Brand on the Run

Martin Connolly had two months, $40,000, and an idea for a new bicycle wheel. But that was all he needed to launch one of the hottest brands around

As the compact and cocksure bicyclist begins his performance, the normally frenzied trade-show floor suddenly takes on a more focused exuberance. All eyes seem to track him as he eases his way through a succession of perches on a series of unlikely geometric shapes. His performance, sponsored by Cannondale Inc., is designed to draw attention to the bicycle maker's booth. But as they watch him, the attendees of Interbike--the annual trade show for the bicycle industry--may be overlooking a greater, if subtler, stunt that's also on display.

There are hints of it on the biker's wheels and even on his back, chest, and legs, where the word is plainly visible: Spinergy. Spinergy is a brand of bicycle wheel that, just five years ago, didn't even exist. Now, as Spinergy Inc. founder and CEO Martin Connolly tours Interbike, taking in row after flashy row of bicycle frames, wheels, components, and gadgetry, he notes with particular pride the number of booths showcasing Spinergy wheels on their display bikes.

The demo cyclist's bike features Spinergy's flagship product, the carbon-composite Rev-x bicycle wheel, as do many of the bikes that line the aisles. But Spinergy's new Spox wheels are also liberally represented throughout the cavernous hall. Of course, the Rev-x wheel is easier to spot, with the distinctive X shape of its four wide spokes and its bold logo and lettering. The Spox (rhymes with jokes) wheels look more like standard bicycle wheels, and as such aren't as noticeable as the Rev-x wheels until Connolly points them out. Fortunately for him, there are plenty to point out. "All those wheels mean sales," Connolly crows. "We didn't give them away."

Not that the Spinergy name pops up only at trade shows. The brand has begun to seem ubiquitous, turning up in venues as diverse as the 1996 Summer Olympics and New York City's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (part of the Smithsonian Institution), which will feature a Spinergy wheel in an upcoming exhibition. Every week, when Pacific Blue--the USA Network's "Baywatch on bikes" series--airs in 80 countries, millions of viewers are exposed to the wheel as the comely cast fights to keep Venice Beach safe for muscles and melanoma. Well-established brands--Coca-Cola, Saturn, Ralph Lauren, Volkswagen--seeking to bask in Spinergy's newfound cachet have featured the wheels in their ads. One night in 1997, Connolly flipped on the tube to find actor Robin Williams visiting with Jay Leno, his toes cozily clad in Spinergy-logo socks. "It doesn't get much cooler than that," admits the 51-year-old Connolly.

Those cool wheels have created one hot company. Based in Wilton, Conn., Spinergy has seen its sales speed to nearly $10 million since 1993. That's especially impressive considering that Connolly, while hardly a novice at company building, knew next to zilch about the bicycling industry when he started the company. A cycling enthusiast, he did know that the industry had exploded in the 1980s--mostly thanks to the emergence of mountain biking--only to slow down considerably in the early 1990s.

Given those circumstances, Connolly and his crew have done an amazing job of getting the Spinergy brand up and, well, racing. And they've done so in an already-competitive category: high-end prebuilt bicycle wheels. "There have been people making these wheels for a long time," says Geoff Drake, editor of Bicycling Magazine. "Spinergy had a lot of marketing power behind them, and they became very prominent very quickly." According to Rick Vosper, publisher of bicycle-industry newsletter GorillaNet, some companies have been trying for 20 years to do what Connolly has done. "Marty has basically cleaned their clocks," Vosper says.

Even as they utter words of admiration for what Connolly has accomplished, those who have followed Spinergy's trajectory can't help wondering: How on earth did this guy pull it off?

In the summer of 1993 Martin Connolly presented graphic designers Robin Perkins and Clifford Selbert with a simple request. Or at least it sounded simple--to him, anyway.

What he had, as he told the cofounders of Selbert Perkins Design, was a new type of bicycle wheel that he felt certain could be a hit at the next Interbike show, which was only about two months off. He needed their help in coming up with a name for the product (and, it turned out, for his company), a compelling visual identity, and a marketing message to convey to competitors, distributors, and bicyclists. It short, he needed a brand. Oh, and he couldn't afford to spend more than $40,000. (While Spinergy was amply funded, Connolly felt he needed to reserve most of that cash for manufacturing, research and development, and sales promotions.)

Having branded products ranging from retail environments to garden implements, Selbert and Perkins were understandably leery. Typically, they'd get as long as six months to develop an entire brand identity. And they could have commanded as much as $250,000 for their services. But the product looked, at the very least, intriguing. And they didn't often get to work with an entrepreneur at the very beginning of the branding process.

While Connolly didn't have industry-related experience, he had started three companies since 1971, mostly in office-automation products. His foray into bicycling dated back to 1990, when he set out to build an automatic bike transmission, founding a company called Hamlin Transmission. He had no trouble raising venture capital, to date amassing a total of $14 million. Investors didn't care that his most relevant experience was as a bicycle rider. "The bicycle industry is largely driven by enthusiasts," says investor Brian Jacobs, a general partner at St. Paul Venture Capital, based in Bloomington, Minn. "There's not a lot of management depth." Connolly, by contrast, had a solid management background.