[Closed] Corporate cycling bobbins...

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Harry the Spider 100% happy with what he's presenting to the MD.

It's bullshit but at least it's promoting cycling.

Do the ends justify the (bullshit) means?

Harry the Spider 100% happy with what he's presenting to the MD.

I've just had a bit of a read. A bit BSy but not as bad as some stuff I've read and TBH not enough to put me off.

My biggest complaint would be that if I do what most financial people do and click on 'pricing', it tells me what it costs but it's not obvious what I actually get (tangible!) for that money.

Can somebody explain what "intrinsic unmanufacturability" is?

(from a magazine article NTDW pleasecycle)

I love the Team profile page, they all have other jobs doing other incredibly intangible work... probably with an offshore account, funded by mummy and daddy.

[url] http://pleasecycle.com/the-team/ [/url]

If you read the 'Team' link on their website...

[i]"Ry (their CEO) landed a placement at CURB Media during the summer of 2009 and gained a profound understanding of the advertising industry[/i]

That must mean he was stuffed full of BS words, rattled around a bit like a tombolo and out popped Pleasecycle.

Reading the resumes (from the site) of the people involved, it does beg the question of why they'd be involved in such a venture as this, and how they'd have the time to do so, given their illustrious careers.

Ry (their CEO) landed a placement at CURB Media during the summer of 2009 and gained a profound understanding of the advertising industry

That did make me laugh. A summer placement during which he gained a [b]profound[/b] understanding. LOL. That section really is BSy...

Oooo... and I love this:

Their head of communications:

[i]Oliver is the founding director of The Hunting Dynasty, a sustainability communications agency specialising in creative ways to promote products and behaviour, using a blend of advertising, innovative messaging, and behavioural theory.[/i]

Beautiful words.

I use innovative messaging all the time, like writing 'GFY' on post-it notes and popping it in the fridge on my workmates lunch.

You'd think we were selling stocks/oil instead of inspiring cycling given the personal comments, although we do love the activity PleaseCycle seems to have generated!

Admittedly our copywriter may have swallowed a scrabble-board while typing up the website, but it's something that can/will be changed according to feedback like this. That said, our overall intent and offering is very much a bike friendly one-stop-shop for companies to get more involved in cycling, and we're happy to see quite a few people identifying that as a very positive thing.

Many thanks to people who have made contact and expressed such opinions directly - keep them coming!

Continuing the discussion, how would you all feel if your employer offered an extra 5 minutes of holiday time for every return journey you made to work by bike? And no, pigs haven't grown wings quite yet, it's [url= http://www.maydaynetwork.com/journey-stories/forster-inspiring-behavioural-change-within ]actually starting to happen[/url].

P.s - Buttscratcher has been cracking us up in the office. If he/she is ever in London and fancies a beer then get in touch.

I must say, typical STW responses to someone actually doing something. Like the thread the other week about the scooters, this kind of thing brings out the worst kind of pack mentality.

Only here could a website encouraging cycling be seen as a negative thing.

Only here could a website encouraging cycling be seen as a negative thing.

I think you'll find I was actually very positive (and that was before "pleasecycle" came along and started posting). My constructive criticism (which is pretty much the criticism of everyone else, even if some folk have been a bit more vitriolic than others) is that the language they've utilised to roll out their tangible and intangible benefits and leverage positive outcomes isn't what 99% of us want to read...

Great idea, just fix the writing.

Admittedly our copywriter may have swallowed a scrabble-board while typing up the website, but it's something that can/will be changed according to feedback like this. That said, our overall intent and offering is very much a bike friendly one-stop-shop for companies to get more involved in cycling, and we're happy to see quite a few people identifying that as a very positive thing.

Write it yourself like this ^^^! You come over way better on here than on your own site.

5 minutes per round trip ride to work... by a rough calculation I make that about 2.5 days extra holiday per year up for grabs if you commute every day?

I'd take that (my company already lets me buy extra holiday, but this would be nice too).

No extra benefit for people who ride further? I can foresee resentment when the bloke who usually walks from around the corner brings a bike with him to get himself the same amount of extra holiday as my 15 mile commute through the teeth of a gale.

Dave

Not going to go into the website, I think that's been covered pretty accurately above, but...

how would you all feel if your employer offered an extra 5 minutes of holiday time for every return journey you made to work by bike?

So, approximately [edit] 2 days per year if you cycle to and from work everyday. It would be nice, but not as useful as showers & secure storage.

I don't commute to work anymore as I work from home these days but when i did the main drawbacks were the rate at which I went through components and clothing. So from an employee perspective I would say the most useful thing after storage and showers would be a hefty discount with a good local bike shop. The holidays thing is nice but it wouldn't sway me one way or the other.

Fair point crazy legs - but you get my point.

I think the idea itself is a good one, but the marketing of it is quite odd and comes across as a bit pretentious 🙂

To appease some comments on the first page this has just been sent to our copywriter:

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Nice work.

Wind. Sorry.

