Word from the Chair
Chairman Jane provides an overview of MAG's progress
Recently there have been image changes to the National Logo and website which I'd like to explain. Since the appointment of Campaigns Manager David Short we've had the advantage of an extra pair of hands. Instead of the fire fighting, which we'd been doing prior to this, we were able to take stock of where we were as an organisation.
We asked David to spend time in the office as well as meeting all the key players in our organisation - both paid staff and volunteers. We asked him, to do a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).
He rightly identified our reliance on events for income as a major risk. We need to increase our membership to at least 20,000 to give us the stability we need. To do this we need to appeal to the wider biking community in a way that we have not done before. We need to present that community with an image of MAG that they feel instinctively comfortable with. We're enjoying growing success in the political arena, where we have been invited to address the Commons Select Committee on transport and other decision making government bodies.
We are having success in projecting a positive image within the biking press and we must ensure that awareness of these changes reaches the entire motorcycle community and attracts their attention. We are crucially aware of the importance of retaining the grass roots support of our core membership and all these changes have been made with the full consultation of the democratically elected National Committee which has unanimously endorsed them. Though MAG is evolving, the change in image has not diluted commitment to core principles by one iota. We can and we will take all of our existing members with us and welcome many more.
If we do not evolve we will become extinct, as an organisation. Now is the time for us to really make a difference by being pro active, not re active. By ensuring that motorcycling has an equal status in transport plans as other valid forms of transport we shall endeavour to protect motorcycling for the next generation. To do this it is crucial to attract more members.
Change is never easy. However having analysed our problems we decided to do something about them.
We had been trying to update our image via the website for some 4 years and in 2006 after I'd been Chair for seven months, we concluded that this could not be done just using our volunteers. The membership had been crying out for some years for an update to reflect the reality that we are an organisation that speaks for motorcyclists today.
We consulted Creo a new company at the cutting edge of Market Research, whose directors had a record of delivering the goods. We quickly realised that the visual changes we made would have to be consistent across our whole public face. We felt that the new logo retained the essence of our organisation. Helmets have been significant throughout MAG's history, the helmet law having spawned our group and the image of the helmet being consistently used e.g. 'Bikers are Voters', where we had the image of posting votes through the front of the helmet.
The two different styles of helmet were designed to suggest that we have a broad appeal to motorcyclists.
Opinions were sought using existing MAG members via cold calling by market researchers organised by Creo. Website bike forums were viewed, one to one interviews with bikers were conducted, including interviews with non MAG members. The final logo was decided upon after consultation with Regional Reps at National Committee meetings.
In order to reach out to the wider motorcycling community we must listen to what that community is telling us. The market research suggested that MAG was not fully reflecting the complexion of the broader motorcycling world, and we had to address that.
Looking at the Logo and the website: 'MAG - The heart and soul of biking." and " Are you passionate enough?' The lines both define MAG and appeal to the conscience of the reader. National Committee meetings on these issues have taken place in Oct and Dec 2006, February 2007 and twice in April of this year. The last of these meetings was a special additional NC meeting, reflecting the importance attached to the democratic decision making process. Overwhelming and unanimous support was given by the National Committee to the course we have taken. The National Committee is your elected body and at times they have to make decisions on your behalf, I urge you to support them. They are also volunteers and are trying to do their very best for MAG.
Yes there is a financial cost involved, though not as much as has been speculated in the biking press. However the message being sent to the wider biking community is that we are prepared to invest the money that you the members raise to protect the future of motorcycling.
The breadth of the presentational changes we are making would have rendered a nation-wide consultation impractical. Those who remember how long the last debate over the changed logo raged, will recognize that there are times when the leaders of organisations have to accept the responsibility of making decisions. The present dynamics within the motorcycle world as the threat of surveillance-based controls grows at the same time as our lobbying capability has been dramatically enhanced, convinced us that this is the time to make a great leap forward. Organisations that rest on their laurels become staid and lose ambition.
Please remember that we are undergoing an identity change not an ethical one. No MAG principle is threatened by the changes being made. We're just trying to broaden our appeal. Your National Committee is determined that MAG will respond to all threats and utilize all opportunities and we hope that all MAG members will support us in this.
Jane Chisholm, Chair MAG UK
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