Good evening!
I had a relaxing Sunday today after celebrating Pride with friends here in Amsterdam yesterday. I managed to catch up on emails and even unclog the kitchen sink!
While preparing for this week's issue, I discovered Endless Thread, a show on Boston’s NPR news station WBUR, where Ben Johnson & Amory Sivertson dig into the "internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL".
I found their show while googling links related to this week's rhyming headline. Ben & Amory explore the history of dinosaur emojis in LGBTQ+ communities and their more recent use as an online dog-whistle for anti-trans activists. And on Pride weekend no less, apt or what?!
So what does happen when one symbol is used for conflicting reasons? And can the dinosaur emoji avoid redefinition — or extinction? Listen to find out.
Heads up! This Friday is our monthly bbq at the office.
as always, thank you for reading & sharing this newsletter!
have a good week ahead,
Jon
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📷: a collage I made of memories over 7 years of working with Guy
Bikes
Congrats to Christoph Strasser, First to Finish the 2022 Transcontinental Race
After more than 4,500 kilometers of pedaling across Europe, Christoph Strasser was the first to finish the 2022 Transcontinental Race. Congratulations, Christoph! All finishers & everyone who even set out to complete TCR! I'm thinking to do the same in 2024 perhaps!
Did you see that Canyon Bicycles Drew LeBron James Investment for US Expansion?
LA Lakers basketball star LeBron James is betting on the boom in cycling with an investment in Germany’s Canyon Bicycles GmbH. Pretty cool!
Silk Road Mountain Race starting soon!
The Silk Road Mountain Race is a fixed route, unsupported, single-stage cycling race through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. I was fortunate to compete in the inaugural edition back in 2018.
Nelson is still looking for dotwatchers so if you can volunteer, let him know!
Big Ideas
The Ultimate PR Guide for fast-growing companies
Ana from pr dot co stopped by my office last week while visiting from Ecuador and mentioned the step-by-step guidebook for growing your brand as a scale-up or SME via PR that she wrote. I though it would be perfect for this issue! It has eight chapters & is an hour read at least!
One takeaway work sharing here is that despite the differences in markets, Ana found these strategies work (almost) everywhere:
- Localization: If you’re looking to stand out from other stories, your best bet is taking your message and adjusting it to a trending local context and adding an interesting angle.
- A strong hook: If you want to be heard, it’s crucial to find a powerful angle for your story. Study the trends in your industry, offer data and insight, and work together with journalists to add value to their stories.
- Avoiding spray and pray: doing your due diligence and researching media contacts properly is a must if you want your expansion to be a success.
- Being empathetic: Get to know the publication, find out which other journalists operate in your same industry, and also get to know the producers, assignment desk, or web desk. Being helpful can go a long way.
- Providing enough material: Put yourself in a journalist’s shoes. If you want to increase your chances of landing coverage, you want to provide any and all material that might be useful to journalists when writing a story.
- Starting early: although some advise starting only when a perfect strategy has been crafted, we suggest you start as early as possible.
- Iterating your strategy as you go: Research as much as you can before entering but then be flexible enough to iterate the strategy as you go.
The use of cars in Brussels has decreased by 22% since 2019, while walking and cycling are on the rise.
This loss of popularity of travelling by car is especially visible among young people (18-34 years old). Nice to read!
In other news, Pontevedra, Spain banned cars from most of the city in 1999 and saw a 67% decrease in pollution, a 20% increase in population, and less than a dozen fatalities.
The End of Social Media
Social Media is over. Well mostly.
Hat tip to Joachim for this one!
Boosting Friends' Work
CHEERS TO 7 YEARS – with Guy van Koolwijk
Last week marked Guy’s final day with the Twotone team & the reality of shifting gears after so many years is starting to set in! We’re going to miss him very much!
Guy joined Twotone less than a year into its existence back in 2015 immediately taking on accounts like @wahoo_benelux with @2moso_ & @gozwift via @igtstudio (then called TRUE Comms) & OG #twotoneclients like @mokumonocycles & @amplerbikes soon thereafter!
Guy has made magic happen in English, Dutch _and_ Deutsch at several @eurobike_show’s, @velofollies, @bikemotion.cc & numerous media events, launches & activations.
He’s been a mainstay of our efforts in PR across Europe, often in the USA, and even occasionally elsewhere like Australia for @silca_velo.
Guy grew into his senior role albeit somewhat slowly as he didn’t intend to become a manager but over time his wisdom benefitted easily a dozen interns & half a dozen colleagues over the years as he shared what he had learned work well in our industry.
Guy was exemplary in the kind of empathy & care we strive for in our work, building friendships with clients, coworkers, and so many others in the companies we interact with in the cycling industry.
His mark at Twotone is a permanent one & we’re grateful for all of his work over the years!
Follow along on his journey pursuing a career building stories with music for myself as Space Kadett and brands with Kollekt.FM. Maybe you can also catch him at a festival near you this summer, fall, and beyond!
He’ll keep doing this from Portugal, so let him know when you’re around. You can reach me on IG or by normal email.
Thank you for everything, Guy! We wish you all the best!
- @jonwoodroof, @kike.molares, @bbobbykemper & @kristyspark
Andy Rogers' Tour de Femme Photos
Andy, aka @fameandspear, flew from Tasmania to France to cover the Tour De France Femmes and stopped by Amsterdam for a few days afterward. Kristy & I have been hosting him & we all celebrated Pride here on the canals together yesterday. : )
Andy is keen to sell some of his work to publications looking for photos of this year's Tour De France Femmes. If you have a lead for him, reach out via the contact info on his website.
komoot's Trail View feature
My friend Rob & his team worked hard on launching a very radical tool for planning routes on the paths less pedaled! Stoked about this! :D
Radness
The length of Britain - on a Brompton
James Stannard rolled into John O’Groats, the northernmost point of the mainland UK, 83 hours after he had left Land’s End, the southernmost point, to become the fastest person to make this famous journey on a folding bicycle. Very Rad!
p.s. Brompton-related: Twotone runs the @brompton.benelux account. Please consider giving it a follow! : )