I was watching this very cheesy honda advert for the cbf600 instead of doing work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B0zAOeKeQk and it made me wonder, why don’t we get any bike adverts on tv?
interesting point - ive absolutely no idea!?
isn’t it that the market is to small to bother with the cost of advertising on tv?
is it really that small? or just that the audience is too wide?
don’t know. you’d imagine big multinational companies like bmw and honda would advertise their bikes. especially as their car adverts seem to be fairly non-country specific with no dialogue so you can just change the captions or voiceover from country to country. a bike advert done the same way could be shown globally, extending its reach. I can only think their main market is people who are already bikers and so stick to advertising in publications only bikers would read. ie they’re not too fussed about winning over new non-bikers.
that’s a very sensible answer. i knew i wanted a bike from an early age so activly searched out the information.
Cars (and their adverts) tend to be aimed at certain groups of people, too, whereas all types bikes are ridden by all sorts of people.
Maybe bike ads would be too generic to ensnare any one target audience, and so wouldn’t do anything other than say “here’s a new bike”.
I think this question was asked a while back on here and a guy in advertising said that the percentage of bikers is too small to make it worthwhile and the margins are lower on cars than bikes.
He also mentioned that we are an informed bunch and sell things to ourselves, we know when a new bike is released, BHP, costs etc.
Would be interested to see what somebody else in advertising thinks as I am sure advertising does work, you only have to look at Long way round and orange county choppers.
i guess it’s the same really for say ferrari, lambo, noble… market is to small for the specific makes?
They do have bike specific ad’s but I’ve only ever seen them in the ad breaks on the bike racing.
They do advertise a little, but generally when a motorcycle related show is on, ie. MotoGP, etc The cost of TV advertising is huge, compared to the amount of bikes sold. Besides, would a TV advert convince you to purchase that specific bike?
I think they know how picky us bikers are, and know we generally do a lot of background work prior to purchase. As for the Honda CBF 600 2008 ad, I don’t know which is uglier, the chick or the bike? To be honest, I’d rather not ride either!!! :hehe:
Agreed - but i dont even remember seeing bike adverts when the racing is on - doesnt the BBC cover bike racing now? been so long since I watched it on TV - dont they cover WSB? It would make sense to advertise with them - but I dont watch it enough to catch it, I guess…
+1 they should have saved the money from the ad and given both of them a face lift:P
BBC has no adverts (apart from promoting its own stuff) - it’s paid for by the licence fee.
tells you how much TV I watch or how much I pay attention to it lol 
It’s true we’re a very well educated bunch compared to other markets like mass-market car customers, but we’re all still human and are subject to the benefits of advertising. If you were in the market for a new bike and had a choice of say four possibles to choose from, and one brand was advertising their bike on LB for instance, I’d bet you’d be more likely to entertain it.
Advertising is not about brainwashing, it’s about keeping something in peoples minds, educating them and creating interest (or hype as it can sometimes be).
In America, manufacturers advertise a fair bit more, but in Europe there’s next to none that we’ve seen. You get the odd Suzuki advert on Eurosport during some racing events, but that’s about it. Odd. I’d have thought something even more marketable like scooters would be advertised more, but it’s not.
So… would you like, or dislike to see manufacturer adverts on LB?
No, the ads we have are bad enough, screwing up my screen space. Where would you put more of them ? Be easier to fcyk around to not display graphics/ads and have it all screwed up rather than more adverts.
Well I suppose bikes are advertised on TV, but through other means. For example The Long Way Round / Long Way Down series did a huge amount for BMWs sales - they rocketed as a result and the series also promoted sales of ‘adventure’ bikes such as the KTM 990 etc.
But I agree, it is a big enough market to warrant TV ads.
In the same place the current ads are. The ad layout on LB hasn’t changed much over time, it’s pretty much the same structure it’s always been.
I’ve just had a look at that ad on U Tube and to be honest, a 12 year old could have done a better job at promoting the product. However, I totally disagree that the chick is ugly, if I looked like that I’d be more than happy :):)A TV ad would not necessarily convince you to buy a bike, anymore than a car advert convinces you to purchase a specific car. However, when ads are on every single day the effect is subliminal - so over time, even if the ads do not convince someone to buy a specific bike - they cause people to think about the positives of biking. Gradually more people start thinking that biking is a good idea ( beating the C charge, getting to work quicker etc ) and then start looking into the specifics of the bike they want.