Forgotten Legend

Client: Endura

We can all name the British-born inventors of the telephone and the World Wide Web, but did you know the person who first created the pedal cycle was British, well Scottish, too? We didn’t either. But when we unearthed this virtually forgotten insight, 145 years after cycle originator Kirkpatrick Macmillan’s death, it paved the way for a transformative, transport- based brand campaign for our client, Endura.

Built around Macmillan’s ground-breaking – and much duplicated – highly technical and highly antiquated design, our meticulously researched campaign painstakingly recreated both a version of the original pedal cycle as well as his inaugural cycling journey from 1842. Credible, creative, and incredibly well-crafted from start to the proverbial finish line, our campaign resulted in a historically accurate retelling of forgotten British transport and technological innovation that both media and national academics adored. From a 20-minute television documentary commissioned by ITV to cover our handiwork to a hands- on tour of 17 schools across Scotland through to a museum exhibition in perpetuity, this is a story of how W innovatively resurfaced an invention we all take for granted.