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"Follow Trek Boss John Burke @JBTrek08 The real JB speaks his mind! Check it out!"
With that Tweet from Gary Fisher this morning it’s likely that Trek president John Burke will gain lots of new followers (he’d gain even more if Trek athlete Lance Armstrong gives his pal a shout-out on Twitter).
Burke started tweeting on 14th May. His profile says: "Sharing stories about interesting people, places, and the bicycle in hope of inspiring you to find your great ride."
He’s not yet interacting with other Twitter users and his tweets to date haven’t had much to reveal about the machinations of the global bicycle business but no doubt he’ll warm to the task.
His latest tweet – "Check the ten happiest countries in the world. Most are great cycling countries including the top 3" – reveals one of the likely themes of many of Burke’s future twitterings: bicycle advocacy.
In 2007, Burke electrified cycle campaigners with his stance on bicycle company funding of advocacy.
He called the bicycle "the perfect product at the perfect time." And bike companies would sell more of them if there were more places for folks to ride them.
"The number one way to grow the business – and to have an impact on society, health, environment and congestion – is to create a bicycle-friendly world," said Burke.
He revealed that for every $100 of sales, bike companies typically spend $3.90 on marketing, $1.60 on R&D but just 10 cents on advocacy.
"That doesn’t make sense. As an industry we need to look at how we spend money. Why do we spend the amount of money on marketing and product and little on advocacy?"
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