Surly Masher
In the spring of 2017, Full Cycle asked us to confer with them. As a non-profit organization serving youth experiencing homelessness, they are constantly looking for new revenue to support their mission. One of those streams includes various fundraising events. Unfortunately, their summer fundraiser didn't generate enough revenue to cover the growing expense sheet. And their winter fundraiser had become more trouble than it was worth.
Opportunity
As ‘winter ride’ ideas were bandied about, it occurred to us that a destination event might be easier to pull off – especially in winter. It also occurred to us that a long-awaited collaboration between Surly Bikes and Surly Brewing seemed overdue. Luckily a Surly Bikes employee overheard us, liked our ideas, and put us in contact with his brand manager. So we firmed up a working sponsor packet, emboldened ourselves, and pitched the idea. Long story short, our gambit worked and both Surly brands signed on.
Process
We immediately began transforming an idea into reality. This included naming the event and developing a visual brand identity that everybody could agree upon before applying them to needed marketing materials.
We were also deeply involved in the planning and management of tasks, people, and timelines required to create and promote the experience – from marketing activation through teardown and beyond.
Solution
We transformed the land behind Surly’s Minneapolis brewery to create a demo bike course for people to test ride Surly Bikes. This course surrounded a contained winter village filled with sponsor booths and fire pits for people the gather around. In addition to purchasing Surly Masher bundles (which contained socks, stickers, drink tickets, and a KEG bottle), we hosted a product raffle to generate additional revenue.
Results
The event won the day! We had hundreds of people show up for an outdoor winter event to ride bikes, socialize, and support Full Cycle. Surly Bikes and Surly Brewing proved to be eager and engaged partners. Initial costs for things like products and apparel were quickly recovered by online holiday sales, and we more than doubled our donation goal from partners and the community.