Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/183375
36 • October 7, 2013 • Powersports Business MOTORCYCLE www.PowersportsBusiness.com Brain Day a heady way to reach helmet buyers Road Rider's trade-in event brings together experts, customers BY TOM KAISER SENIOR EDITOR Sitting around brainstorming for a fresh idea, a concept was born at the Bay Area's Road Rider Motorcycle Accessories to get old helmets off the street, educate the shop's clientele and sell a lot of helmets in one day. What to call this original event? One of the employees dreamed up the name, Brain Day, and a new annual event was born. Held on a Saturday in August, Road Rider used its connections to recruit big-brand helmet representatives, reps from Sena Bluetooth and helmet safety experts from the Snell Foundation to participate in Brain Day. A marketplace was set up outside Road Riders' San Jose, Calif., store, with each brand and organization getting its own temporary storefront. Customers were urged to bring in their old helmets to receive a discount on a purchase of a new, undoubtedly safer lid. Along the way, the intent was to educate customers and give them the opportunity to interact with experts in helmet fitment and technology. "We've been looking for specific ways to appeal to customers in not just a doorbuster sort of sale. We wanted to do something that offered customers value beyond just a great price," said Ryan Patrick, a manager at Road Rider Motorcycle Accessories. A MINIMAL INVESTMENT As a 10,000-square foot store that sells riding gear, tires, luggage, parts and accessories, Road Rider Motorcycle Accessories carries top brands that were represented at Brain Day. Shoei, Arai, Scorpion, Fox, AGV, Bell and Icon were represented through brand or distributor reps. Patrick said that the first-year event was successful, yet the experience suggested that the event could've drawn a bigger crowd earlier in the year. "It was not the crowd we were completely expecting," he said. "We received a lot of cruiser, Harley riders and then a lot of BMW riders. Interestingly, we didn't see a lot of sport bike riders, or at least as many as we "We've been looking for specific ways to appeal to customers in not just a doorbuster sort of sale. We wanted to do something that offered customers value beyond just a great price." Ryan Patrick, manager, Road Rider Motorcycle Accessories thought we would see." While there were a lot of moving parts to the event, Patrick said it was easy to get vendors to support the event. At each booth, or mini storefront, representatives from the brand could fit customers, who could then either pay at a register in the parking lot or inside the store. Brain Day attracted more than 200 attendees. The attendance resulted in more than 80 new helmet sales and approximately 20 used helmets that were collected and donated to a local EMT school for use in training students to remove helmets from a downed rider. The event required minimal investment, only about $1,000 for marketing. Road Rider Indian dealers to get digital with marketing Big-screen displays, tablets part of dealership offerings Indian Motorcycle has selected Wireless Ronin Technologies, Inc., a marketing technologies solutions provider, to launch its digital marketing technology across its dealership network in the United States. Indian Motorcycle is expanding its dealer network across major motorcycle markets nationwide. The new digital marketing initiative features Indian Motorcycle branded content, which is centrally deployed using Wireless Ronin's newly upgraded omnichannel RoninCast 4.2 software. Wireless Ronin, based in Minneapolis, received an initial purchase order to provide the necessary hardware, software, content engineering and development and training, as well as ongoing content hosting and support at its 24/7 customer support center. Wireless Ronin worked closely with Indian Motorcycle to create an in-store customer experience that matches the ease, functionality and interactivity of Indian Motorcycle's existing online assets. The dealership solution includes a 46-inch display as part of a central media hearth along with a mobile tablet that sits tableside near the media hearth, allowing customers to select content from the tablet to play on the 46-inch screen. When not being controlled by the tablet, the media hearth screen plays a standard video loop along with social media and weather content zones. A bike-side tablet is also being deployed, providing interactive, bike-specific information to the customer. While this partnership represents Wireless Ronin's first entry into the powersports industry, it builds upon a 20-year history of success with the automotive industry, including ongoing deployments at hundreds of worked with a publishing outfit to create and distribute advertising posters throughout the area. Aside from posters, the store used its website, social media and email list to draw in current and past customers. Notices were also posted on the popular South Bay Riders and Bay Area Riders forums. "The way we marketed it was not to promote the sales side of it — come and get something for less. It was for the education aspect of it and exposure to manufacturer representatives," Patrick said. "It wasn't just our staff that was out with the helmets. It was people that live and breathe the product and know how it's designed to work." PSB In an effort to get bikes on the road, Indian Motorcycle will provide an array of digital marketing options geared to consumer interactions inside dealerships Chrysler, Fiat, Ford and Nissan dealerships across the U.S. and Canada. "Since our dynamic digital marketing solutions are designed to provide a significant nearterm return on investment, they will play a key role in Indian Motorcycle's overall marketing strategy as they expand their dealership networks across the United States and internationally," commented Scott Koller, Wireless Ronin's president and CEO. Rod Krois, marketing director for Indian Motorcycle, added: "After a competitive review process, Wireless Ronin emerged successful due to their leading technology, flexible solution approach and end-to-end support. From our first meeting with Wireless Ronin, we were impressed with their capabilities. Their responsiveness coupled with the ability to deliver quality, reliable digital solutions are allowing us to enhance our customer experience while ensuring consistent messaging and content across our dealership network." PSB MAG Europe adds Shorai batteries to lineup Battery manufacturer Shorai Inc. announced that has it has signed an exclusive U.K. distribution contract with Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG) Europe. Shorai's LFX batteries will be available through MAG Europe's distribution network, currently serving more than 450 dealerships in the U.K. "Shorai's LFX battery technology really speaks for itself in terms of benefits to end users, and we're glad to see a quickly growing number of globally recognized distributors, such as MAG P36x40-PSB13-Cycle.indd 36 Europe, promoting these benefits to their dealers for consumers. MAG Europe's leading market share in the United Kingdom puts Shorai in a prominent position for extended new customer exposure," said James McCormick, president and CEO of Shorai. "Through our new relationship with MAG Europe, we anticipate a significant impact within the U.K. market." "Shorai LFX batteries are a great fit to our existing range of products," said MAG Europe's managing director Robert Brinkmark. "We have been supplying industry leading brands through the U.K. dealer network since 2003 and having Shorai should really help expand the scope of our operation. The technological advances and lighter weight of Shorai batteries will help with our expansion into the sport bike and powersports markets as well." As part of Shorai's expanding business objectives to secure a larger presence in the overall motorcycle battery marketplace, this announcement comes as one of the first steps in achieving that goal. Shorai is currently the top supplier of lithium starter batteries to the global powersports market and is leading the conversion from traditional lead-acid batteries to their lighter, more efficient and higher performance lithium starter LFX batteries. Shorai's LFX batteries save an average of 2-3 pounds for dirt bikes, 6-8 pounds for street bikes and 10-20 pounds for touring and cruiser bikes. Shorai makes nearly two dozen battery options designed to fit street, dirt, touring and cruiser motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, personal watercraft, riding lawnmowers and utility vehicles. PSB 9/25/13 11:55 AM ww P Th ise mo the op ho Mo pis be hav 11 by an ev wi me mu 14 ap Bo en Co an — a2 be tak fre