Turning the fuel crisis into an opportunity for cycling – Brompton
Discover how we worked with Brompton Bicycle to transform a petrol station, making a powerful statement on the fuel crisis.
With rising costs of fuel and all eyes on the price at the pump it was the perfect opportunity to put cycling right at the centre of the conversation. Discover how we helped independent bike brand Brompton take over a petrol station.
“Do you know the volume of turf required to cover a petrol station forecourt?” queried project manager Miles Baker. It might sound like a bizarre general knowledge question but no, this was just one of the challenges of transforming a former petrol station into a cycling community space for the day. But before you focus on the detail you first need the big idea.
“When the fuel crisis began I knew it was an opportunity for cycling,” explains Fusion CEO Adam Tranter, “I could not get that out of my mind. It’s often forgotten that the Dutch got their cycling revolution from high oil prices. Seeing queues at the petrol pumps was the spark to come up with a way to subvert what people expected from the fuel price crisis and find a way to exploit the situation for cycling.”
“The initial concept was to tackle the price of fuel. It was rising rapidly and it looked like it was going to hit £2 per litre. That was to be a pivotal moment, when that happened we had to be ready. At first it was going to be a publicity stunt – a billboard showing the cost of petrol that day at £2 and a bike symbol for comparison. With the idea in place we waited for the price to hit the magic number.”
The longer the wait, the bigger the idea got. “During the wait we decided to tie it in with car-free day. We went forward and backwards, could it be more than a publicity stunt, could it be an activation?” The idea of taking over a petrol station was a tantalising one. Jack Mayorcas, Brompton Account manager moved it forward “We identified that a Brompton petrol station could serve several purposes; direct marketing for Brompton bike hire in the local area, but also a purpose-led opportunity, symbolically taking back the space used by a petrol station and returning to the community for car-free day.”
Being willing to think big
Big ideas can gradually get watered down into smaller more manageable projects once budget and time rear their ugly heads, but not this one “often when we have these crazy ideas they move on because they are too complicated or quickly go out of budget,” says Mayorcas, “sometimes an idea is met by clients saying it is too risky, but with Brompton they got the concept immediately and said go for it!”
Play at the pumps
With the fuel crisis and car-free day coinciding it was going to be difficult to cut through. It needed to be big and well-executed to get the desired impact. Project manager Miles Baker began the search for a venue, “we found an old petrol station forecourt that normally rents cars, the type of cheap white vans you might rent for a weekend to move house. The owner was a real salt of the earth, south-east London wheeler-dealer. We couldn’t do a digital contract, I had to go down there to get ink on paper. He was certainly curious as to how we would pull it off!”
The transformation from grimy garage to cycling haven took a lot of work and a lot of plants, “ This wasn’t a ready-to-go pop up space. I had no idea how much it costs to hire turf and live plants before this project,” Baker laughs, “We worked with Brompton’s in-house creative team in advance and our projects team delivered it on the day. As well as the turf and planting we had Katie, a graphic artist add character really quickly with her floor paints.”
As well as appearance it needed to be a welcoming space to encourage people to hang about, “we had like-minded partners like Lucky Saint non-alcoholic beer and Handle Bar coffees to help with refreshments. We brought in seats and created a Brompton test track.”
Attracting the right attention
To drive home the message of cycling as an alternative to expensive fuel Fusion secured a Clear Channel billboard directly opposite the site. A parking space was filled with 42 Bromptons, illustrating how many bikes can replace the space of a car. “It really worked visually, contrasting the old rusting petrol station with sleek new Bromptons. We were selling the cycling dream to commuters in ten-seconds,” explained Baker.
Initially it was just passer’s by noticing the site but as word got out on social media the site got busier. Active travel and Brompton enthusiasts started turning up. Mike Kane MP popped along. Even Jeremy Vine was talking about it. There was a fun moment when the Brompton Owners Group Indonesia who were visiting London at the time, all turned up for a ride-out, filling the space with 40 people.
Brompton’s Petrol Station take-over resulted in 15 pieces of media coverage with a total circulation of 879 million and an estimated 1 million readership, plus the social and in-person experience on the day. But something like this resonates beyond the publicity it attracts “ Ultimately it makes me very proud and fortunate to work for a company that has clients that have purpose and advocacy at their core. Taking a step back its massive – we took over a petrol station for car free day and gave it back to the community. It was a vision blueprint for what the world could look like with fewer cars,” says Mayorcas, “it takes trust from the client and belief that we share the same values and purpose to let us run with a hare-brained idea. You don’t get the opportunity to do something truly different every day.”
Brompton approved
Katherine Bunstead, UK marketing manager for Brompton, “Turning a petrol station into an opportunity to show our vision of what cities could look like was an inspired idea. At a time when drivers were feeling the financial pressure of escalating fuel costs we grabbed the attention not just of the press but also influencers, politicians and local people. Fusion executed the whole idea professionally and efficiently. It’s something we all can be really proud of.”
