American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 246 January 2020 | Page 12

MIC Symposium - Initial Tactical
BRIEFS Steps for Industry Ridership
Initiative
NEWS
The Norden 901 parallel twin
dual sport concept that
Husqvarna teased at EICMA in
November is now slated to
enter production as the KTM
owned manufacturer continues
to ramp up its play for a slice of
the ADV market. "Forming
Husqvarna Motorcycles’ vision
of an adventure-touring
motorcycle, the Norden 901 is a
dynamic, twin-cylinder
motorcycle that features
advanced rider ergonomics and
high performance based on
years of rally experience,
delivering outstanding street
and off-road performance."
The KSR Group (Christian and
Michael Kirschenhofer) has
completed the second phase of an
expansion plan at its new corporate
headquarters at Gedersdorf in
Austria, with the addition of around
2,200 sq m, including an in-house
design studio for its PTW brands -
including Malaguti, Brixton,
Lambretta and KSR Moto. KSR
opened the first phase of its new HQ
in April 2017; revenues are said to
have grown by 50% in two years
from 2016 and are expected to have
grown by the same again in the
2018/2019 period.
Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali
has been appointed as the new
President of Motor Valley - a
Bologna, Italy, area promotional
association that brings together
all the "Motor Valley" brands of
the Emilia-Romagna region -
"this unique motorcycle and car
manufacturing area has over
16,500 businesses (10% of
Italy's national supply chain)
and employs over 66,000
people. It is home to a
concentration of brands, private
collections, international race
circuits and specialized training
centres within a 150 km radius
that is like no other on the
planet. Motor Valley
encapsulates Made-in-Italy
automotive and industrial
excellence: it's a project that
highlights the area's capacity to
network and make the most of
internationally unique
qualities."
12
A strategy playbook, a new online
portal for new riders, and a new director
of ridership position highlighted an
afternoon presentation to hundreds of
guests at this year's Motorcycle Industry
Council Communications Symposium.
"More Riders, Riding More – The
Ridership Session" outlined these
action plans for the developing industry-
wide initiative, presented by MIC staff
and strategic consulting company
Centauric, at the November 21
symposium in Long Beach, California,
which saw a record number of
attendees. The Ridership Session was
free and open to anyone in the industry
and was live-streamed as well.
"Helping non-riders gain an awareness
of motorcycling and consider riding is at
the heart of the new strategy playbook,
a free, shared roadmap that the MIC will
make available to the whole industry. A
beta version was available for the
audience to see on their mobile devices.
Months of research revealed that almost
all potential motorcyclists – from any
background, age, gender or race – if
spoken to with specifically themed
messages, can be well on their way to
identifying with the riding experience.
"The playbook will help companies
assess their messaging and identify
what needs to change to help accelerate
an interest in riding among new
audiences."
"If we can align our messages – and I'm
speaking to everyone in this room and
across our industry – if we can align our
messages to what these people want
and need to hear, and we can create
experiences that address the barriers
they've identified, we will succeed in
creating a new, modern era of riders and
riding," said Larry Little, MIC Vice
President and the staff project lead on
Parts World AG
At the start of 2019, Swiss
distributor and custom
specialist Andy Mueller's Parts
World AG became part of the
massive and diverse Hostettler
Group. Best known as the Swiss
Yamaha importer and for its
popular iXS apparel brand,
Hostettler was founded in 1906
and the Group has 13
companies - including ten
trading companies - and
employs more than 700 people.
Founded in 1997, Parts World is
a natural fit for Hostettler's
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JANUARY 2020
Left to right: Erik Pritchard, MIC CEO; Larry Little, MIC Vice President; Tina
Beranbaum, Centauric Behavioral Scientist
the ridership initiative.
He reiterated that while the MIC is
making the initial investment in a long-
term industry program, it will be
incumbent on all of the industry
working together, with the newly
developed knowledge, to create new
riders.
To help get future motorcyclists past the
barriers to riding, the MIC is building a
primary online portal for potential riders
to learn more about riding, training,
equipment, gear, rider groups, and all
things motorcycling. This gateway to
the riding experience will be branded
and set up so that information is easy
to access, with tools to help people find
their path.
"Of course, this is attractive to a
generation used to having information
at their fingertips," said MIC President
and CEO Erik Pritchard. "Here's the
bottom line: if we want more people to
ride more, we must remove barriers,
make it as easy as possible for them and
connect motorcycle riding with positive
emotions. This portal to motorcycling is
the first, essential step for our collective
efforts to succeed."
To oversee these efforts, the MIC will
hire a director of ridership, a new
multi-channel distribution
model and has been constantly
expanding its business model as
an internet pioneer. It operates
a modern online shop and has
built up a "perfectly
coordinated logistics and sales
structure with its trading
partners in order to offer
customers a seamless, cross-
channel buying experience and
to strengthen the Swiss
motorcycle retail trade."
Parts World is an official Swiss
importer for renowned brands
such as Akrapovic, Airoh, DEI,
Fehling, Five Gloves, Gray
position at the association. The
ridership initiative will be the director's
sole, full-time job, and will be supported
by other MIC staff.
Pritchard added that "going forward,
the entire industry must be expansive
and speak to a broader, more diverse
population who would choose to ride if
provided the right opportunity and
connection to the experience. The
industry must also be consumer-centric,
paying attention to what potential
riders feel, think, want and need, and
making sure the experience, message
or product is designed to match their
perspectives."
He said the industry must be
"comprehensive and connect with
potential riders on an emotional and
rational level, instead of focusing on
technical specs. We must be responsible
and promote safe riding, and we need
to be collaborative, with everyone's
actions supporting the strategy
playbook as well as their individual
company's success."
Tina Beranbaum, Centauric behavioral
scientist, stressed that this is a big,
collaborative effort. "There is an as yet
untapped audience of people we might
not have thought of as potential riders.
We must be working together as an
industry to capture their interest. The
potential is much bigger than you might
have imagined."
Sheep, Kellermann, Kineo,
Müller Motorcycle, Performance
Machine, Rizoma, Roland Sands
Design, Motorex, Öhlins and
Italian exhaust specialist Zard.
www.partsworldshop.com
www.AMDchampionship.com