Innovative product design for advertising that moves

Working Bicycle has thousands of advertising boxes in circulation. Creaholic’s product design and development team stepped in to upgrade their boxes in a big way. The motto of this project: sustainable and lasting innovation.

Time for an upgrade

Working Bicycle is a Swiss start-up that was founded in 2018 and has grown to become the country’s largest platform for mobile, dynamic outdoor advertising on bicycles. For the past five years, Working Bicycle’s advertising tool was a simple wooden box. Cyclists and clients liked the box and it was a great way to start building the business. However, there were limitations to the design that affected the quality of the advertising prints and the usability.

Working Bicycle enlisted Creaholic’s product development and design expertise to develop a new box that:

makes campaigns look better
optimised the storage space
is sustainable and long lasting

Thinking outside of the box

The Creaholic product development Dream Team for this project was made up of product designers, material specialists and engineers. From the beginning, Mario Weiss, Antoine Bonadei and Laurent Torriani built quick, simple prototypes of mechanisms to test and improve the limitations of the existing box.

They explored different ways of constructing with wood – what shapes could be formed, how advertising could mechanically be attached and released from the surface, and how the box could be opened, closed and locked. From these first explorations, product concept directions where developed, designed and visualised in a design study. When talking to actual users and exploring their needs, a common comment was that they would like to be able to lock the box and would prefer if it was made from wood.

Wood is a great structural material with a low environmental impact, but it does have its limitations when not properly protected from the elements over time. To overcome these limitations, the team built some parts of the box with recycled plastic to make it more durable. Ultimately, the longer the box lasts, the better it is for the cyclist, Working Bicycle and the environment.

Relentless pursuit of quality

Once the concept direction was agreed upon, first elaborate prototypes were put to the test to prove the concept. They were dropped, slammed, left out in the rain and overfilled with groceries. From there, the design and mechanisms were iterated until we were confident enough to industrialise them – for example, adding an edge that prevents water droplets from the lid gliding into the box – or making the snap mechanisms that hold the advertising easy to use but still strong and sturdy.

Working Bicycle was incredibly invested in ensuring a high-quality standard of the new box. An approach we enthusiastically supported. This meant the client was in favour of taking the time to test and iterate, so the final product met every expectation with optimal quality.

The result is a sturdy wooden box made of beech plywood that can be mounted on virtually any bike rack with the possibility of mounting additional pannier bags underneath.

Design that benefits people and the planet

When designing and developing the box, all stakeholders were considered.

Convenient storage for cyclists

The box benefits the cyclists because it can safely store a helmet or rain gear. There is a durable lid with a lock – a feature that the original advertising box did not have. Fun fact: the width of the box was designed to perfectly accommodate a standard-sized grocery bag!

Attractive campaigns for advertisers

For Working Bicycle’s clients, the box provides a new 360-degree panoramic advertising space that can be easily installed by the cyclist and provides perfect real estate for eye-catching campaigns.

Potential business growth for Working Bicycle

The new box appeals to more cyclists and advertisers, and lasts longer. For Working Bicycle, this leads to business growth.

Sustainable design for our planet

The longevity and sustainability of the product were key priorities when designing the advertising box. Using our expertise in sustainable packaging, materials and with lifecycle assessments, we focused on a sustainable design approach. To reduce the CO2 footprint of the product, wood was used as the main structural material. Recycled plastics were used for mechanical components and to protect and increase the longevity of the wood. This way we used the best of two worlds to provide an optimal material mix.

Jérôme Huber

Working Bicycle Co-founder

“During the development of our new advertising boxes, we were faced with several challenges posed by the original boxes that we had to solve in the new series. The Creaholic team supported us by asking critical questions, introducing exciting ideas, and bringing a lot of enthusiasm from the initial discussion to industrialisation. We were happy to have an innovative design and development partner who quickly and easily turned ideas into reality. Together, we were able to create a practical and attractive new advertising box for our cyclists and advertising clients.”

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Innovative product design for advertising that moves

Time for an upgrade

Thinking outside of the box

Relentless pursuit of quality