General Motors is entering the e-bike market and in an innovative move has opened its doors to the public for new ideas to help it build its new brand. 

By visiting its ‘eBike Brand Challenge’ website, you’ll find that GM has laid out its three key vision pillars for its new e-bike brand name and has created a brief that members of the public can download to help them take on the challenge of shaping the future of its new brand.

In it, there’s a statement of intent from the company, basic details of the e-bikes GM plans to create, and guidelines of the key messages the brand name must hit to be selected. Oh, and there’s a $10,000 (USD) prize for the eventual winner with $1,000 each for the other nine finalists in the process.

“We’ve blended electrification engineering know-how, design talents and automotive-grade testing with great minds from the bike industry to create our e-bikes,” says Hannah Parish, director of General Motors Urban Mobility Solutions. 

“Now we want to expand our thinking beyond the company walls and hear from people who like to move and have rad ideas.”

Phase one entries opened on 2 November, closing on 26 November at 1500 GMT, with a second phase of judging taking place at GM until 7 December. A final announcement will be made on 31 January 2019, in which time we’d expect some development of the shortlisted ideas to take place before a winner is decided upon. 

It’s a rare thing for huge multinational brands like GM to open the creative marketing process to outsiders, so we think it’s a great opportunity to have a go at having an impact on what could be a major player in the e-bike industry in years to come.