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Maxxis UK is bringing in a dedicated bicycle tyre brand manager to oversee the tyre giant’s "aggressive expansion plans" in the UK cycle market.
Joining Maxxis UK from Raleigh’s P&A division, and with eight years’ experience in bicycle consumer retail and brand marketing, is Stephen Robinson. He has been tasked with expanding the brand’s position in the cycle market, not least through Maxxis’ MTB and DH tyres.
Apparently Maxxis dominates the MTB tyre market (Maxxis says), with recent research by Pink Bike highlighting that 60 per cent of consumers are looking to replace their MTB tyres with Maxxis models.
There’s a strategic consumer brand awareness campaign, likely to include several high profile sponsorship deals, that will soon be underway.
Maxxis UK MD Derek McMartin said the appointment “shows that we mean business when it comes to dominating the UK bicycle tyre market.”
“There’s no doubt that Maxxis is the tyre of choice for mountain bikers and the brand’s reputation when it comes to downhill is second to none. Although the quality and competency of our road, fat, BMX and hybrid models are of equal merit – historically there’s been somewhat of a disconnect with the consumer. There’s limited awareness of our brand and of the various models available for each segment of the bicycle market. With Stephen now at the helm, driving our bicycle offering forward, I’m confident we’ll gain a well-deserved, significant market share in the coming years.”
Stephen Robinson added: “As a mountain bike and road bike enthusiast myself, and after working for one of the UK’s most iconic bicycle brands for the last three years, I’m well aware of the range and quality of Maxxis’ offering. However, we recognise that this isn’t representative of your typical consumer. Whereas traditionally we’ve relied upon word of mouth and reputation marketing – along with a reliance on a distributor network, rather than selling direct to consumers – with the market becoming more and more competitive, now is the time to make some noise and shake up the market.
“We’ve got a range of great quality products but people won’t buy them if they don’t know they exist. Understanding the consumer and the journey they take from initial awareness to purchase is key to making a brand click. Promoting the brand and its entire offering is a really exciting challenge to be taking on and I’m looking forward to unveiling some high profile sponsorship deals before the year’s out.”
Distributor for Maxxis is Extra UK, the managing director of Extra UK – Steve Davey – who added: ”The demand for Maxxis across our dealer network continues to grow due to the strength of the brand in off road biking.
“We see Stephen’s appointment as an excellent addition to the Maxxis team to help not only in driving further off road opportunity but to encourage development of Maxxis within the road, bmx, hybrid and fat bike categories, supported by the sponsorship agreements Stephen is finalising for 2016. We are proud to be a part of this exciting phase and look forward to working with Maxxis to carve out a significant market share across all categories in the coming years.”
Further info at http://www.extrauk.co.uk/ or http://www.maxxis.co.uk/tyres/cycle
PICTURED: New recruit Stephen Robinson
