Clash of the Taiwan Titans: Merida Sitting Pretty in Pink With Lampre

According to several sources, including Bike Europe, Merida Bikes, the bike maker more famous for being the OEM behind several other top brands, is poised to reveal a sponsorship agreement between Merida and Team Lampre.

The news on the Merida sponsorship is denied nor confirmed by Merida spokesman Peter Koperdraad, general manager of Merida Benelux. “We will issue an official press release on 21 September. Until then we will deny everything”, said Peter Koperdraad. “Merida is talking with several teams and perhaps arrangements have been made. However we will not give any comment on this issue until existing contracts with current sponsors are terminated.”

If this is the pairing that will be announced this Friday, it would see Taiwan's largest bike makers go head to head in Pro Tour competition. Giant, the industry's largest bike maker, has been a major sponsor of Team Rabobank since 2009. Lampre will be switching from Willier bike frames to the Merida Scultura.

Team Lampre is still reeling from serious doping accusations directed at several current and former riders in the Mantova investigation. Perhaps a little positive attention can boost morale for next year.

Merida Poised To Shake Up The Peloton: Will Merida Sponsor A Major Pro Team in 2013?

  Each year cyclists around the globe feel the weather change with Eurobike and the Vuelta de Espana signaling the beginning of the end of the professional road cycling season, which officially ends at the World Championships. The end of the season is rife with rumors of any magnitude that might shake up the peloton. There will be personnel changes as last season's stars showed their age this time around and some super teams failed to materialize at the finish line. Both BMC and Radioschleck had some major setbacks. Contador will be back from his doping sanction. Lots of changes afoot. 

One of the changes to look forward to might be the emergence of another major sponsor from Taiwan. Although Taiwan is very well represented in the pro ranks through Taiwanese OEM/ODM work for foreign brands or through other partnerships, the Taiwanese face is too often veiled by the international banners of a brand. Several of the pro bikes come out of the same Giant factories and share some of the same DNA, and they race alongside the Team Rabobank Giant branded bikes; Taiwan's only big name sponsor left in the pro peloton for the grand tours now that HTC has withdrawn from the sport. 

But there may be agreements that may result in another Taiwanese branded frame taking a more prominent role in team sponsorship. 

There are indications that Merida, the Yuanlin based bicycle company, has its designs on sponsoring one of the top teams in professional cycling. In February the company first indicated its desire to increase brand visibility of its road bike offerings by having Merida branded bicycles ridden in the Tour de France, the world's highest profile race with maximum visibility. 

There are rumors that a sponsorship deal could be announced as early as September 21st.

It would be interesting to see how a sponsorship deal will affect Merida's relationship with Specialized as Merida owns a major stake in the company and manufactures Specialized bikes. Specialized supplies bikes to Astana, Omega Pharma Quickstep and Team Saxo Bank. 

The rumored date of the announcement would be a very auspicious date for a Taiwanese company as it marks the 13th anniversary of the massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake that caused massive, island wide devastation. 

For Merida's sake, I hope the move represents an earthshaking announcement and not a major disaster. 

Tour de Product Placement

An interesting little tidbit came out of Bike Europe the other day involving Taiwan's second largest bicycle manufacture, Merida Bikes, and the company's interest in placing their equipment under the asses of some of the world's top cycling talent as a pro team sponsor.

More factories, more models, especially in 29-ers and racing bikes, as well as more marketing support. There was even talk about participating the Tour de France with a professional team. That will probably happen with the new Merida Scultura SL Team (photo) which, together with a new series of 29-ers, was launched at last weekend’s Merida Dealer & Press Camp in Mallorca.

Merida is better known as a major shareholder in Specialized and the manufacturer of Specialized equipment.

The company's expressed interest in supporting a pro cycling team shows that Merida is looking to jump into the limelight as a stand-alone brand rather than be complacent as simply a Taiwanese OEM/ODM.

As much as the Tour de France is a display of both team and individual cycling prowess, the Tour is also the world's largest vehicle for bicycle marketing. It is in the Tour de France that consumers ogle their favorite teams as the riders splash logos across the television screens for six hour stints.

Several of the bikes in the pro peloton were simple OEM frames a couple years ago or at least much less regarded... until they made their debut at the Tour de France and saw their stock, in the eyes of the consumer, shoot to the stars. Much of the "cred" carried by the Giant TCR Advanced SL revolves around their use by Team Rabobank. It is not that these bikes are any more advanced than many others. It is because the companies have made the expensive investment in branding an image.

It will be an interesting interesting case study as our "little" Taiwanese brand shows if the marketing coup of a Tour appearance can rocket a company into becoming one of the world's more coveted brands.