momentum39-web-coverI have seen this publication before at one of my local coffee shops, so I was happy to find out more at their booth at Epic. A chance to win a bike trailer was enough to entice me to subscribe, (for the show-special rate of $15 a year) and I had a nice chat with Managing Editor Terry Lowe and Ulrike Rodrigues, one of the contributing writers. I’ve always thought that as a vehicle for reaching Vancouver’s cycling community, this publication has a good opportunity to be the killer in the category. It’s well laid out, full of interesting articles for the starter commuter to the hard-core fixed-wheel maniac and seems to be well supported with some relevant advertising. In its 4th year of publication, it has also been chosen as a nominee for the Utne Reader Independent Press Awards. But it took a little online research for me to find out just how much this little publication has grown. One thing I didn’t realize was that it’s actually now distributed in 20 cities across North America, and prints 50,000 copies. (Though according to it’s media kit, about 2500 of those copies are paid subscriptions)  As a fervent biker, I find Momentum a very exciting prospect. Their tag-line ‘The magazine for self-propelled people’ has a lot of potential to rally riders to their cause.
Green Briefs Marketing Thoughts: I would see increasing the paid subscription base as a huge priority, and would probably recommend some ‘Guerilla Media’ tactics that would be easy to replicate in the 20 North American cities they cover. Consider that outside the Epic show, sidewalks were bristling with bikes locked to every conceivable rack-like object. How about a simple notice or item that easily attaches to a bike featuring a web link and contest offer? Like an branded pants-clip or cool sticker that would remind me of Momentum and encourage me to subscribe with a web URL. This could easily be distributed at Folk Festivals, Concerts –wherever bikes are gathered at an event.

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