Now that the vaccinations are spreading and the COVID cases are dropping, it is time to get back to business and make sure the powersports industry can get more riders to “Ride With Us.” To that end, the Motorcycle Industry Council took the wraps off their long-awaited ridership plan. Ride With Us, the powersports industry’s first multi-faceted market expansion program, was officially launched Monday.
“In late 2019 at MIC’s Communication Symposium, we shared the MIC’s vision for growing ridership – more riders, riding more,” said Paul Vitrano, chairman of the Motorcycle Industry Council Board of Directors and senior assistant general counsel of Polaris. “We were excited to begin operationalizing the plan in early 2020, but the pandemic caused us to pause and refocus our efforts on helping powersports businesses remain open.”
“While we were navigating the coronavirus, we also were working hard to prepare for the post-pandemic environment,” added MIC president and CEO Erik Pritchard. “Our preparation included a number of initiatives tied to each phase of the new rider journey – Inspire, Explore, Engage and Integrate – as well as bringing on new talent and supporting new-rider education initiatives. Ride With Us is purposefully being launched within the first post-coronavirus riding season, and we will be rolling out various tools and campaign elements to help grow the industry. We also will be announcing the Vice President of Market Expansion to execute the expansion strategy.”
The MIC is leading a task force composed of industry-leading marketing talent to help develop the program. The task force provided direction on the brand, logo and style guide for the Ride With Us campaign and will deliver additional elements of the program, including social media content syndication and social media best practices for MIC dealer members.
As a part of the Ride With Us program, the MIC is also delivering new 45-minute first-ride experiences for people who have never ridden a motorcycle before. The activation was beta-tested at Comoto’s three-day Get On! Moto Fest in May. However that is just the beginning.
“Our industry has needed a unifying market expansion effort targeting potential and returning riders, and the MIC is delivering it with Ride With Us,” noted Vitrano. “We urge all industry stakeholders to rally around this initiative as it rolls out to support people at every stage of their journey to becoming a lifelong rider.”
“While this is the culmination of two years of work to help potential riders in their journey to become lifelong riders, this is just the beginning,” concluded Pritchard. “The MIC and our member companies will continue our work to get more riders, riding more.”
Take the new RideWithUs.com portal for a test ride by clicking here:
