1. Christian Lopez
Bikebuddie Abbreviated IMC Plan
Marketing Communications
Professor Rennie

2. ……...OPENING
Bikebuddie is a young and fun brand with a genuine passion to keep kids active and
outside playing with each other. Owner and creator of the Bikebuddie Catherine Limma is an
advocate for healthy living. Catherine saw the Bikebuddie as a way to get kids excited about
both playing outside and riding their bikes again. The idea for the Bikebuddie came after
watching her own son ride his bike alone. She decided that no kid or person should ever have to
ride their bike alone, that’s when the Bikebuddie was born!
The Bikebuddie is your child's bicycle companion. Each Bikebuddie is a 3 by 5 inch
teddy bear. The first ever stuffed animal that can attach to your child's bicycle. Bikebuddie goes
wherever your child goes. The simple design allows children to attach and remove their
Bikebuddie without adult help.
This IMC plan is focused on helping Bikebuddie expand outside of fairs and pop up
locations. It has a focus on Bikebuddie’s commitment to donating a portion of all Bikebuddie
sales to the American Heart Association and spreading the word about its effort. Even though a
very young product, Bikebuddie and its creator realize the importance of social responsibility
and have found a way to donate money while still making it.
What Bikebuddie lacks is the ability to reach to its core public. That’s where my firm and
I will help. The Bikebuddie shows a lot of potential and with our IMC plan we are sure that we
can reach a larger audience, get press to cover Bikebuddie events, increase sales and therefore
increasing the donation amount to The American Heart Association foundation.

3. ………RESEARCH:
PRIMARY
1. Sample Survey of 15 people in the target market
 People thought that it could be a distraction for kids while riding their bike
 Some thought that the product didn’t serve a purpose other than “look nice”
 People thought it could obstruct the view of the rider
 People thought it was too girly for boys to have on their bike
 Some thought a teddy bear on a bicycle without being made of special protective
material will get pretty nasty and discolored from being outside
2. Interview with the client
 Name is not trademarked
 Four patents are pending
 5% of sales go to the American Heart Association foundation
 No crisis plan for overseas labor laws
 Bikebuddie is sold through Facebook, its website, vendor shows, street fairs, bike
tours, and word of mouth.
 No money spent advertising.
3. Survey of 2 mothers and 3 kids in target market
 Kids all liked the product and wanted one
 Both mothers said they would buy Bikebuddie if they were at a toy store when
they saw it, but will not go out of their way to purchase

4.  The kids liked Bikebuddie more for its teddy bear qualities and didn’t focus or
care too much about its Velcro bottom making it attachable
 The kids didn’t mind the unisex bear while the mothers both felt like the bear
could be made in a girl and boy version with differences like in the colors for the
bear fur
SECONDARY
1. Content analysis of Clients site
 Site is not user friendly
 Information on the site is very vague and general
 No mention of Bikebuddie’s creator or story about the products origin
 Site looks like a wholesale buying page instead of a customer friendly website,
not professional
 Site needs to be more transparent with how much is donated to charity
 For right now we should remove the “write review” option on the site because
when you have that as an option but you don’t have any reviews it gives off a
negative look as If no one has bought it to be able to review it
 Needs more pictures of the Bikebuddie actually being played with
 Also needs more pictures on the actual product page
 Needs better site navigation, better colors (complete revamp)
 Doesn’t have any link to other social media pages like Facebook page

5. 2. Content analysis of competitor’s site
 Possible competitor is SmallToys.com
 SmallToys.com has a very user friendly professional looking website
 SmallToys.com sells a 12 pack of 7 inch zoo animals that can hang on to anything
because of the Velcro on their hands
 12 pack of animals cost around a $1.50 a piece wholesale
 SmallToys.com does a great job of announcing deals and sales that they have
going on
 SmallToys.com also has a customer reviews section but they actually have
customer reviews
 They have a customer service line where Bikebuddie does not
3. Content analysis of Bikebuddie’s Facebook
 Almost impossible to find trying to search for it
 Doesn’t have enough photos of kids playing with the product
 Doesn’t have daily posts on their page like a business should
 Doesn’t try to sell product through Facebook at all
 Doesn’t have interaction with customers other than 1 post
 Bikebuddie’s customers are simply not connecting back
4. Content analysis of Catherine Limma’s Facebook
 Studied at Kean University
 Currently lives in Union New Jersey

