Dan Sager made an excellent point in his Marketing Matters column (BDN, December) when he asked, “Must the show go on?” It’s something we need to think about fast. For too many years, we have rolled out the same location and format under different names or logos, essentially achieving the same result. Make no mistake, as someone who has exhibited and attended dozens of Birmingham shows (and eaten far too many ten quid burgers) I am under no illusion how much work goes into MCL to give us a public forum and a point for the industry to unite and present a retail assault –something we need to preserve as we are stronger together regardless of the patch on your shirt.
That said, I’d argue that we have been managing decline rather than taking the fight to the problem for many years. Amongst many factors, digital has changed everything, as have planning polices forcing our high street stores into cheaper out-of-town industrial estates, which are fine as ride-out locations for established bikers but hard to subliminally imprint desire onto the next generation of riders who only see motorcycles if the algorithm allows them to on their devices. Most would think the NEC is a new wireless charger and would have no idea how to find MCL.
They use different digital platforms to connect with a subject, ones MCL advertises on meagrely. We are not selling laminate flooring here; motorcycles are an emotive product and need to be seen, touched, and heard to stimulate all the senses and hook potential purchasers or get returnees later in life who have the disposable income youngsters may not have right now.
We need ideas and change fast for 2027. I’ll throw my hat in the ring: why not attach the event to one of the Goodwood national events, like the Festival of Speed? It has a captive audience of demographic petrol/EV heads already, a provenance that manufacturers could recognise and appreciate, and a huge digital reach as a spectacle, including TV.
Obvious drawbacks are that Goodwood is outside, so weather is a factor, and it’s very, very South, but then again, Eicma is very, very Northern Italy, and people still jump on a plane for that! It’s also pricey to attend or exhibit at, but then again, so is taking a train to Birmingham.
I’m sure much smarter people than I have some cracking ideas of how we can change the location and audience experience to benefit the industry rather than sticking to the dreary M42 and “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mantra, so let’s hear them. How about a dealer forum in BDN?
Essentially, the show is broken, and there is only a short time to fix it, looking at last year’s registrations. So we can bury our heads in the sand and use hope as a strategy (never ends well) or we can start conversations with event locations and our manufacturers/supporters to bring something fresh to the party before everyone goes home early or just focuses on EICMA (which is excellent, by the way). As semi Europeans who still do things a little differently to the Euro bloc, a domestic event still makes sense – just not the same event and hall I was going to in 1998.
Let’s start a conversation with the MCIA and see what they can come up with when we collaborate for change with them to ensure both the prosperity (not just survival) of our industry and its representative body too.
Mark Franklin
www.34vikings.com