Post Marketing Case Write Up

        I chose to do my marketing case study on BIKETOWN, which is a public transportation system in Portland that was funded by Nike.  BIKETOWN is all throughout Portland, it is a bike share system.  A bike share system means that anyone can ride the bikes (as long as you have the app).  To make BIKETOWN possible, Nike teamed up with Motivate Co. which is the number one provider for bike share systems in the United States, as well as SoBi, who is in charge of providing the bikes for people to ride.

        To be able to ride one of the bikes, all you have to do is download the app on your phone and set up an account.  Once the account is set up you get a pass code to unlock the bikes.  All you do is type your code into to LED screen located on the back of the bike, and you're off!  As far as rates go, there are three options.  The first is the single ride option.  It is only $2.50, but only gets you 30 minutes of riding time.  The second option is a day pass.  A day pass is $12, but comes with 24 hour access to the bikes and 180 minutes of riding time.  The final option is the annual membership.  The membership is $12 a month and comes with unlimited access to the bikes paired with 120 minutes of riding time per day.

       I think it was really smart of Nike to endorse BIKETOWN because it is not only promoting a healthy lifestyle and a somewhat profitable business idea, but the marketing aspect is pretty phenomenal.  Every single bike is decked out with Nike logos, with 1000 bikes, that's 1000 advertisements for Nike that they are being paid for.  It's genius!
  I would say that their value proposition is, "cheap and eco-friendly public transportation."  However I also think it could include something about getting paid for advertising.  I know that the whole idea of marketing is to invest in an idea and the marketing idea eventually ends up paying for itself and more.  But with BIKETOWN it is doing that AND making money while people ride the bikes around.