Purpose is passion, not a strategy

This quick ​behind the scenes video​ on Santa Cruz Bikes has some really good nuggets in it.

SC has an initiative called Paydirt, a commitment to donate $1million to mountain bike trail development. Obviously they aren't afraid to talk about it because it shines such a good light on the company. The quote "you can call it self-serving, but you can't move bikes in a market with no trails," shines a light on something else:

You don't have to be completely patronizing and strategic if the charity you give is genuine.

Dude basically just says they give back and support mountain biking to create potential Santa Cruz customers. And we're all like, yeah dude I like trails too, sounds cool. Good idea.

Mountain bikers love riding. So they care about a bike company loving bikes so much they help fund trail builds so they can sell more bikes to more people.

Passion leads to a genuine purpose:

Big bike company loves bikes.

They sell bikes.

So they help build bike infrastructure to sell more bikes. On the other hand

Strategy leads to a bullshit purpose:

Giant CPG company cares the environment all of a sudden.

One of the many products they sell is mayonnaise.

So they help people waste less food by using more mayonnaise?

The bias is obvious. I love bikes and hate bullshit. Again, this quote from Guerilla Marketing comes to mind:

Become involved with your community, and it will become involved with you.

Keep it real

— Rvw