Cycling: don't be a record label
Lian van Leeuwen
Purpose-driven strategist and catalyst | Biomimicry Practitioner | Founder of Shift Cycling Culture, Owner of salt lake productions & NatureBased.cc | Working on the story I want to be in
The next disruption of the cycling industry:
are we tackling it head-in-the-sand, or head on?
On the way back from our annual Shift Cycling Culture #Barcamp event, I finally got around to listening to Wade Wallace 's Escape Collective Industry Special. A very insightful 4-part series on the cycling boom during the covid pandemic – and the downfall after. I highly recommend it to anyone not just interested in cycling, but in market bubble dynamics and disruption of industries in general.
In hindsight, there’s a lot to say (and guess) on how the cycling industry got into the troubles they find themselves in now. Many of which are discussed in the podcast series: being overly optimistic when the boom hit, influence of herd behaviour, no sufficient data to support decision making, ignoring warning signs, an unhealthy market dynamic that dates from before the pandemic, and so on.
Cycling: don't be a record label
On a personal level I have always been fascinated by the workings of those bubble dynamics, whatever the industry: showing time and time again that human behaviour sits at the heart of all of it.
One market disruption I got to experience up close was that of the music business in the 2000s. Working for a global concert promotor, I witnessed a record label industry that collectively refused to strategise for a changing market: a market where, with the rise of streaming services, power was no longer just in the hands of the almighty record companies while the main artist revenue shifted from recording albums to live performances.
(Instead, the major record labels consistently ignored warning signs, refused to embrace the change in technology and tried frantically to fight illegal file sharing to hold on to their own market shares. Needless to state they failed miserably.)
Let me say that again: collectively refused to strategise for a changing market.
With that in mind, one sentence of Wade’s round up of the podcast series struck me in particular: “Industry leaders blew it [retaining some of the boom business] because they failed a long time ago to make adequate long-term investment into lobbying and advocacy. Instead, most brands fight for market share, rather than fighting to grow the market.”
Head in the sand or head on?
Business as usual tends to focus on fighting for market share, rather than fighting to elevate, improve or grow an industry as a whole. But in the process, many companies turn a blind eye to the fact that not investing in the market, not tackling major challenges collectively, will hurt or even decimate your own business in the long run.
As Shift Cycling Culture we constantly work to initiate and facilitate cross-industry collaboration to drive climate action. Yes, companies can do a lot on an individual level, but the major social and environmental challenges we face require all players in an industry to come together. And there is a lot of disruptiveness coming our way…
In last week’s #Barcamp event, we’ve seen great examples and appeals to tackle these challenges head on, collectively. But many big and small players are still missing from the table. ?
If you take your business and this industry seriously, I would think it is time to start seeing the climate crisis for what it is: the next huge, disruptive market (and thus business) risk.
Head in the sand has never proven to be a good business strategy.?
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Let’s learn from the covid cycling bubble: we need to build resilience to withstand our future’s biggest challenges through collaboration, not (just) by frantically focusing on our own market shares. We need to start acknowledging warning signs, instead of ignoring them. And there are plenty, staring us right in the face.
Be ahead of the game, instead of waiting for the ax to fall.
You're entrepreneurs. You should be made for this stuff.
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This blog has been written on a personal note,
Content Writer | Sales | Marketing | Events | Market Research
1 年'... fighting to elevate, improve or grow an industry as a whole'. This. 100%. We, the cycling industry, are responsible for creating conditions which make cycling appealing and desirable, just as the auto industry has for car ownership. We need to own this. We need to work together with allies in transport planning and built environment consultancies to shape a future where riding a bike is an obvious choice. Clearly, we're talking about 'cycling as transport' here. New customers are to be found, on mass, if we get this bit right. With this in mind, I'm still waiting to see a bicycle ad which looks like car ads. Where is the bike being ridden down a street with no other traffic, at sunset, to a lifestyle soundtrack tested to engage the desired / targeted audience? Why is this not happening?