Sometimes the simplest everyday object can be used to form a strong visual metaphor that remains in the viewers mind long afterward, as shown in the two bicycle themed adverts below. The beauty of advertising is that you can use something totally alien to the product to help promote it.

The advert above left is a perfect example of that, a bicycle is used to suggest a woman is going to get Woman’s Day magazine on her bicycle. Gene Federico design shows us an excellent example of how by substituting an everyday object with letter forms, it can make a visual that sticks in the mind for its uniqueness. Federico took advantage of the close proximity of ‘go out‘ by using the letter ‘o’ in both words as wheels. Its a brilliant visual metaphor that grabs the viewers attention and drags them in to read the support copy. Another example of the clever use of bicycle wheels in advertising is Arnold Schwartzman’s 1984 Los Angeles Olympics cycling poster. Schwartzman organised three cyclists to ride close enough together to form the five Olympic rings. Photoshop was not used in this photograph and the cyclists had to complete hundreds of laps in the velodrome to eventually capture the perfect composition to form the symbolic Olympic rings. Both adverts are highly memorial and unique in their clever but simple use of bicycle wheels.

The prospect of advertising in wheel manufacturing for the likes of Campagnolo, Lightweight, Zipp, etc are endless. We will revisit the use of bicycles wheels in other advertising and branding at a later stage.