Two Wheel Drive at Specialized

I'm the marketing integrations manager for Specialized Bicycles in Morgan Hill, Calif. The company produces a complete line of bikes and accessories for road and mountain environments. We sponsor more than 300 athletes around the world, including many Tour de France racers, pro mountain bikers, and even a few of the world's top motocross stars who rely on their bikes for cross training.

I pitched the idea of creating a position that didn't exist at Specialized Bicycles, and then convinced the company to hire me for it. That's why it's not uncommon for me to proactively expand my role every so often, either to fill a void or seize on the latest opportunity. Locally, I'm involved in our overall marketing plans, as well as some more traditional marketing communications, from collateral to the occasional press release.

Most important, I must make sure that all the marketing departments worldwide have access to the support they need from headquarters to keep the brand globally consistent, while also allowing for local market needs. We've got subsidiaries in Canada, Germany, Italy, Britain, and Spain, in addition to a flock of distribution companies in many other countries, so my role relies very heavily on communication and collaboration. Recently, I've been traveling often.

Here's a snapshot of a typical day in my life:

6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. -- I think about getting up. I'm usually up and out the door pretty quickly, and typically enjoy listening to NPR during the 20-minute commute to work.

8:00 a.m. -- Arrive at work. During my early mornings, I spend a fair bit of time on the phone with my counterparts in Europe, where they're just ending their day. At some point, I've made the trip to our community espresso machine for the morning cappuccino. That's essential.

9:30 a.m. -- My time window to talk to Europe has mostly closed, and I'm taking a look at my notes and contrasting them against our global marketing schedule.

10:00 a.m. -- I'm usually diving into one of the current projects that we're scheduled to be delivering, anything from advertisements to action photography. Today, I started on the phone with our agency in San Francisco, discussing the direction of some print collateral that it's working on for us. In this particular case, we're working on a brochure that will be used in our network of retail bike shops.

11:15 a.m. -- I follow up the phone call with a quick drive-by meeting with our women's brand manager (who, like me, is Canadian) about the marketing strategy behind our women's product line. As always, she's more than happy to provide insight.

Noon -- It all stops. Time to ride. Our daily lunch ride is commonly known as the "lunch race," where we'll basically beat the snot out of each other for about an hour on our road bikes in the hills around the office. Some days, we'll have 40 or 50 people start out with the main group. We'll cover 15 to 20 miles, depending on the loop, and speeds can reach upward of 40 mph -- particularly at the sprint finish. And we do this every day.

After the ride, I typically grab a quick lunch (a carnitas burrito is a personal favorite), and then it's back to work. Many problems seem to get worked out on these lunch rides -- whether they're personal, interpersonal, or professional. It's also a great testing ground for new products.

1:30 p.m. -- I'm usually back at my desk and ready to go again. I'll check in on a few blogs and social-trend Web sites -- such as Boingboing.net, Corante.com, and Engadget.com -- that I like to monitor. I'll also answer any urgent e-mail requests, try to get the inbox empty again, and then it's back to the next project.

2:00 p.m. -- I meet with engineers to start drafting the next white paper, a technical description of our more advanced R&D efforts, on one of our product lines. This particular piece discusses our efforts in carbon fiber and includes primarily high-end bike frames. We're discussing data the engineers have compiled, and blending our branding and positioning messages with the lab results that quantify performance.

3:20 p.m. -- I'm back at my desk pulling together notes from the engineering meeting and starting to outline the backbone of the carbon-fiber white paper. Once I get consensus approval on the outline and topic list, I'll be able to start writing some of it.

4:00 p.m. -- Time to meet with the U.S. marketing team about an upcoming event. This meeting is to clarify exactly what's happening, when, and who's responsible for delivering it. This particular event, the Sea Otter Classic, is a huge bike race at Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey.

5:05 p.m. -- About time to think about wrapping things up for the day, but not before I fire out a few e-mails to Europe regarding updated status of a couple of projects that are in the works.

5:30 p.m. -- Shutting down the computer. Time to head home, with a quick stop on the way to pick up fresh vegetables for dinner.

6:00 p.m. -- I love cooking, so it's not uncommon to spend some time in the kitchen with my girlfriend and then enjoy a bottle of red wine. This region of the world is pretty lucky, and I have grown to appreciate what can be done with California grapes. I also use some of my evening time on Skype staying in touch with friends back in Toronto or overseas.

SEAL OF DEVOTION.  If I had the chance to go back to the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, I would definitely have taken a course on distribution and channel strategy, which I've been learning about on the fly. I also would have liked to learn more about cooperative strategy, because partnerships and sponsorships are such a critical component in this industry.

Overall, Specialized is a great place to work, and full of incredibly talented and driven people. Initiative is welcomed and encouraged. Within the marketing department, this combination results in a team that takes on a large number of diverse projects.

For anyone looking to join Specialized or any company in an enthusiast-driven industry, deep knowledge of the industry -- in this case, cycling -- is key. You can be academic or street-smart, but if you don't understand the passion, you're out of touch. I know one thing for sure: The cycling industry is driven by a passion for cycling first, and everything else is second.