ClearChannel may be in the business of selling advertising space but they also “want to participate in making the public environment more comfortable and functional” and are beginning to combine advertising space with utility.
ClearChannel now provide cleverly designed street furniture that adds value to the urban space as well as providing a marketing platform. We happen to know that ClearChannel put value on design thinking to inform their strategy because they’ve worked with our friends Frost Produkt to create their bespoke bicycle service system.
So far, Citybike schemes have been set up in Oslo, Bergen, Drammen and Trondheim in Norway, and Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden but plans exist for several more European cities. As a consequence, bike service systems have become the latest branded utility.
ClearChannel see the bicycle system as a means of integrating transportation and connecting the city; the bikes overlap various transport routes. The service provides access to mobility without needing to own a bike. So, we no longer need to purchase, store and maintain a bike to move around on one. We love it: it’s cheap, it’s green, it is a beautiful example of customer-led design thinking and it turns marketing into a utility. Streetcar in the UK and Zipcar in the US are doing a similar thing offering pay-as-you-go car services for urban dwellers. The cars are accessed for use but not owned by individuals.
A great initiative but one that prompts some further thoughts: Why aren’t bike manufacturers selling services like this in cities all over the world? Raleigh bikes in the UK has been struggling for years to increase bike sales and make cycling sexy at a time when the country is facing an obesity epidemic and cities are suffering major congestion problems! The major barriers to cycling in the UK are storage, theft and lack of sex appeal. Citybike addresses all of these things. It also has the potential to socialize cycling by making it something we participate in, as a group, under the Citybike membership.
Why are car manufactures not designing lightweight, alternative fuel, networked, service-ready vehicles and establishing car service systems across Europe? Streetcar, Zipcar and many others have in a way beaten them to it, but without the manufacturer included in the business model there’s no incentive for them to support reduced use and access over actual ownership of vehicles. Product Service Systems work best, for the triple bottom line, where the product and the service provision are linked together.
Our friends at PSFK have been talking a lot about 'branded utility' lately. The new term means building brands through the provision of useful services that play a role in peoples lives and/or participate in social change. Citybike does just this. It would be nice to see car companies like Volvo or Saab getting involved in a way that could eventually lead to the launch of their own car service systems.
Access Over Ownership is emerging as an important economic model in the 21st century. A new worldview - perhaps?
This system is also working in Barcelona
More info at: http://www.bicing.com
Posted by: Roger | 31/07/2007 at 14:31