Project Intro

Nowadays the idea of coffee and bikes doesn't seem so odd but back in 2013 a journey began that would see the creation of one of the very first cycling cafes and certainly the first west of Bristol. It would turn out to be a story far too epic for us to go into here but nevertheless Rockets & Rascals has been throwing decent Flat Whites and getting people riding bikes since 2013.

‍

The Project

Convert an old surf shop into a cycling cafe, easy right? Wrong. Hidden behind years of cosmetic cover ups and shops fits were some beautiful features and bringing them out into the open took months of work. The journey for the location hasn't been so much a walk in the park, more a trek through the mountains but it would go on to form the template for the company's other cafes. Oddly Rockets & Rascals hasn't so much been defined by it's successes but more by it's failures, the business partners failed to get on, it failed at cycle retail, it's workshop doesn't do particularly well, it's tried to do evening trade and each time it fails we have to rethink the space, in fact Rockets & Rascals is absolutely nothing like the business that originally opened in 2013 and when Shred or Dead Ltd took over as the legal owner in 2019 it's direction became both clearer and more refined.

"we pinned it to a mission statement of getting people in Plymouth to ride bikes"

Accepting Rockets & Rascals Plymouth was ever going to be little more than a damn good cafe took too long but once it was accepted business really picked up. From a design and marketing point of view we dug in hard to tether the cafe to the cycling community, not just middle aged men in lycra but we pinned it to a mission statement of getting people in Plymouth to ride bikes. From this point onward building one of the most successful cycling cafes in the UK, if not The World, became a whole lot easier.

The Outcome

In many ways the work we did at Rockets & Rascals set the tone for all of Shred or Dead Ltd cafes that would follow. Countless iterations and changes over the years helped to refine a formula and twice as much of our work went in the bin as you'll see in there today. Amazingly the direction we're taking the brand today is closer to the original brand intention than ever before, playful and fun rather than the middle class, male dominated, serious vibe you'd often associate with cycling brands.

‍Some of the assets we have created:

• The entire interior design of the cafe and external cues
• Shopify e-commerce store, social media posts and icons
• Gift cards, promotional material and menus
• The brand, logos, merchandise and coffee labels
• Exhibition stands, vehicle designs and collars with other brands

As a body of work Rockets & Rascals alone would represent a full portfolio for any creative agency, it's demand for high quality marketing materials is as strong today as it ever was and the super competitive and market driven coffee trade is unlikely to relent on it's requirements of creatives any time in the future.

Need to push your brand onwards? Give us a call on 01752 927666 or drop us an email on hello@toze.co.uk for a free consultation and quote.

‍