Following their press launches and a public debut at Motorcycle Live! some of the new stars of the 2011 Kawasaki motorcycle range were unveiled on the evening of Thursday 27 Jan at Kawasaki road bike dealers across the UK.
With machines only recently "on the water" from Japan, the late January date was the literally first possible chance for dealers to show machines to eager customers as part of a countrywide evening of coordinated unveilings.
Kawasaki ensured all participating dealers had at least one or more of the new models to unveil, and franchised dealers busied themselves in advance of the night planning special themed events, organising catering and encouraging customers to register for a unique Kawasaki competition that would be drawn live as part of an exciting night of activity.
Registering for the competition via the official Kawasaki Motors UK Facebook site, Kawasaki News UK, the competition promised three stunning prizes attracting several thousand entries.
Understandably the "unofficial competition" between dealers to mount the most impressive event was intense as Sales and Marketing Manager for KMUK, Michael Johnstone explains:
"Dealers almost universally provided a buffet and some sort of refreshment on the night while others also had star guests such as Irish road race legend, Ryan Farquhar at Motoplus in Coleraine, Chris Morton MBE at Wigan Kawasaki and Red Dwarf star, Danny John Jules, at the Lloyd Cooper store in Watford.
With the new Ninja ZX-10R, Z1000SX, Z750R and W800 as main attractions, the dealers did themselves proud with some diverse entertainment from a complete Casino installed at Orwells of Ipswich, a Ninja drag racing bike display at Bristol Kawasaki and new machines actually ridden into the showroom by this year's official Kawasaki BSB riders, Stuart Easton and Gary Mason at Colchester Kawasaki. Alongside the core activities and entertainment, many dealers and customers also raised money for charity with useful sums being raised for causes such as the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Hope for Heroes"
With so much to take in among an intense period of activity during the evening - including the chance to join the recently re-launched Kawasaki Riders Club - the live draw and announcement of the three competition winners witnessed even the loudest showroom reduced to hushed tones as the third, second and first places appeared as live updates the Kawasaki News UK Facebook site and the partner Twitter site, Kawasaki News .
"To ensure a link between entering the competition and attending their local dealer, entrants were asked to confirm their registration as they turned up on the night", continued Johnstone. "The third place UK track day prize went to Silverstone Motorcycles customer, Gary Glenn and the second place European track day prize was won by Bransons customer Thomas Hopkins – both being run by our KMUK track partner, Focused Events.
We wanted a prize you could not buy for the first place person and Phil Russon, a long term customer of Cradley Kawasaki, was understandably stunned when he and a friend or partner won a trip to Japan and a tour of the KHI factory in Akashi. With every dealer drawing a potential first prize winner, the runners-up at each location also received a consolation prize, a framed Ninja ZX-10R design sketch print.
As a way of dealers introducing the new machines to their customers, the launch night was an outstanding success with many dealers reporting direct sales on the night or bookings for test rides; as an example P&H in Crawley sold a W800 when the unveiling ceremony was only half way through!
I think dealers and customers alike would agree the launch night created a strong positive impression of our already highly praised 2011 road bike range"
With machines only recently "on the water" from Japan, the late January date was the literally first possible chance for dealers to show machines to eager customers as part of a countrywide evening of coordinated unveilings.
Kawasaki ensured all participating dealers had at least one or more of the new models to unveil, and franchised dealers busied themselves in advance of the night planning special themed events, organising catering and encouraging customers to register for a unique Kawasaki competition that would be drawn live as part of an exciting night of activity.
Registering for the competition via the official Kawasaki Motors UK Facebook site, Kawasaki News UK, the competition promised three stunning prizes attracting several thousand entries.
Understandably the "unofficial competition" between dealers to mount the most impressive event was intense as Sales and Marketing Manager for KMUK, Michael Johnstone explains:
"Dealers almost universally provided a buffet and some sort of refreshment on the night while others also had star guests such as Irish road race legend, Ryan Farquhar at Motoplus in Coleraine, Chris Morton MBE at Wigan Kawasaki and Red Dwarf star, Danny John Jules, at the Lloyd Cooper store in Watford.
With the new Ninja ZX-10R, Z1000SX, Z750R and W800 as main attractions, the dealers did themselves proud with some diverse entertainment from a complete Casino installed at Orwells of Ipswich, a Ninja drag racing bike display at Bristol Kawasaki and new machines actually ridden into the showroom by this year's official Kawasaki BSB riders, Stuart Easton and Gary Mason at Colchester Kawasaki. Alongside the core activities and entertainment, many dealers and customers also raised money for charity with useful sums being raised for causes such as the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Hope for Heroes"
With so much to take in among an intense period of activity during the evening - including the chance to join the recently re-launched Kawasaki Riders Club - the live draw and announcement of the three competition winners witnessed even the loudest showroom reduced to hushed tones as the third, second and first places appeared as live updates the Kawasaki News UK Facebook site and the partner Twitter site, Kawasaki News .
"To ensure a link between entering the competition and attending their local dealer, entrants were asked to confirm their registration as they turned up on the night", continued Johnstone. "The third place UK track day prize went to Silverstone Motorcycles customer, Gary Glenn and the second place European track day prize was won by Bransons customer Thomas Hopkins – both being run by our KMUK track partner, Focused Events.
We wanted a prize you could not buy for the first place person and Phil Russon, a long term customer of Cradley Kawasaki, was understandably stunned when he and a friend or partner won a trip to Japan and a tour of the KHI factory in Akashi. With every dealer drawing a potential first prize winner, the runners-up at each location also received a consolation prize, a framed Ninja ZX-10R design sketch print.
As a way of dealers introducing the new machines to their customers, the launch night was an outstanding success with many dealers reporting direct sales on the night or bookings for test rides; as an example P&H in Crawley sold a W800 when the unveiling ceremony was only half way through!
I think dealers and customers alike would agree the launch night created a strong positive impression of our already highly praised 2011 road bike range"
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