VanMoof, a leading European brand known for electric bikes (e-bikes), rolled out this highly cinematic commercial from its in-house creative team and directed by Paul Geusebroek of Amsterdam-based production company HALAL. The campaign looks to inspire people in cities to keep moving forward instead of reverting to old and destructive pre-pandemic mobility habits.
The film opens on an all-too-familiar scene: the chaos of a city center in gridlock. And as sweaty commuters climb back into their metal boxes, the film’s message is clear: car domination is a thing of the past. We witness a car collision unfold in reverse; angry and frustrated drivers; stressed pedestrians in a hazy fog of pollution; and a cramped bus with frustrated passengers packing in like sardines. It’s not a pretty sight.
Triumphantly, a bike and its rider rise above the clamor of the city and glide serenely through the chaos. Effortlessly moving forward, she zips through the gridlock, while all around her, cars and their drivers symbolically reverse in time. VanMoof’s commercial demonstrates that returning to the dysfunctional status-quo of congestion, pollution, and road rage is not the way forward. Riding bikes, on the other hand, is the breath of fresh air that both our environment and city-dwellers desperately need.
Geusebroek said, “My aim was that the end of the film feels like a breath of fresh air. This bicycle stands for not just the environment, but also for escaping the rut that people are in–for cycling out of that nine to five grind. It stands for freedom: everyone is stuck, but this person is just breezing through.”
The film runs worldwide on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and is being shown on TV in the United States (from August 16) as well as in the Netherlands and Germany. It will be the first time that VanMoof airs a TV commercial in the US.
Following a massive surge in e-bike demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. is VanMoof’s biggest growth market. VanMoof’s commercial is airing at a critical time: it follows a study commissioned for World Bike Day by VanMoof in partnership with YouGov which evidenced the shift in mindsets and behaviors towards biking in major U.S. cities. With existing VanMoof Brand Stores in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and a Los Angeles location opening in the fall, the U.S. VanMoof community is expanding rapidly.
