#!markdown
A few quick observations:
My GF went from a reluctant MTBer to basically having MTBing take over all her
free-time when she discovered a ladies only MTB club. It's pretty clear the
members really dig the vibe and being able to ride with other ladies. How they
talk about MTBing and how they promote their club/events doesn't look like
typical MTB media/marketing.
Despite being a fairly fanatic MTBer and being aware of NSMB and PinkBike she
goes to those sites never. Occasionally I'll have something open and show her
for the most part she's not interested and doesn't connect with the content.
She's online reading a fair bit, but doesn't find those sites compelling.
She attended a women's only skills camp and came how with related Liv swag and
a women's oriented print mag that she's kept handy and re-read for a while.
I think if the MTB industry [Marketing/Media] wanted to reach women and other
racial/economic demographics it sure could do a better job. Is the current
programs by Julian/Liv/etc… working on the marketing front? I have no idea.
But, at least that question will answer itself. If those brands do well and
prosper they must be connecting with a significant portion of ladies. If they
fail you'll know it was misguided.
I also wanted to comment on the brand ambassador issue. Of the 100 MTBers I
know maybe 10 follow racing or other competitive events seriously and another
10-15 maybe casually. The rest couldn't care less. For most people I know
MTBing is about having fun with your buddies. So if a company has a brand
ambassador that's a friendly outgoing "normal" rider who knows their product
that connects with us just fine. I don't care if someone is pro-athlete and I
may well appreciate the message from a "normal" rider more since we have more
in-common. I get that this is not in the interests of pro-riders. But I think
the idea that things should be setup more to benefit pro-riders assumes that
racing and other competitive events is important to the vast majority of
average folks on MTBs and I don't see that as true.
Jan. 18, 2017, 12:35 p.m. - Vik Banerjee
#!markdown A few quick observations: My GF went from a reluctant MTBer to basically having MTBing take over all her free-time when she discovered a ladies only MTB club. It's pretty clear the members really dig the vibe and being able to ride with other ladies. How they talk about MTBing and how they promote their club/events doesn't look like typical MTB media/marketing. Despite being a fairly fanatic MTBer and being aware of NSMB and PinkBike she goes to those sites never. Occasionally I'll have something open and show her for the most part she's not interested and doesn't connect with the content. She's online reading a fair bit, but doesn't find those sites compelling. She attended a women's only skills camp and came how with related Liv swag and a women's oriented print mag that she's kept handy and re-read for a while. I think if the MTB industry [Marketing/Media] wanted to reach women and other racial/economic demographics it sure could do a better job. Is the current programs by Julian/Liv/etc… working on the marketing front? I have no idea. But, at least that question will answer itself. If those brands do well and prosper they must be connecting with a significant portion of ladies. If they fail you'll know it was misguided. I also wanted to comment on the brand ambassador issue. Of the 100 MTBers I know maybe 10 follow racing or other competitive events seriously and another 10-15 maybe casually. The rest couldn't care less. For most people I know MTBing is about having fun with your buddies. So if a company has a brand ambassador that's a friendly outgoing "normal" rider who knows their product that connects with us just fine. I don't care if someone is pro-athlete and I may well appreciate the message from a "normal" rider more since we have more in-common. I get that this is not in the interests of pro-riders. But I think the idea that things should be setup more to benefit pro-riders assumes that racing and other competitive events is important to the vast majority of average folks on MTBs and I don't see that as true.