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May
13
Video: IMBA Public Lands Initiative launch at the BLC
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 3 Comments
Been working on this one a while. Gosh, the BLC took place almost a month ago at this point. But for those of you who have dabbled in video editing and posting online, it’s a few orders of magnitude more time and effort than just writing a blog post. Add in some still unresolved (and very frustrating) technical issues that prevented me from uploading this video in any format from any of three different computers at work (both Mac and Windows) and you have a video that’s a little past its prime in the timeliness category.
BUT, the content more than makes up for it. I’d heard going into the this morning session at the annual spring gathering of the bike industry’s leaders that there was going to be an announcement made by one of the advocacy groups. When I saw Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, Jenn Dice of IMBA and then the CEO’s of the two largest US bike companies, Mike Sinyard of Specialized and John Burke of Trek, walk up onto the stage, I had a feeling it would be something big. I reached for my little Sony point-and-click digital camera that also shoots video and captured the proceedings. Who knew it would be so compelling?
If you didn’t read the coverage or were not fortunate enough to be present, here’s the background. The BLC this year hosted about 200 “heads of state” of most of the major bike manufacturers and suppliers in the United States. Pretty much a who’s who of the industry including the presidents, CEO’s, general managers, owners and/or marketing directors of companies like the two listed already, plus Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo, Raleigh, Dorel, Performance, Scott USA, Ritchey, Giant, Haro, Crank Brothers, SIDI… you get the idea. They all gather to network, improve the business climate, discuss the state of the industry and work on areas to improve conditions for cyclists and ultimately grow sales of bikes. It’s really an amazing event and, as is the case with many conferences, the time during the meals and breaks in between sessions are some of the most beneficial and gratifying. I make it a point to find a table during the meals with no one I know to force myself to make new acquaintances and contacts. With essentially everyone in the room being a client of ours in some way, you can understand the value in attending for us.
So, apparently, in the weeks leading up the BLC, Jenn Dice from IMBA had been discussing with John Burke about some serious new challenges that they were facing on access issues. John asked what IMBA needed to mount an effective defense and he in turn committed to supporting it. He also told her to reach out to “Mike over at Specialized.” With that base of initial support from the two big guns in the industry, they decided to formally announce the new Public Lands Initiative at the BLC and to take advantage of all the assembled people with enough authority to write big checks on behalf of their corporations to try to reach the funding goals for the program.
Following the introductions and speeches by Dice, Burke and Sinyard, was an amazing sign of industry solidarity, belief in the role of advocacy in growing the industry and more than a little peer pressure. While many companies committed right there on the spot, many more joined in throughout the rest of the day and the conference (after a quick call to their CFO back home, perhaps?), and the $300,000 first year goal was surpassed and approached the two-year $600,000 goal finishing up at $587,000. Pretty amazing.
The quality of the video is not great as a result of the device and the indoor lighting and sound, but the spirit is inspiring. I caught a number of companies making their on-the-spot pledges of support and tried to note them all during the video. I added the complete list of 38 companies (including us, of course!) at the end. And remember, it’s not too late to email Jenn and make a pledge if your company hasn’t already. Retailers: note in the video that your peers at Wheel & Sprocket and Performance join in with support in the video so don’t feel like this is only a supplier issue!
Here’s a link to IMBA’s official news release about the initiative.
Jul
13
Bike sharing and retail bike sales
Filed Under Advocacy, Industry News, Interbike | 2 Comments
Here’s a mini-post (not micro enough for Twitter) on something that I heard at the Bicycle Leadership Conference back in April. I was cleaning my desk off and found my little Embassy Suites notepad with some things I jotted down that caught my attention during the sessions. This one is from comments made by Gilles Vesco of Lyon’s urban mobility government agency presentation during the bike sharing panel.
I’ve heard some discussion of the effect that a bike sharing program would have on local retailers. Would the availability of free or low-cost loaner bikes cause less people to buy bikes for themselves?
Not so, according to Mr. Vesco. “Bike sharing spurs retail sales of bikes,” he stated emphatically. Paraphrasing his reasoning, he said that all of the additional bikes on the road as a result of a sharing program “rebalance” the public space and the relationship between bikes and cars. Bike sharing places a critical mass (in the most positive and sharing sense of the term) of bikes onto the streets causing people to see cycling in the city as safer.
