Earlier this quarter, our team was assigned to write about Solé Bicycles. We were all excited because we thought the business was very interesting based on our initial research. However, due to an unexpected conflict, we were unable to continue the project with the company. A few weeks later, when Solé Bicycles was available to work with the class again, we immediately signed up to finish what we had started.
Speaking with Solé Bicycles founder Jimmy Standley was insightful for Daytona Clarke. Clarke was in charge of writing the story and she found his background as a college entrepreneur insightful for The Intrepid audience.
“I was able to interview the CEO/President of Solé Bicycles and it was really interesting to hear about how he went from a regular student to running a pretty successful company,” Clarke said.
Due to to the high quality and aesthetically pleasing content available on the Solé Bicycles website and social media platforms, creating the visual components for this story was an easy and fun process for team members Katie Halstead and Lauren Ladrech.
“I was able to incorporate pictures and a graphic into this story very well,” Halstead said. “Their [Solé Bicycles] Instagram page and website share the company’s values and I was able to cast those values into the pictures I chose.”
Ladrech also used courtesy media to aid her video. “With the help of the owner, Jimmy, I was provided with some awesome footage from a shoot Solé Bicycles did on a trip to the central coast.” Lauren Ladrech
The company’s great content encouraged me to pursue a distribution strategy focused on this imagery. The video and photo elements were of such high quality that I thought posts on Instagram to promote the company would be the best.
Photoshoots and video footage of Solé Bicycles show the company’s colorful, minimalist, simple bikes. Standley said the founders’ backgrounds in fashion inspired the design of Sole Bicycles.
“We almost looked at the business like a fashion company instead of a bicycle brand,” Standley said. “So you can see this in the colors and the way we market our products and collaborations. We took this unique approach to the bicycle industry, and that’s how it’s gotten to where we are today.”