A Minnesota company that's taken a journalistic tack to capture public attention is highlighting American Bicycle Group among 100 small businesses across the nation.
Deluxe Corp.'s Small Business Revolution campaign unfolds throughout 2015 in documentary style with short films and photo essays that the company commissioned award-winning filmmakers and photojournalists to create.
Photojournalist Ed Kashi, whose credits include National Geographic and Time, recently spent a day at American Bicycle Group's Ooltewah headquarters, snapping photos and talking with half a dozen of the 50 employees who put out high-end bikes for avid cyclists. Kashi also took to the road, following salesman and Litespeed/BMW team cyclist Chris Brown on a two-wheel excursion through Ooltweah and Collegedale.
The visual essay provides a peek inside the company, which manufactures its titanium bikes in town and its carbon-fiber bikes in Asia. Its signature models include Litespeed and Quintana Roo. Deluxe's feature also includes a Q&A with owner Peter Hurley, who took over the company in 2007 when it was on shaky ground. Since then, all of American Bicycle Group's products have been redesigned, Hurley said.
"It really is a whole team program here," he said. "We've worked very hard over these years in addressing some real key concerns and challenges." He declined to share how many bikes the company sells. "It's a well-kept secret thousands, that's all I can tell you."
Hurley started cycling after having a quadruple bypass at age 44, Deluxe's essay highlights, also noting that his passion is shared by his staff, which includes die-hard mountain and road bikers, plus triathletes who compete worldwide. The essay notes that the company's titanium work prompted NASA's tap for help building legs for the Mars Land Rover.
"That is something that would normally be left for the giant conglomerates of the world," said Amanda Brinkman, Deluxe's chief brand and communications officer. "That kind of commitment to quality and innovation caught our eye."
Deluxe looked for small companies (under 100 employees) "that showcased the passion that small business owners have" and decided on the project "to create a movement
to support small businesses," Brinkman said. The company started with staff recommendations to pick which businesses to feature. That's how American Bicycle Group landed on its radar.
The project is part of Deluxe's 100th anniversary celebration. The publicly held company generates $1.7 billion a year in revenues and offers a range of business services.
Deluxe started focusing on small businesses about a decade ago, Brinkman said. Deluxe reports that is has 4.6 million small business customers that turn to it for customized checks and forms, website development and hosting, email marketing, search engine optimization and logo design.
Brinkman declined to share how much the Small Business Revolution campaign cost - "We don't like to disclose the dollars" - but said that Deluxe is "being outspent 14 to 1" in advertising by its competitors and opted for the project instead of traditional advertising.
The campaign will showcase a total of 12 videos stories and 88 photo essays, one video and seven or eight photo essays each month. About a quarter of them are up so far.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406. Follow her on Twitter @MitraMalek.