And safety, as we’ve all heard from so many non-cycling friends of ours, is one of the major points of resistance for more mainstream adoption of cycling. With more bikes on the streets, though, drivers are more aware of and are more accepting of their right to be there. The perceived added safety of so many other fellow cyclists encourages more people to get into cycling and to buy a bike.
Here’s a recent piece of local bike sharing news for those of us in Orange County, California: “European style” bike-sharing to begin in Newport Beach.”
As Mr. Vesco said at the beginning of his presentation: “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.” Amen.
Apr
30
Gary Fisher on Social Media from Sea Otter
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
At the Bicycle Leadership Conference that took place in Monterey, California, just before Sea Otter this year, I gave a presentation to the attendees on the topic of social media marketing. It was an interesting opportunity given the make up of the audience at the BLC: primarily the executive leadership of all the major brands in the bike industry. That’s an interesting group to speak to on the topic because at most other seminars, talks and panel sessions on the subject, the audience is typically made up of people in marketing that already “get it” about SM for the most part. What many of these marketing professionals and SM evangelists are looking for are tools to use when trying to explain the value of SM to upper management at their companies – exactly who I would be speaking directly to.
In framing the “why” of SM to executives, I believe that it’s imperative to address the value proposition that SM can bring to their companies. What is it that CEO’s and presidents need to hear to be convinced? It’s not just the fact that conversations are happening online (yawn…) – it’s how engaging these people through SM can add value to their companies and empower and excite employees and customers. I hope that we – I asked Chris Matthews of Specialized’s marketing department to co-present with me – were able to do that. (I’m still planning a full post on this as soon as I can finish writing it up.)
With that said, one of the examples we gave in our presentation (along with the photo above from fisherbikes.com) when describing the importance of *authenticity* and *personality* when engaging in social media, was Mr. Gary Fisher. If you’re at all familiar with the bike industry, you know what we mean about Gary. I was really hoping to run into Gary in the expo area of Sea Otter to ask him a few questions about his use of SM since he’s become a very active – and interesting – user of Twitter over the last few months. As you can see below, I did and was able to get some great insight into his use of the tool and what it means to his mom, of all people. Again, with the great video skills of Markus from Cyclefilm.
TALES FROM SEA OTTER 2009 – Gary Fisher from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
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Apr
27
2009 Bicycle Leadership Conference Video
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
For the first time ever, the annual Bicycle Leadership Conference was held in Monterey, California, from April 15-17 to coincide with another big industry gathering, the Sea Otter Classic. Typically, the BLC has been held in February in warm weather locales such as San Diego or Phoenix with the goal of getting people out of their businesses so that they can work on them, sharing notes with their peers in the industry on topics of mutual importance and finding better ways of working together. Monterey cooperated by playing the part of warm weather locale very nicely this year. Attendees also played nicely with a great spirit of openness.
The BLC is run by the BPSA (Bicycle Products Suppliers Association) and as such is primarily focused on supplier-related issues. In the past, it has varied in format and has been more equally weighted between supplier and retailer topics. Regardless, retailers are still welcome at the event and are encouraged to attend. It’s a great conference with a true “who’s who” of the bicycle industry present.
As you’ll see in our highlight video below, that was produced by Markus Neuert of Cyclefilm for us, this year’s event was notable for the refreshing openness among the attendees in sharing information about their businesses – especially given the economic climate we’re all operating under. Attendance is primarily executives from all of the major bike, component and accessory manufacturers and, understandably, some have been hesitant to share sales figures in the past while the president of their major competitor was sitting in the third row listening. What did we learn as a result of this openness? Well, I learned that despite the serious drop-off in sales in the last quarter following the economic drop-off that occurred a few weeks after the last Interbike, things aren’t all gloom and doom. Most retailers seem to be holding there own and still benefiting from the continued popularity of hybrid and pavement bike categories and labor in maintaining older bikes – a great indicator of the sustainability of the transportation and utility bike segments that were strengthened by the high gas prices of last year. With that said, there may be a looming factory inventory level issue ready to rear its head later this year depending on how sales go this Spring and Summer. Chris Speyer, of Raleigh, used a great analogy in describing the challenges that inventory can be during his industry statistics presentation (paraphrased): “Inventory is like fish: great when it’s fresh, but starts to stink if you don’t use it quickly.”
BICYCLE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2009 from CYCLEFILM & Interbike on Vimeo.
Notes: John Nedeau is VP of Global Sales for SRAM in addition to being head of the BPSA as he is listed in the video, and Al Budris was the conference director for the 2009 BLC.