that the name has indeed made it around the world. A Mannheim couple has been cycling around the world for a year with a MONNEM BIKE flag. They take pictures at the places where they stop and tell everyone from Istanbul to Thailand where it all began. The heads of the branch office have celebrated fantastic PR successes with their story, from Chinese radio to the Washington Post. And a strong bicycle community has formed in the city itself. We love it when a plan comes together.