Along with a snow-covered campus, returning Ohio University students have been hit with the sight of neon-orange bicycles appearing at random bike racks.
These bicycles are the newest advertising campaign launched by Bobcat Rentals, a local real-estate establishment. The agency provides housing and apartment rentals for students and professionals in Athens, according to its website.
“(These bikes) demonstrate that we’re not the typical landlord or property management,” said Patrick Daugherty, property manager at Bobcat Rentals. “We’re not following the normal advertising trends.”
Bobcat Rentals placed seven bicycles throughout campus late in December, but the company is preparing to place more bikes in locations that will cause students to take notice, Daugherty said.
The bicycles are only a temporary fixture on campus, but they might reappear in Athens sometime in the future, he added.
The real-estate agency plans to introduce other innovative ways throughout the year to attract student attention. Bobcat Rentals has many marketing ideas but doesn’t want to reveal them all at once, Daugherty said.
Some students have displayed confusion concerning the purpose of the bicycles.
“I didn’t realize it was advertising a specific market,” said Hilary Johnson, president of the Ohio University Advertising Association. “I thought they were bikes for students to use.”
She said Bobcat Rentals was obviously attempting to attract students with the bikes but added that students might not be pulled in enough to research any further.
“It was aiming at guerilla marketing, but it wasn’t executed as thoroughly as it could have been,” Johnson said.
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