Last September, Specialized and Google launched the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Contest, asking the world’s brightest young engineers to help fight global warming with the power of a single bicycle. The results would have everyone looking at bicycles in a whole new way.

With little media budget to speak of, word about the contest was communicated via an inventive online, print and PR effort. This included seeding blogs, placing select banners and print ads, tipping off traditional news sources, contacting university department heads, and engaging students through posters and on campus speaking tours. The methods and the idea behind them were so magnetic that word spread quickly and the initiative surpassed all expectations.