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Product Launches |
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Micro Solutions' RoadStor |
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Gateway's Handbook |
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Zenith Data Systems' CruisePAD |
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Life Fitness' Lifecycle Exercise Bike |
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Zenith Data Systems |
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Mediaphile AV Technologies |
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Distributed Bits |
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Product Publicity
The Company: Life Fitness
The Product: Lifecycle Exercise Bike
The Challenge:
The Lifecycle exercise bike – the product that almost single-handedly spawned the boom in cardiovascular training in the early 1980s – was coming upon its 30th anniversary. Our communications challenge was to generate awareness and publicity about this product’s role in launching the cardiovascular exercise revolution.
The Strategy:
Gibson Communications put together a publicity program that included a wide variety of elements to reach a broad audience. One of those items was a contest to find the oldest Lifecycle bike that existed, the oldest Lifecycle bike that still functioned, and the oldest Lifecycle bike in the most unique location.
Another program element was a consumer survey that asked people, "Which celebrity would you most like to see riding the Lifecycle bike next to you?" From the results of the survey (Tom Cruise for women and Cindy Crawford for men), we developed a newspaper release that was distributed to hundreds of U.S. newspapers.
In addition, we conducted extensive research into the history of the bike, which led to the "Legend of the Lifecycle" story. This comprehensive piece detailed the creation of the bike by a renowned chemist, its many starts and failures, and its eventual wild ride to the top of the industry.
Finally, we produced a comprehensive press kit that contained a photo montage of the bike through the years, lists of products and people that also were celebrating 30 years that year, a document with interesting facts and stats about the Lifecycle, and more.
The Results:
The results can still be seen today. In addition to tremendous press coverage in trade and consumer publications, information about the bike and its past contained in the "Legend of the Lifecycle" continues to appear today in trade stories about the history of cardiovascular exercise; editors use this document as a reference tool when writing stories that pertain to the history of cardiovascular exercise or the people who played key roles in it.
In addition, the newspaper story with the survey results was placed in more than 1,000 newspapers across the country.