Public Relations: Raising the profile of cycling in Britain

[Simon Nicholas]

Go to France or Italy to see cycling..in these countries the sport is seen as "*CENSORED*". Would be interesting to hear peoples opinions on why this should be the case. Maybe it's the style of the sport in these countries, you only have to look at the style of Mario C or Virenque or JaJa to see the difference

[Gary K]

Increasing PR for BC would not hurt them, let's get that in to start with!

The problem is how? Getting cycling in the mainstream press is nigh on impossible. You would need to employ someone who has a huge media presence, ie, someone who the papaers or broadcasting companies respect and trust. That would cost big style. Whether it would be cost effective is also difficult to prove until sponsors, TV companies, big businesses come knocking at the door.

Cycling in European countries is part of the culture and until UK people adopt cycling as an aspect of their lifestyle, it will never be accepted as part of anyones culture. The London Marathon is a good case example/study. Running years ago was not popular until the jogging boom of the 70's. The London marathon was introduced on the back of this by Chris Brasher and they have now got it accepted into the culture of London and the UK. No-one in London minds the roads being closed for most of the day on the Sunday it is run because they feel happy about the event and it is acceptable to them via the lifestyle approach. It has been going for so long, it has been part of their life for "x" years, it is acceptable.

Until we can popularise cycling in some way and bring it to the masses in a friendly way with mass participation and good TV coverage we will remain at a stalemate. Televising racing might help but it has a very limited appeal to the masses. There are such mass participation events such as the London to Brighton, but what TV coverage except local?

Gran Fondos and L'Etape's capture the spirit (and competition) of mass participation but they are helped by the fact it is already culturally acceptable to close roads and complete towns for a bike race/event.

Involving a major charitable organisation will undoubtedly help the PR image of cycling and may help to capture the attention of both the media and public. London Marathon is again a good example of how charity can push the event to greater proportions. Just think what pressure would be brought to bear on London if they ever decided they did not want to run the marathon one year!!!

BC would do well to form working partnerships with CTC as they have the knowhow and expertise to organise or help with something like this. CTC have the largest membership I believe and at first glance have plenty to offer to Joe Public looking to become interested in cycling. BC may well be seen as the racing option, therefore putting potential leisure, casual and commuter cyclists off from joining, no matter how much better the insurance might be! Joining with CTC may improve BC's image to these non-racers? The racers will still be racers and will not lose out because of it, however the membership might rise and we might get people curious enough about racing to give it a go?

[Simon Nicholas]

A very interesting and well thought out analysis of cycling in the UK. There are obviously some fundamentals to be addressed in the UK concerning the general perception of cycling.

[Alexis Thornely]

I agree with your thoughts and would add that building relationships with the media is the first step of gaining media attention.

Educating the media about the sport will theoretically encourage coverage, building its profile in Britain/UK. Once greater exposure is achieved, it is realistic that recognition of cycling personalities will increase (Boardman is known by most people).

BC cant look for a quick fix to the problem. PR would be long term and trust needs to be developed between BC and media/public.

There is a cycle that needs kick starting- something like this

Developing media relations = trust and knowledge= increased and positive media coverage = interest and understanding of the sport= attraction of 'un-tapped' sponsors which then sets off another cycle of growth etc etc.

Due to this I feel that pr (and media relations) is the first and key step to beggining the growth of cycling in Britain as a genuine and accessible (through the BC schemes) sport that anyone can take part in.

It doesn't have to be expensive either. One day a week by a consultant who can develop the thinking and guide BC can be all that is needed in the short term (probably isn't enough work for full time PR employee) for a while. Hell, ill do it for free just to see the sport on the front pages of the news!!

Thanks for your feelings, keep them coming!!

Alexis [/quote]

[lexjt]

I forgot to mention that the ball is already rolling i.e. the BC website care of Larry Hickmott and Phil Ingham.

This is a fantastic start to building a profile of BC that all can access, including media looking for information etc!

Alexis

[Animal]

Only cyclists go to the BC website!

Non cyclists just get negative propaganda from all mainstream media about how cyclists are all "lycra louts" who break the traffic laws all the time.

No cycling education is given. A whole generation have grown up pootling around on the pavement, and now their children have been taught to ride the pavement, and the older generation EXPECT TO SEE NO CYCLISTS ON THE ROAD.

Just look at the "Cyclists, hate 'em" thread on http://talk.guardian.co.uk/ in the "the haven" folder. A bunch of supposedly liberal and tolerant people all ganging up on cyclists.

The only answer is to allow cyclists to carry and use concealed weapons. F-?* 'em!
_________________
I don't enjoy golf. BAN IT.

[Greg Roche]

Alexis -


i'm a cyclist, and i work in PR (For a commercial agency actually). I'm also academically qualified on the subject. If you need any help, pm me.