After another busy year for Motorcycle Marketing in 2023 founder Thalassa van Beek reflects on the progress made by the agency’s growing team of specialist motorbike industry marketers.

Summarising the year as whole, Thalassa explains that she is most pleased with being able to increase the skill set and numbers in the agency’s close group of collaborators. She comments, “The point I’m most excited about this year, just because it’s so important as the base of the company, is that I’m so proud of the team.”

“We have a couple of new people onboard that I’m really pleased about as they are so talented, creative, motivated and just bad-ass bikers. So I think the way we’ve grown together, the way we’re working together, that’s the best part of what happened this year.” 

Thalassa continues, “In addition to that, we signed more high-profile clients this year. At the same time there are some smaller clients we’ve met right at the beginning of their journeys, in their start-up phase, where we see the potential and where both parties are in it for the long-term. It’s rewarding to grow together with this type of client.”

Staying in touch with key industry stakeholders, including manufacturers, brands, suppliers and most importantly, riders themselves, is something that Thalassa and the team here at Motorcycle Marketing always prioritise. Getting to as many industry shows, festivals and gatherings as possible is a must as far as Thalassa is concerned.

“We went to a lot of events in 2023 and it was fantastic to connect with the community, whether that’s with existing clients, potential clients or riders themselves, people like us, and just talk motorbikes all day,” she states.

“We went to Skog in Sweden, Motorbeurs Utrecht in the Netherlands, ABR Festival in the UK, MaxlRIDE in Germany, EICMA in Italy and Motorcycle Live in the UK, plus some of the other team members went to Salon de 2 Roues, Wheels & Waves and Salon Moto Légende in France. There were also members of our team working on World Championship level road and rally-raid races.”

“Every niche has its own events and it’s good to be at those different events, to really be able to get into what’s going on at them.” 

“That is how we differentiate ourselves at Motorcycle Marketing. For a generic agency motorbikes are motorbikes, as long as they have two wheels and an engine that’s it. Whereas we completely specialise and we understand the differences within the motorcycle industry, between the various segments. It’s good for us to not only attend the big shows but also be at niche events to really understand the trends and the feeling amongst the manufacturers and the specific riding community.”

With regard to the growing presence and innovation from the Far East in the European motorcycle market, Thalassa notes, “At EICMA there was a big presence of Chinese brands and it is interesting to see some of those companies seriously upping their game. As a bike lover you have to enjoy that. The more manufacturers that make cool things the better it is.”

As a keen rider herself, Thalassa took her laptop on the road in the spring-summer months, working remotely along the way as she rode north from her base near Barcelona.

“For years it was a dream of mine to ride my bike through Norway, so I took the Ténéré 700 there and it proved to be just the perfect bike for that trip.”

“I went to the south of Sweden for the Skog event and then I did some of the Trans-European Trail and made my way up to North Cape which was fantastic. When I went along the Norwegian coast back south there were some interesting weather challenges! In the south of Norway it was so beautiful, the mountains, the views, the landscapes, it was fantastic. Then I rode back through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, home to Spain.”

“I did some weekend trips into the Pyrenees, into France and around here in Catalunya. Earlier in the year I also went to Tenerife for a week, riding with one of our team members Leonoor Fischer, where we were invited by Canary Ride. That was a really nice trip.”

In terms of the plans for Motorcycle Marketing in 2024, Thalassa concludes, “The ambition is to keep growing. There’s a lot which is just about to happen. The fact that globally recognised companies are finding us and taking us seriously, with conversations already reaching an advanced stage, is very promising.”

“As for the team, I want to make sure that I keep helping people learn and grow, so that together we get them to places where they can take on more responsibility, with them working on bigger accounts. That’s something I’m really looking forward to in 2024.”