Disaster Around Every Turn

Industry “Girly Ride” with BERN product manager Megan leaves this afternoon at 4:15 in Lexington. All genders will be represented. No fancy riding (strictly enforced)

Bloggy was up late last night fighting off my usual bout of Thursday night-terrors so I decided to use my time productively and watch the Portland/LA Clippers ball game. Although I didn’t see any ridiculousness from Blake Griffin in the few minutes I maintained upright consciousness, a commercial for insurance monolith Liberty Mutual caught my eye. The premise of the commercial is based upon a woman who leaves her house and rides around, avoiding danger and disaster at every turn. As most battle-hardened bicycle commuters would consider this riding environment quotidian and “business as usual”, one could imagine the casual viewer being sucked into the juxtaposition of a young lady on a Copenhagen cruiser bike surrounded by flames and masked brigands. Three cheers to Liberty Mutual for using a bicycle in a creative and thought provoking way! The bicycle rented for the commercial shoot came from a shop called Flying Pigeon in Los Angeles. As you know, we now have a cadre of West Coast outside sales reps so I decided to check out Flying Pigeon’s site and get the full s’coop. Not surprisingly, it’s chock full of awesome commuter rides as well as gear. I noticed they carry BERN helmets, a new vendor to Hawley for 2012 so I thought to myself “Wasn’t the lady wearing a Lavender Bern in the commercial?” After some screen grabs and an email, my suspicions were confirmed. It was indeed a Bern helmet (perhaps either a Brighton or Berkeley model) and the fact it’s in a commercial for an INSURANCE company should be just the kind of ringing endorsement to both dealers and customers alike for this noggin shell. For only 35 seconds, it gets the point across. Also, bonus points to her over the leg dismount. Have a frank and productive weekend…