Cervélo & BEYOND THE PELOTON
From 2008 and 2011, I worked for Cervélo, makers of the fastest, most coveted racing bikes in the world at the time – creating their transmedia strategy and co-producing and directing all video content – including their Tour de France commercials and the groundbreaking BEYOND THE PELOTON web series that revealed the raw behind-the-scenes realities of Cervélo’s Tour de France-winning Test Team, garnering a fanatical following and foreshadowing TOUR DE FRANCE: UNCHAINED by 15 years. My creative partner Joe Finkleman and I worked directly with Cervélo’s vanguard co-founder Gerard Vroomen, helping grow the company exponentially in a few short years.
As Vroomen puts it: “In 2009, Booker (together with Joe Finkleman) pitched us the idea for a documentary series about our newly-founded Cervélo TestTeam. As we wanted to create the most transparent cycling team possible (something lacking in this sport in general) and were looking for original ways to tell our story, it was the perfect idea. In all modesty, I think it’s safe to say that Booker with the rest of the crew of BEYOND THE PELOTON, as it was to be called, made a small piece of history together with the Cervélo TestTeam. The documentary series was the first of its kind, showed the raw beauty of the sport (and its ugliness), was honest and unpolished and most importantly, fans and riders loved it. Nowadays, many teams have documentary series, but the brilliance of the original has never been matched. The main reason is that Booker and Joe always maintained creative independence, resulting in truly interesting stories rather than slick (and often-boring) marketing mush. Of course they understood the needs of the team too, but the integrity of the story was paramount for them and frankly, also for us.”
Joe and I are working on a detailed behind-the-scenes blog post, but for now you can check out this Cycling New article.
And here’s just some of the content we created during that magical era:
Spots and product videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10624876
The Best of BTP: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2829436
BTP TDF 2009: https://vimeo.com/showcase/3441325
BTP Giro 2009: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2883103
BTP Tour of Cali 2011: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2883101
BTP Tour of Cali 2009: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2883100
BTP 2009 Classics Trilogy: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2883099
BTP 2011 Classic Trilogy: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2883098
BTP Season 1: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2775914
BTP Season 2: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2775918
BTP Season 3: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2775924
BTP Outtakes: https://vimeo.com/showcase/2829336