Let’s go rent a bike

Bicycles for the Citi… New York rolls out its bike sharing program, Citi Bike. The controversial bike network launches today for roughly 15,000 annual members who will have one week of exclusive access before daily and weekly memberships start on June 2. The programs caps off Mayor Bloomberg’s extensive investment in cycling, for which the city has added more than 350 miles of bike lanes in recent years. Citibank will be the primary sponsor of the “citibike” bike share program, with a $41 million, 5-year contract. Mastercard will also kick in $6.5 million, and will operate the payment system for the bikes. The volume of (mostly positive) press has been staggering, and the 500+ stations will all be branded Citi colors and logo. Citibank will not only benefit from the massive visibility of the system as 500 bikes zip around the city every day, they will also associate their brand and their message with 60,500 professionals, students and visitors each year who engage over and over again with the system, the website and the conversations on social media. Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Citi’s primary advertising agency provided design and advertising services for the effort. All clean, tidy and very Citi…