Agree with the general opinion on here, good idea, flowery/****y language overdone even if the website is being pitched at HR/CEO level rather than employees. We are all cynics though...

3 main things I'd be concerned about:

- Nothing about showers and changing facilities/storage, most places have at least somewhere to lock a bike to a fence but without showers and changing rooms and lockers or similar, only the hardcore (read happy to strip off in the loos after a 15mile commute in the snow, wash their armpits with cold water in the sink, throw on yesterdays shirt with a liberal blast of deodorant) will be OK with cycling in. This is usually harder to sort in small places and is exactly the sort of thing they should be helping with.

- I've obviously only seen the website not the actual package, but the cycle storage all looks geared to internal space, something about locked and covered sheds and cctv would make most folks happier than outdoors bike racks when internal space is at a premium (lots of places).

- Possibly very importantly, there seems to be no mention of the cycle to work tax break scheme at all - do you actually assist with that, as again it's a great incentive but lots of companies big and small don't want the hassle of setting it up and need to be guided through the process. Maybe you could employ Harry-The-Spider as an example of premier class objective leveraging of MD level clients to facilitise envisaging and achieving goal led targets going forwards for the intangible and tangible benefit of multiple hierachichal stakeholders (or in plain language sorting out the c2w scheme to get more folks cycling for the good of everyone).

And you do come across way better on here than the website.

Can we take this off-line yet?

That's the spirit!

So, now that you've won us over...

What exactly do you provide?

I'm not trolling here. If I had 100 employees and got you in to do your stuff what would I get for my money? (I'm assuming that your services aren't free.)

companies big and small don't want the hassle of setting it up and need to be guided through the process. Maybe you could employ Harry-The-Spider as an example of premier class objective leveraging of MD level clients to facilitise envisaging and achieving goal led targets going forwards for the intangible and tangible benefit of multiple hierachichal stakeholders (or in plain language sorting out the c2w scheme to get more folks cycling for the good of everyone).

I only did it to get a cheap road bike! £700 down to £428 over 12 months if you know where to look 😉

Companies love this sort of 'greenwash' crap and if someone's trying to leverage some of the spare corporate cash by giving them what they want to please their stakeholders then good luck to pleasecycle.

I used to work for O2 and they organised a LEJoG relay once. I stupidly agreed to do a leg cos I was one of the only people in my control centre to cycle to work. I was astounded! The money raised was eclipsed by the fuel bill for the chase cars. About 12 cyclists doing approx 12 mph over 15 miles. One vehicle ahead of us , three behind us, all crawling along with hazards flashing. Some legs were completed by runners - imagine how slow they went! But the company went into green-fuelled charity ecstasy!

This company would love it!
http://www.reynholm.co.uk/profile.php

I use innovative messaging all the time, like writing 'GFY' on post-it notes and popping it in the fridge on my workmates lunch.

😆

"[i]Ry (their CEO) landed a placement at CURB Media during the summer of 2009 and gained a profound understanding of the advertising industry [/i]"

Heh. I read that as "Ry spent his internship money on a truckload of coke".

"[i]a bike friendly one-stop-shop for companies to get more involved in cycling[/i]"

Oh. HALLEBLOODYLUJAH! Print that out on a sheet of A0, staple a dead badger to it, and dump it on the desk of whoever wrote your current strapline of "We provide organisations with turkey solutions to inspire cycling in the workplace".

Thanks again to all who have been in touch and also to those who posted insightful comments on this thread. We really appreciate the feedback and will certainly make a few changes because of it. As a company our proposition is about getting more organisations to invest in cycling by creating one place to fulfill all their cycle needs.

In reponse to HtS above, we provide two main services to clients upon sign-up. [b]The first[/b] is an online hub of information which has (a) a section for employees where they can learn about cycling, record journeys/miles, plan routes, shop for discounted-equipment etc.; and (b) a section for employers with tools to promote cycing, the benefits of doing so, and how they could become more cycle friendly. [b]The second[/b] is called "Bike Concierge," a list of bookable cycle services to cater for any corporate cycling need - whether training, maintainence, parking solutions, c2w scheme, charity rides or otherwise. Access to both the online hub and Bike Concierge are included in a single [url= http://pleasecycle.com/how-it-works/pricing/ ]price[/url] per organisation.

If anyone else wishes to speak more directly about PleaseCycle and our offering then we're still happy to chat via info@pleasecycle.com - so feel free to get in touch.

So you provide a repository of cycle related information but don't actually provide any physical service beyond that?

@muppetWrangler - To clarify, [url= http://pleasecycle.com/bike-concierge/ ]Bike Concierge[/url] is a "list" of accessible services. I.e. we actually provide the service as/when required, such as quarterly maintenance sessions or a staff cycle event, for example. A lot of cycling services out there aren't specifically tailored to a corporate environment, so we've built a network of great cycle suppliers and tweaked their offerings to suit businesses. Ultimately, if a HR department wanted to give 50 employees the opportunity to become confident commuting by bike then they'd simply need to call PleaseCycle and we'd do the rest.

