"Once MIT allowed us to use the wheel, it became this whole storyline," he says. "It became a bigger part than was expected at the beginning because they were so positive and fairly liberal about how we were able to present it."
On the MIT side, the school did require running it by the institution's legal team, who considered whether it would affect the school negatively. In the end, Outram says the team agreed that the exposure would be positive, and could even translate into potential customers for the Copenhagen Wheel. "I think it's a good fit in terms of a young, open-to-innovation audience," says Outram. "There's an an element of consciousness there about what you buy."
The team did not stipulate that the wheel cannot appear in the same scenes as drug use, which may exploit the somewhat obvious overlap between bike lovers and casual consumers of marijuana, but also shows they're a brand with a lighthearted attitude--after all, this is a product designed for enjoying everyday life. All in all, says Outram, the team has been bemused by the entire experience, even joking about renaming it the "Copenhagen Weed." "In general, I'm just excited to be part of the products featured on Weeds, which includes some pretty interesting albeit sometimes racy things: I-TAL Hemp Wicks, Raw Rolling Papers, 420 Jars, even Vajazzle--don't Google that last one if you are around people."
Now that the word is out and people know the wheel is real, the other big question is: When will it be available? Outram assures us that the first wheels will be available in 2012 for around $600. No word on whether or not they'll be making a special "green" edition to honor their unorthodox promotional partner.