6.  Works at The Atlantic Club Fitness Center
5. Content analysis of Statistica.com
 According to Statista.com, Novelty, Gift and Souvenir sales in 2013 reached
$21.81 Billion in the U.S.
6. Content analysis of NBDA.com
 According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, bicycle sales in 2013
reached $5.8 Billion. If we target child bikes of 20 inches and lower sales are
about $1 Billion.
7. Content analysis of Parents.com
 Biking helps kids develop strength, balance, and overall fitness
 Biking burns up calories
 Biking is used for strengthening the heart, lungs, and lower-body muscles and
bones
 Biking also helps with developing and strengthening the muscles surrounding the
knees without impact
8. Content analysis of case study “Hallmark Gold Crown Card Program”
 Much like the benefits of having a Hallmark Gold Crown card people know the
health benefits of bike riding they just need to be reminded of them. In the
Hallmark case study their campaign was around reactivating their customers by

7. reminding them of the benefits of their program and to have them start to use their
membership again. Our audience needs to be reminded of the health benefits of
bike riding in an effort to get them exercising again but this time for them to have
a Bikebuddie along for the ride.
SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
 Catherine Limma and her lifestyle add authenticity to the Bikebuddie mission to get kids
active again.
 The fact that the creator is a mom in NJ gives us better support as opposed to a dad from
NJ, research shows this product tested better with females as far as getting feedback.
 Bikebuddie received positive feedback from children in target market which is very
important.
 Catherine Limma has already participated in a handful of events around new jersey
helping to spread her name and her product Bikebuddie
 Website and social media accounts are already in place they just need some help and
guidance
WEAKNESSES
 There’s only one product
 Bikebuddie is more novelty than functional
 Lacks uniqueness

8.  Website needs a complete revamp to make it more user friendly
 Product is imported from china which is known for recalls on products
 The product even though for outside use is not protected from the elements at all so it
will get discolored and dirty after extensive use outside, if that happens too quickly there
will be customer backlash
 Advertisements are too steered towards girl bike riders when it should be marketed
towards entire families and both genders
 Needs to be more transparent about how much they donate to charity, how often and
why?
 It’s currently a seasonal product
 There are no links to Bikebuddie’s social media accounts on its website
 There isn’t a proper “about us” section on the site that talks about how Bikebuddie was
created and why?
OPPUTUNITIES
 Since Bikebuddie currently doesn’t have a function we can show it in different light and
attribute a function to gain a larger audience
 The novelty gift sales in the U.S. is large and only growing more
 Bikebuddie is still in a testing phase so cost of goods can still be lowered by ordering
larger quantity

9. THREATS
 SmallToys.com offers a pack of 12 zoo animals that can hang on to anything including
bikes like Bikebuddie for a small fraction of Bikebuddie’s price
 A lot of parents do no support toys or products for their kids that are made in china due to
health concerns
 Kid bikes these days tend to have baskets attached to them so a Velcro strapped animal
would not be necessary for a child to ride along with a buddie
 Sales of bicycles are declining in the U.S.
BUSINESS GOAL
Increase sales and customer base of Bikebuddie.
COMMUNCIATION GOAL
Raise awareness of the brand and product Bikebuddie.
AUDIENCE / PUBLIC
1. PRIMARY
 Local media outlets covering Monmouth County NJ
 Local parents with children ages 5-12 in Monmouth County NJ
2. SECONDARY
 Local bicycle shops in Monmouth County NJ
 Small local novelty / souvenir teddy bear shops

10. OBJECTIVES
1. To persuade 5 of the local media outlets covering Monmouth County to cover
Bikebuddie Day event within one year.
2. To receive over 500 likes from women on Bikebuddie’s Facebook page within one year.
3. To receive over 100 likes from men on Bikebuddie’s Facebook page within one year.
4. To inform 35% of the parents of children in Monmouth County NJ about the health
benefits of regularly bike riding with a Bikebuddie.
STRATEGIES
 To demonstrate the fun that can be had with a Bikebuddie and educate Monmouth
County parents and kids on the health benefits of bike riding.
KEY MESSAGE
Bikebuddie is a fun product to get your kids healthy and back on their bikes.
TACTICS
1. Bikebuddie Day will take place 12 months after the IMC plan has been in effect. It is a
day where the brand will set up in a local NJ park and sell Bikebuddies. To spread the
word about the event we will post fliers all around Monmouth County businesses and ask
Monmouth County schools for permission to post about our event on their bulletin
boards. We will also post about the event on all of our social media platforms to let as
many people as we can know about our event. Prior to this event my firm will contact the