@pleasecycle

Cheers for taking my comments in the manner they were intended.

I'd love a beer next time I'm London-bound. I used to be a Technical Writer, so have a passion / pedantism for words and their use.

To all on STW:

We've now tweaked a LOT of the copy on the website according to the feedback on this forum and some individual emails. We'd love your ongoing thoughts (whether positive or negative) so feel free to check out the renewed text and get in touch: [url= http://pleasecycle.com/ ]www.pleasecycle.com[/url]

The "What We Do" pages have probably had the most work done, so be sure to give them a read... If any of it tickles-your-fancy or gets-your-goat then don't hesitate to get in touch: info@pleasecycle.com

Oh, and we recently created a fact-sheet to run under the noses of employers to relay the benfits of cycling ([url= http://pleasecycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PleaseCycle_InspiringCycling.pdf ]Downloadable PDF[/url]). Any thoughts you have on that are equally welcomed.

(p.s - same email goes for you, Buttscratcher - London pint is on us.)

Please don't forget to leverage the synergies. Or something.

Pleasecycle - well done for taking the piss taking well and taking the comments on board.

here is a useful link for you

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

This is why I love STW, and Pleasecycle you have portrayed you and your company very well on here when it would have been very easy to hide. The Website is now reading much better.

I have sent you an email as I shall refer your services to my employer as they are currently looking to alternative transport arrangement.

All the best.

As a marketeer with 15 years experience IMO that reads a whole lot better...
A couple of things IMHO
1. You may want to source all your claims about the benefits of cycling - more believable and may help to persuade resistant senior people
2. STW may or may not be your target audience, would recommend trying to get some focus groups together if you have the budget
3. One of the biggest barriers to people taking up cycling is the fear factor - you may want to address that as a key message
4. You're one of the few organisations I've seen using social media to engage properly with their audience i.e. taking the criticism on the chin, openly joining the debate and making changes.

Best of luck, hope it works, more people riding the safer it should get...

derek starship - "what a crate of old tits"

thanks, i just laughed and dribbled coffee on myself.... !

Swear of the month award to you sir.

(edited to say, now i've read the whole thing, 10/10 to pleasecycle for their response to some good-natured ribbing, i expect they'll do a whole lot better without the bingo-words)

You may want to source all your claims about the benefits of cycling - more believable and may help to persuade resistant senior people

i can't remember the last time i saw such vicious p"ss-taking taken so squarely on the chin with barely a wobble.

although the old website text was funny, now it seems like it was written by a human, for humans.

good luck.

🙂

oh, er, how about an 'examples' page? with... examples of stuff you've done, and what it cost.

?

Add to the comments above, I think PleaseCycle has actually come out of this amazingly well. It would have been so easy to ignore this thread or come on and slag us all off but the criticism was (in the main) very constructive and even the piss taking was funny.

I think most people on here realised it was a good idea in principle and responded accordingly. Hats off to PleaseCycle for taking it all on board with good humour and best of luck to you!

Add to the comments above, I think PleaseCycle has actually come out of this amazingly well.

/conspiracy

It is almost like they planned it.

I'm late to this and didn't see theoriginal site, but it looks good at the moment. The journey tracking looks interesting.

As brooess points out I reckon it's the fear factor that is probably the biggest barrier to people getting on their bikes, rather than the support/facilities their employer provides (or doesn't). Maybe something about that on the 'For Employees' page? Seems a bit like there's more immediate info/reasons for employers on their page but less for employees.
Or maybe I've misunderstood the pitch.

I'd echo the comments above too about how well PleaseCycle handled the thread.

For my money it is still jammed to the rafters with business BS speak.

"This mechanic is already being used by blue-chips to do the following..."

Mechanic - A worker skilled in making, using, or repairing machines, vehicles, and tools..... Any other use of that word is simply BS and would make me run a mile from your company.

Mechanic - A worker skilled in making, using, or repairing machines, vehicles, and tools..... Any other use of that word is simply BS and would make me run a mile from your company.

But you say that as someone familiar with the mystical workings of bikes. Remember there are an awful lot of people out there who will take their bikes to the shop to get a puncture fixed. Presumably this outfit are out to reach that lot, not preach to the converted.

MrSalmon - here is that sentence in context:

We have developed several means of logging bicycle journeys, including one highly innovative method utilising social media. Employees can use these facilities to track their personal cycle habits, note improvements, work on personal bests, and conjure up fitness regimes.

As an employer you watch the organisation’s overall miles / carbon savings add up, using the data to incentivise cycling internally. This mechanic is already being used by blue-chips to do the following:

Develop a company leaderboard where individuals and departments can compete against each other to see who can rack up the most cycling miles.
Offer 5 minutes of additional holiday for every return journey made by bike.
Provide discounts on staff lunches for whose who cycle frequently.
Give nominal rewards for employees who complete their first 20 cycle trips to work.