CASE Study: Dorel / Cannondale / Mobility & innovation

Seeing bicycles as everyday infrastructure

scenarioDNA helped Cannondale look beyond sport and leisure to understand bicycles as everyday transportation. Culture Mapping combined urban ethnography, digital social analysis, and linguistic coding to inform a framework for mobility, sustainability, and civic participation.

The question: What changes when cycling becomes essential?

Cannondale's view of bicycles was anchored in leisure and sport, limiting its visibility into emerging mobility opportunities. The research asked how the category was changing when a bicycle became a practical part of getting through daily life.

The research: Reading the bicycle in its urban context

Through Culture Mapping, we combined urban ethnography, digital social analysis, and linguistic coding. The work uncovered bicycles as essential transportation and everyday infrastructure, expanding the frame for interpreting their role in cities and the lives of the people using them.

The application: A broader framework for cycling

We translated the findings into a positioning direction centered on mobility, sustainability, and civic participation. This gave Cannondale a unifying framework for innovation, communication, and portfolio strategy, broadening the category's strategic possibilities beyond performance and recreation.

Explore our approach: Culture Mapping · Cultural Research & Intelligence