11. American Heart Association by phone or email and explain to them that our Bikebuddie
event is in place to raise money for their foundation and also explain that we have been
accumulating money for them throughout the past 12 months. We would then request to
have them send a representative to accept a check of the donations accrued that day and
throughout the year. My firm will then send out a press release to local Monmouth
County newspapers and outlets listed in the Full Media list and pitch our story of a day
filled of kids having fun, riding bikes and buying Bikebuddies. We will also explain that
we are presenting a check to the American Heart Association with the proceeds from
Bikebuddie’s sales. Any media outlets that arrived to the event we would have sign in
and declare from which news outlet they belong to so we can track who we have reached.
At the end of the day 5% of all the sales plus donations accrued throughout the previous
year are presented to the American Heart Association rep by Catherine Limma as a
check.
2. We would offer a free shipping coupon code for everyone who likes the Bikebuddie
Facebook page.
3. We would continue traveling to fairs, vendor shows and bicycle riding events throughout
Monmouth County to sell Bikebuddies just as Catherine Limma has been doing.
4. We will create a contest and post it on Bikebuddie’s Facebook page to see who can come
up with the most creative photo of their kids and their Bikebuddie on an “adventure” for a
kid / parent bike riding related prize. This will cause genuine interactions with target
audience and give us a better understanding of who loves their Bikebuddie. To help
spread word about the contest prior to us launching it we will be advertising it for 1

12. month during our trips to vendor shows and bike riding events where we will explain
what the contest is and when it starts.
5. To encourage parents to buy Bikebuddies in larger quantities we would offer a 50%
discount on the third Bikebuddie purchased when we are selling them at vendor shows
and bike riding events.
EVALUATION
1. To evaluate if we persuaded 5 or more local media outlets within Monmouth County NJ
to cover our Bikebuddie event we would review the media that came to the Bikebuddie
event because we would have had them sign in the day of the event. We also would
contact any media who was not on our sign in list but who we did contact to come out to
the event to ask if they might have wrote something about our event but just didn’t make
it out to the actual event. It’s also important for us to read any news coverage we did
receive because we need to know if we received positive media coverage or negative
media coverage and that is known by the tone used in any news coverage we may have
received.
2. To evaluate if we received over 500 Likes on Bikebuddie’s Facebook page from women
we would do a content analysis of the Facebook page one year from our campaign’s start
date. When you are logged in under the owner of the Bikebuddie Facebook page you are
provided with a feature called “Insights.” This feature from Facebook lets you know the
age, gender and language spoken of everyone who liked your page so you will be able to
tell how many women liked the page.
3. To evaluate if we received over 100 Likes on Bikebuddie’s Facebook page from men we
would do a content analysis of the Facebook page one year from our campaign’s start

13. date. When you are logged in under the owner of the Bikebuddie Facebook page you are
provided with a feature called “Insights.” This feature from Facebook lets you know the
age, gender and language spoken of everyone who liked your page so you will be able to
tell how many men liked the page.
4. To evaluate if we informed 35% of Monmouth County parents about the health benefits
of bike riding, we would take sample surveys by contacting local elementary schools in
Monmouth County NJ by phone and talking to the principals or vice principals about
handing out our survey through the children of the school to take home to their parents to
fill out. The survey would consist of basic questions related to health and bike riding that
we advocated to the public through our social media and through our selling events. Also
in the survey would be a question about if they by any chance learned new information
through our Bikebuddie campaign or if they have even heard about our Bikebuddie
campaign. We would collect the results at a later date and average the results of that
sample to see if 35% or more of our sample mentioned our Bikebuddie campaign as a
reason they are educated in the benefits of bike riding.
FULL MEDIA LIST
Local newspapers don’t have newsworthy stories to plug into their papers every day. They are
understaffed and overworked most of the time. If you present a newspaper a nicely written press
release and really sell the charity donation of the Bikebuddie event our chances of getting media
coverage increases exponentially. My firm will take care of sending out any press release for
Bikebuddie and these are the news outlets we would target.
 Local news 12

14. 1. (To post an event to community event calendar email
to: news12nj@news12.com (Attn: What’s Going on) Will also email them to
request news coverage of the Bikebuddie day event also.)
 The Asbury Park Press
1. We will email editor http://static.app.com/contactus-form/ and send over well
written press release about Bikebuddie day and The American Heart Association
event.
 The Coaster
1. We will email editor editor@TheCoaster.net and send over well written press
release about Bikebuddie day and The American Heart Association event.
 Nj.com
1. (To post an event to community event calendar email to:
http://myevent.nj.com/web/event.php we will also contact them for coverage of
our Bikebuddie event.)