Simon Mottram - CEO and Founder of Rapha Talks at Cyclefit

Tuesday 6th December 2011.
A most eagerly awaited lecture. The packed Cyclefit hall featured familiar and also unfamiliar faces. Rumours of FT journos and branding experts proved at least half right. Serious looking types in expensive spectacles took copious notes and the questions were direct and searching.
The respect Rapha is held in was palpable. not only do the products speak to cyclists but also the company and its approach to its craft has inspired so many people. And some of them were in the audience on that Tuesday.

Here are some of the highlights of the evening.

1. I Told You So..

Phil Cavell from Cyclefit introduced Simon with a tragic confession of how he personally tried to talk Simon down from the ledge of starting Rapha in 2002 because he thought "the market simply did not exist".
Up there with "The Internet? That will never catch on"

2. Per Ardua ad Gloriam

Or Glory through work. This ethic of European cycling inspired Simon to tell the story with the Rapha products and Rapha brand. Every product has a story and message stitched into its fabric. But the most enduring and underlying theme is that one of glorification of suffering on a bike. Hence the classic and unmistakeable images of Rapha grittiness that have become synonymous with the brand and products.

3. Everything to Somebody, not Something to Everybody.

In this message we sensed the centre of Simon Mottram and Rapha. A determination not to be average or flee from being different. Simon cited Apple as an influence in both product design and branding differentiation. In that Apple has somehow maintained that most implausible of balance points - being mass-market and also still a cult. And it seems that by design or accident (almost certainly the former) that Rapha is aimed at that same bulls-eye.

“The coolest thing for people on two wheels.” (FT)

Or…

“Cynical marketing hype for nodders.”

Again Simon was clear that this polarity was both welcome and intended. Enemies and detractors are to be considered a bonus ball when building a robust brand (forgive the alliteration) precisely because of the concomitant strong emotion.
Only indifference is the enemy. And that is so true. You are either a Rapha Man or not. And whilst it is true that Rapha now has a women's range it is still unashamedly a masculine brand persona.
And the questions from the floor proved the strong emotions. The audience bristled with admiration and sometimes irritation when a product had been deleted from the range. It all demonstrated that as Rapha builds into a bigger, stronger and international company, the consumer still feels an intense tactile connection with the Rapha product.

None more so than Phil's glowing monologue on, and evident addiction to, Rapha Ventoux Chamois Creme