Titus's new marketing campaign

Just thinking out loud here, but...

Titus marketing department, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?

Maybe it's me. Help me out. Take a look at this ad I scanned from one of the many mountain bike publications I read each month. (Sorry about the quality, but you won't need to read all of the fine print to get the gist.)

Who do they think the target market is for high-end titanium mountain bikes? I'm going to guess that there are two main segments of the market that Titus is targeting. First, is the serious cross country racer of any age, and second, is probably older (maybe 40s to 50s), fit and healthy, affluent people with lots of disposable income.

Ok...ok...maybe they are specifically targeting a new demographic...the geriatric set. I'll bet they saw the research from all of the marketing and PR firms about the aging of America. Probably sat in a national sales and marketing brainstorm session and decided that they would catch the baby boomer train. That may even be a good strategy, but guess what. No one wants to connect their outdoor activity to Viagra! Sex, yes! Erectile Dysfunction, no! Not even those that need it (not that there's anything wrong with it...hey, I may need it one day so I have to leave the door open, right? In the meantime, you should know that I am an extremely virile man...ahem...just had to lay that out there. Ok...back to the rant.).

In the meantime, I just had to go to the Titus website to see if the campaign carried through to all forms of media. Well the good news is that it looks like they have retired this ad and taken the "Arousing Technology" campaign to a new level. This is a good thing. The ads are clean. They communicate the technology features in a simple way, and more importantly, connect the viewer to a more youthful place with some well positioned innuendo. A good save.

Still...there's room for improvement. Not just for Titus, but bicycling marketing in general. You see, these ads attempt to explain the technology, but they never get to the point. Why do I care about the technology? Articulate the benefits and not only the features. So what if carbon fiber and titanium are woven together? What does that get me? Is it better? How so?

Ok...I've been pretty harsh on Titus. Everyone is entitled to a brain fart here and there...so what are some other ads that you've seen from cycling companies that make you scratch your head?