Cycling Marketing Board aims to do for cycling what the Milk Marketing Board did for milk.
Cycling Marketing Board
The newly-created Cycling Marketing Board (CMB) aims to do for bicycle sales what the Milk Marketing Board once did for milk.
CMB has been formed by Fusion Media, a marketing communications agency specializing in cycling, and is paid for by bicycle brands, retailers and organizations to “entice new consumers to cycling, and diversify cycling’s image with governments and in the media.”
Fusion Media coordinated the industry-backed #BikeIsBest campaign in 2020. The campaign’s film amassed over 3.1 million views on YouTube.
The move to form the Cycling Marketing Board comes after #BikeIsBest’s research showed the huge potential in engaging new audiences, many introduced to cycling through the COVID-19 pandemic. Data showed that new cyclists were 59% male and 41% female, with women having been twice as likely to get on a bike during the pandemic. New cyclists were twice as likely to be from a BAME group.
CMB said it will run two advertising campaigns annually and work on a program of advocacy initiatives to help support non-cyclists who will cycle if provided with improved infrastructure.
The CMB’s founding backers include BIKE-DROP, Brompton Bicycle, Cairn, Cyclescheme, Green Commute Initiative, Havebike, Komoot, Le Col, Love to Ride, Madison, Muc-Off, Raleigh, Schwalbe UK, Sigma Sports, Specialized UK, the Bike Club, Trek, Universal Colours, Upgrade, Wahoo, Yellow Jersey Cycling Insurance and Zwift.
The board is also supported by advocacy partners Cycling UK, Sustrans, British Cycling, London Cycling Campaign, The Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), The Bikeability Trust and Wheels For Wellbeing.
The overall winner of the 1958 Milk Race was race Richard Durlacher of Australia who here received … [+]
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Lotta Bottle
The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board founded in the 1930s to control the U.K.’s milk production and distribution. From the 1950s onwards, the board created advertising campaigns with slogans including “full of natural goodness,” “is your man getting enough?,” and “milk’s gotta lotta bottle.”
The Milk Marketing Board also sponsored the Milk Race Tour of Britain professional cycle race from 1958 to 1993.
National campaign
The British cycling industry pooled resources to promote bicycles through a coordinated PR campaign in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965 the representative bodies for bicycle retailers and bicycle manufacturers jointly raised a levy on all sales to pay for the British Cycling Bureau, which was charged with lifting flagging sales.
The Bureau was a front for Planned Public Relations of London. In 1972, it launched a “National Plan for Cycling.”
George Shallcross, national director of the retailers’ organization, said that this plan would “press for traffic-free cycleways and to make the authorities, national and local, recognize the bicycle as an asset to the environment, as it is noiseless and fumeless, and takes up so much less room in parking and riding than motorcars.”
The National Plan was promoted to national and local government via a handbook, Before the Traffic Grinds to a Halt which campaigned to “create separate cycleways in towns and cities.”
As part of the plan, the Bureau approached the Friends of the Earth “suggesting that its campaign was in line with the Friends’ own objectives.”
This approach was “enthusiastically received” and the organizations agreed to work on a “manual for action groups around the country with advice on how to pressurize local councils to institute a cycleway system.”
The British Cycling Bureau was disbanded in the 1970s.
CMB founder and CEO of Fusion Media Adam Tranter said: “Many things need to happen to secure a cycling revolution in this country and we feel our very public advertising campaigns and advocacy work can have a significant role to play.”
He added: “We’re so grateful for the support shown by the industry so far and are pleased to also be collaborating with key advocacy organizations to ensure a joined-up approach. Together, we have the best chance of achieving long-term growth and success for cycling.
Like its earlier counterpart, CMB also aims to help provide communications advice and support to local advocacy groups and campaigners who can help secure cycling infrastructure investment in their communities.
