Reversed Trendsetting Or: How the elderly made the pedelec a trend in Hollywood

On the continent, pedelecs (for pedal electric cycle) meaning electric bicycles are on the brink of broad acceptance. In the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and now Austria these pedal-assist machines already count for up to 5- 15% of the market for bicycles with numbers continuously growing.

The e-bike sales result in turnovers higher than those from muscle-only powered two-wheelers. Their commercial success is reflected in the media. Almost every newspaper, national and local,  and TV station has at least once featured the new vehicles. 
Recently, the pedelec trend swashed over the Atlantic shores when the likes of Leonardo di Caprio and Adrien Brody were seen on Swiss-made bikes in New York and Los Angeles. On the same track is Cadel Evans (picture), winner of the Tour de France, literally polishing the image of electric bicycles in a new marketing campaign. 
These bikes have nothing to do anymore with what was once widely perceived as a mobility aid for elderly generations, if known at all and it is safe to say, that they have become trendy by now.

However, the mass-media reporting the pedelec’s success and its prominent owners are only one explanation for its advance- battery or sensor technology another. What is strangely missing are the actual everyday users. How often do you see someone actually riding a pedelec and if so, who sits in the saddle? Most likely it will be someone in the autumn of their life, golden or not.

Ultimately, the pedelec is a technology that is not easily communicated by shiny campaigns but that is best to be experienced to unfold a persuasive power rarely matched by other inventions. Therefore, a factor worth looking at to describe the advent of electric bikes and to feed it further is the groundwork done by people who tried it early on.

The difficulty of communicating the pedal-assist principle

When explaining the working principle of an electric bicycle in accurate terms, i.e. as a human-machine hybrid which engine only works when driven by muscle power, one is usually faced with misconceptions. The first reaction often goes along the lines of: “Oh, so you do not have to pedal anymore?!”

The answer: “No, it is pedal-assist, you have to pedal for the motor to support you” might lead to further efforts of understanding but is soon met with certain cognitive resistance (almost a cognitive dissonance).

As the bicycle is widely seen as a sports device, the idea of an added motor is closely associated with effortlessness or weakness or the concept of a throttle-controlled scooter. So if one thinks motor, the facile flick of a wrist comes to mind, not the turn of the pedals.

Still, there is a way to bring across the idea of electric bicycles.  Let someone try it. Instant understanding and interest is the reward.

Marketeers, go real

Given that an electric bicycle should be tried to be sold, campaigning alone will not do much. If then the most successful process of how the product is best sold to the consumer is already predefined (test-ride) and not easily or cost-effectively achieved, one wonders what role marketing had and/or will play in the emergence of the pedelec.

 The answer might lie within the creation of a product early on. This would mean to reconnect marketing to the identification of consumer's need and to advise on creating products that satisfy those needs.

The emergence of digital marketing has made campaigning appear all too easy and cheap. It builds on the idea of a continuous feedback process (= impact evaluation) through social networking. However, the number of fans, likes or retweets is only quantitative data with no or very limited qualitative substance or substantial exchange.

While social media marketing in its simple forms might help to shape the image or feel of brands it is unlikely to sell or create products, especially those entirely new to most audiences. Therefore, it cannot replace thorough market research as done in face-to-face interviews or surveys which, in case of the pedelec, would imply a test-ride opportunity.

Consider that the 5-15% market share pedelecs have are only their share in the bicycle market which makes not more than 20% of the population. In Germany there were about a million sold pedelecs in a country with 80 mio people, so one can assume that pedelecs still remain a product many people have not yet heard of nor tried. This means, that an online survey for example will certainly prove difficult.

Again, the practical experience will have to come into play and leads to a change in attitude rarely heard of. A qualitative study of the Dutch G² consultancy  asked participants of their survey about their opinions, before and after offering a test-ride. After actually trying the bike, 50% of participants considered buying an electric bicycle, regardless of what they thought of it before.

Adopting technology

Everett Rogers theory on the diffusion of innovation explains how innovation is adopted by a social system through certain channels over time. He identifies mass media and individuals as the two main sources spreading (in the sense of buying) a new technology.

Before a new product category becomes widely accepted it undergoes five stages that Rogers calls knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. This means an individual becomes aware of an innovation, actively seeks information on which ground a decision of acceptance or rejection is taken.

While this process is the same for each individual, Rogers assumes that there are some individuals more prone to adopt a new technology.  He calls these the “early adopters” only outrun by the actual “innovators”. The former are made of the so-called opinion leaders that have specific knowledge of a field or are well-known.  Their opinions are thus trusted and soon followed by others called “early majority” till the "late majority" and even the "laggards" or last adopters accept the new technology. This is the point where the market reaches saturation.

Nowadays, with social networks building on the idea of recommendation through a trusted circle of acquaintances, the concept of the opinion leader has become highly relevant but blurred at the same time. 

For Rogers, an opinion leader was defined not necessarily by prominence or image but by inside knowledge or expertise in a relevant field. An engineer specializing in green energy would be more likely to hear of and adopt solar panel technology early on and later be able to convince his neighbours to try the same. The neighbours therefore skip the process of collecting hard to find information and draw from the experiences made by their trusted neighbour instead.

This “local” process that involves actually experiencing the product has become somehow neglected in the digital world. While Rogers’ theory helps to understand the acceptance of once new technologies through essentially a process of hear-say-follow, the most important part of embracing the idea of an electric bike is to actually experience it. What Everett calls persuasion is mostly or solely done by the product itself given it is of a certain quality.

Adoptive parents and young trendy laggards

The pedelec being principally a bicycle makes it an inclusive rather than exclusive product. Special knowledge, apart from being able to ride a bike is not necessarily required. Curiosity or the quest for information can thus be driven by a need not expertise.

The desire for an electric bicycle was first felt by individuals looking for something that could re-introduce individual and healthy mobility into their lives. This means that a rather unusual group of early adopters has played an important role in the broad acceptance of electric bicycles: the elderly and the infirm.

While most marketers compete for the attention of the most valued group of the 18- 39 year old who are believed to be setting or follow trends quickly the pedelec, turned that process upside-down.
Even though one might not go as far as to say, that the niece has tried her granny's bike and liked it so much that she bought one for herself and showed it to her friends who in turn wanted one as well till a new trend was born (though those cases are not unheard of today), the elder generation has indeed facilitated the broad acceptance of electric bikes by their sheer commercial power.

By buying these new products in great numbers and at high prices early on, the elderly injected money into the bicycle industry that was hitherto unseen. In return, they got better products for themselves but also sparked a wave of innovation or the will and means to open this most profitable segment to the other, more fashionable classes of bicycles as well, thus making them appealing to younger people as well.

Today, urban commuter machines some as fast as 45 km/h and even electric mountain and road bikes are available and become more widely accepted by the month. These more stylish and conceptual bikes certainly helped to further raise awareness of electric bicycles in all parts of society. More importantly, they are changing the perceptions and image slowly thus making it easier to sell with a less legs-on method in the future.

Finally, the marketing models of opinion leadership or prominence can unfold their persuasive power again with Leonardo di Caprio or Adrien Brody spearheading the trend on fashionable e-bikes rather unashamedly in the streets of NYC. Accordingly, evermore campaigns surface that put their hopes on sport prominence or fancy videos.

However, one should not be mistaken. The biggest share of the market still lies with the elder population or comes down to usability like commuter pedelecs for middle-aged people with good income, esp. so because the most fancy models are often the most expensive and out of reach of younger buyers. And yet, people that give it a try are most likely to buy.

Nora Manthey

Pictures and video are courtesy of : Stromer, Susanne Bruesch, Nora Manthey & Haibike