Little bird campaign
This is a campaign apparently from the 1980s, which I was able to find on YouTube. It features comedian Lenny Henry as ‘Little Bird’, the Raleigh Heron brought to life in animated style. I’m interested in the way that Raleigh appear to be positioning themselves here. Raleigh obviously did at one stage have an excellent, if not unrivaled, name in high performance bikes (namely from their division built up around Carlton and Special Products division). However, in the minds of cycle enthusiasts today, that association is no longer there. Raleigh’s brand was built on winners by associating the brand with sports men like A.A.Zimmerman right up to Reg Harris and ‘Reg rides a Raleigh’. I’m particularly interested by the copy writing on this advert
‘Always a winner, whatever your age’ followed by the Heron logo and ‘The strength of the name’
Raleigh was ‘The all steel bicycle’ so this last line makes a lot of sense and ties in with what the Raleigh brand; a safe friendly and reliable personality. I also feel that the origins of the Raleigh brand is most definitely tied in with winners; as founder Frank Bowedon appears to have gone to considerable effort in attracting renowned riders of the time. More recently Raleigh have been sponsoring British champion Nicole Cooke but I’m not sure that’s the case today. A little bird told me she was signed with Team Halford’s Bikehut.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
