PUMA Fishtail Rides

PUMA Middle East approached us to help create and launch the brand for a fixed gear bike community initiative in Dubai, UAE. From naming and identity, to brand film and soundtrack. The identity needed to inspire and encourage fixed gear riders, enthusiasts, and the uninitiated to come along for a ride.

We defined the brand positioning as ‘ride a different side of your city’. In a young city, disparate and sparse, a city ruled by cars and taxis, there is little connection to the streets.

Fishtail Rides was born out of this feeling and a need to reconnect with the streets of Dubai. It’s not a race, or a fancy fitness group, it’s as complicated as people + fixies = good times.

The name was inspired by the motion created from a rear wheel skidding on a fixed gear bicycle, also known as ‘fishtailing’. We incorporated three key elements to inspire the icon — wheel, frame, and fishtail. The typography was stencil-like to appeal to the custom fits and finishes fixed gear riders apply to their rides.

We also needed to create the visual story to launch the activation to a new audience. We worked with local music artists Megadon Betamax and Hamdan Al-Abri to create a bespoke track that encapsulates the mood and movement of the ride and a ‘feel good’ vibe our fixed gear riders/community resonate with. The lyrics ‘Chase The Sun Away’ reflected feelings of Dubai summers (and in particular the heat on the weekend of the actual video shoot) and were a perfect match for the film. The brand film showcased the premise of the ride activations that take place each month — meet, ride, and hang out.

PUMA Fishtail Rides Street Poetry:

Calling all bored street spectators and neighbourhood haters
It’s time to go for a different kind of ride
Say hi to every smell, sight and sound
And with every turn leave all the things that weigh you down
You’re carrying all the fuel you need, a thirst to explore
This is no secret club, no race to the finish or fitness hub
Welcome to street math, we’ve got teachers being schooled and lawyers breaking rules
We don’t care for Tom Toms, doing it wrong, rules of the beat or one way streets
We are a herd of wild street buffalo and we don’t take too kindly to directions
Where we’re going, there is no B, just A to free

Ride a different side of your city.
Fishtail Rides.

Scope of work: brand / naming / identity / film / photography / print / art direction / music

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