In partnership with our client, Bosch eBike Systems, the project was conceived in response to the increasingly negative mainstream media narrative around e-bike battery fires. As our independent research found, this is putting millions of people off choosing the many benefits of electric bikes and is directly impacting the UK bike industry.

E-Bike Positive set out to educate the British public to make informed purchasing decisions by highlighting the differences between very safe, certified e-bike products and unapproved aftermarket equipment that has caused the unfortunate incidents reported in the media.

To help deliver the national impact needed, we approached the industry’s most influential organisations including Cycling UK, The Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle Traders to join forces. Together, we formed the ‘Electric Bike Alliance’ - setting out on a shared mission to communicate the many benefits of e-bikes via the mainstream media, thousands of local bike shops and Government.

As a leading cycling PR agency, the SHIFT team created the campaign identity, suite of social assets, a dedicated website, in-store assets, and brought it all together with a national PR and broadcast campaign on launch week.

Some key highlights:

The launch delivered nearly 300 editorial media articles with a reach of over 27 million. Highlights included a live interview feature on Sky News, coverage on BBC News and The Independent newspaper.

It was also featured across four regional TV news networks including BBC Look North, BBC Midlands Today and London Live, plus over 200 national and regional radio stations on launch day.

We were also really encouraged to see our colleagues in the cycling media get behind the campaign, with blanket coverage across english speaking endemic titles including Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, Bikeradar, MBR, Cycling Electric and Road.cc.

In addition to the media coverage, almost 300 shops have signed up to our ‘E-Bike Positive Retailer Pledge’, committing to support their local communities by only selling and servicing safe and legal e-bikes, chargers and batteries and sharing the campaign materials with customers in-store. This has also seen thousands of visits to the website www.ebikepositive.co.uk.

The campaign has also sparked the interest of major third party stakeholders, with talks currently ongoing with the government’s Department for Transport, The Home Office and Office for Product Safety & Standards, as well as the London Fire Brigade and major national bike delivery operators.

This is just the beginning, and planning is already underway for the next phase of the project and the months ahead.