Woman riding a blue cargo bike with a smiling child in front seat.

Shifting gears: Shimano enters the lifestyle category

Shimano has a century-long legacy of Japanese precision engineering, dominating every major cycling category—Road, MTB, Gravel. But the next frontier? The lifestyle category.

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With extensive consumer research in hand, they knew the potential. They just needed the key to unlock it. That key? Relevance. And that’s where we came in.

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Shimano

Related services:

Value Proposition

Communication Platform

Brand Content

Product category

Mobility

Value Proposition

Communication Platform

Brand Content

The shift: From niche to mainstream

To break into lifestyle, Shimano had to move beyond product specs and into the minds of urban cyclists. We helped them find their voice by defining the Urban Achiever—a strategic persona embodying the city dweller who moves with purpose.

Meet the Urban Achiever

Resilient optimists thriving in big cities. Just like pro athletes demand peak performance from their gear, urbanites demand reliability from their bikes. Their priority? A hassle-free ride. This insight fueled the JUST RIDE platform—shifting Shimano’s communication from niche tech-speak to mass-market lifestyle relevance.

Five people with bikes, each posing in different urban locations.

Meet ‘The Five’

To streamline messaging and personalize engagement, we co-created five archetypes based on Shimano’s segmentation research. Mark, Suzan, Kees, Julie, and Ben embody different cycling behaviors, functioning as relatable personas for internal and external communication.

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We brought them to life through a manifesto, video series, social content, and trade materials, ensuring their impact extends across every touchpoint.

Talking parts

“It’s not a bike.” This misconception was Shimano’s biggest hurdle in lifestyle. Unlike complete bike brands, Shimano sells components—individual parts that create a seamless ride. We turned this challenge into an opportunity, elevating bike components to hero status. Showcasing them larger than life, in stark white settings, with a human voice that speaks to their impact. Precision engineering meets everyday freedom.