Tribe Bike Racks

Introduction

Tribe Pole Bike Rack is a startup company in the North East of England that had recently acquired a patent for Europe.MDI were approached to drive forward their business in entering the European market and identify possible opportunities in terms of routes to market, product development, branding and positioning. The students provided a consultancy service utilizing their areas of expertise to work towards a tight deadline of one week.

The Project:

The key areas of focus were:

“How can we develop the product to suit European market better?”

“What business strategies and distribution models would be most effective for launching the product into the EU market?”

“How can we brand the company and the product to deliver the brand value messages, attract our target segment and communicate the benefits of the product?”

The Process:

The team split into groups around the key areas of focus. It was essential to conduct an in-depth competitor analysis as part of the market research process, before developing a variety of concepts and creative solutions. The group gained skills in marketing and communications (creating a website), branding (values and mission statement), market research and competitor analysis (research phase) and product development and refinement (product alterations).

The Result:

The students presented their key findings in the areas of marketing, promotion through online presence, product design and product differentiation to the client. Additionally, the multidisciplinary teams were able to gain valuable feedback from a manufacturer in the industry. The client was pleased with the solutions particularly the product design alterations and features, and expressed a desire to collaborate in future.