Winter is in full swing in the city of Saskatoon, temperatures are hovering around -20ºC with snow and ice everywhere. Although the #BYXE campaign that the Copenhagenize team developed for the City has come to an end, the messages and brand of the campaign live on in the Canadian winter, promoting bicycles by broadening the narrative of who is a bicycle user and where they go. The campaign in its winter phase had messages shown on Tim’s TV, a network developed for in-store TV displays in Tim Horton’s Canada’s go-to coffee shop. It encouraged winter biking to a new audience of potential users with messages like “biking warms you up faster than your car” and “river rides aren’t only for the summer”. Now in 2020, the City of Saskatoon has continued to develop and push the original #BYXE campaign brand on social media.
This Thursday the 13th of February, the City is hosting its annual winter bike to work day – a day where residents meet up at various locations around the city and bike to work together. Equipped with gloves, toques and scarves, nothing will stop the residents of Saskatoon from getting on their bikes and cycling on beautiful paths like the Saskatchewan river. Winter can be fun if you make it fun! The #BYXE brand has served as a means of tagging winter commutes and rides online, showing Saskatonians that there are many that do enjoy the winter on two wheels.
Screen shot of one of the videos played on Tim’s TV.
The #BYXE campaign is a great example of how good bicycle communications can entice residents to get out on their bikes not only on a nice summer day but even on your typical Canadian winter day.
To see local residents pedaling through the Canadian winter, check out the #BYXE on social media for yourself.
Source: Twitter using the #BYXE