Latest News 53 – Muc off Files Part 2 – Cycling’s most dishonest marketing??? Edition**

Ok well I know I am going to be somewhat biased here, but I think this video is extremely interesting!

More importantly though, I think the knowledge of what – in my opinion (but based on some pretty compelling evidence) – has been conducted by Muc-Off, cyclists should be aware. Bike stores should be aware. Your friends should be aware. If you are going to watch and share just one ZFC you tube vid this year, make it this one.

Can it really be true??

For a long time I have been very…. diplomatic…. in stating any concerns re what I believed Muc-Off were very clearly (in my opinion) up to. I feel it is so dishonest, that until I had really been able to exhaust all opportunity to get Muc-Off to address the concerns, I have been hesitant to take the step to outright call a major industry player as acting in such a manner.

I find the behavior so concerning and so offensive because they are not just being misleading by exaggerating some marketing claims or performance numbers. For what has (in my opinion) occurred to happen, Muc-Off from the highest management levels would have had to have planned, designed and executed a strategy requiring quite a number of specific actions that would have been absolutely known to be completely false and dishonest – again – in my opinion. My apologies despite the weight of the evidence, I would not put it past Muc-Off to try to squash an annoying bug with a vastly better resourced legal department – so despite all that is covered in the video to back my beliefs, I will need to keep stressing these accusations are my beliefs and not stating as empirical established fact.

But again – can it really be true? Is it too far fetched?

For a long time I also asked myself those questions. But I also see and hear ( I listen to like a lot of news on a lot of things in the world) that in pretty much every major industry you can think of – there are examples of some great companies, some ok companies, and some industry sharks that have had their share of scandals over the years and never ending concerns & accusations of more ongoing.

Is it such that cycling industry has no companies where behavior has breached the line from marketing exaggerations to outright dishonest and misleading behavior? Or is this a clear case of one such company that can be pretty securely classed as a bad actor based on what I can present in the video.

ZFC vs Muc-Off. This isn’t David vs Goliath. This David who is a 16 cell embryo vs a Goliath who has been pumping iron for a long time whilst on an enhanced vitamin program.

Muc-Off are EXTREMELY clever on the marketing / commercial strategy front. They offer great margins to bike stores. I have been emailed by a store in USA who advised they were offered guaranteed 70% margin on all M-O products if they went exclusively Muc-Off. That is much higher than normal, where circa 30% margin on many lubricants is common.

They are in cosy relationship with mega cycling you-tube media like GCN and GMBN – great advertising $$ for GCN / GMBN – great exposure and product recommendations for Muc-Off.  A GMBN video can get well over half a million views. I’m somewhat aways from that mark (mind….. I’m certainly no presenter and am a pretty young channel, with time and support I might make it to 10% of that which for 0.1% of the production budget and spare time to focus vs it being many peoples full time occupation – that will be a good result if we can!)

In short – if its just teeny tiny ZFC – nothing will happen. Muc-Off will still not need to ever worry about answering a hard question or allaying a key concern from rather damning evidence. 99% of bike stores believe the M-O sales rep, they will believe it is a win win re great products for customer, great margins for them. Muc off will continue to enjoy huge market share at the cost of other companies who in reality, ABSOLUTELY DESERVE your money for bringing genuinely great products to market that will genuinely PROTECT your drivetrain from a huge amount of wear. As opposed to your $$ going to support a company that, in my opinion, has been exposed as extremely dishonest, and whose top lubricants test as basically in line with how I would expect cutting fluids to test.

So ZFC needs you. Highlight to your friends. Highlight to your local bike store stocking muc-off. You can make a definite difference re tiny operation vs marketing juggernaut, and enough people making a difference adds up to a lot. It may force something to happen (hopefully something good.. vs defensive PR crap).

I would love to see cyclists hard earned money going to companies who deserve it – who have invested the financial and human capital to bring you a genuinely great product. I would love to see that if a company engages in extremely dishonest conduct they are held to some account.

There is saying (well, there are shit tons of sayings…but let me say this one…) – and this is adapted from somewhere so it’s not exact – but basically – “I can’t save the world from hunger – but I can save this one person”.  Meaning that whilst none of us can stop millions from starving and the endemic issues behind that, if we want to, we can take actions through supporting volunteer organizations to stop one person from starving. If a billion people did that, well, what do you know – the problem might be largely solved after all.

I cannot solve corporate dishonesty around the world. But I can highlight this one company that in my sphere of focus has stood out for all the wrong reasons.  And you can too. And you just never know, you could be part of changing a major player in the industry to better behavior going forwards (and maybe even to releasing products that do not act as liquid sandpaper. In my opinion…. Based on the worlds most exhaustive and robust independent testing…).

So – if you get a spare moment to have a look at what I believe to be possibly one of cycling industries most dishonest behaviors – check out the latest vid on you tube, and share the knowledge with those whose drivetrains you care about, as well as bike stores where you believe the owner genuinely wants provide their customers with a better experience and lower costs.

(310) Episode 20 Muc Off Files Part 2 – Cycling’s most dishonest Marketing??? – YouTube

Thanks for reading, thanks for watching!

Yours truly in the fight against drivetrain eating friction.

ZFC