May 7th, 2020.


Dave Plummer joined Goodyear Dunlop in August last year as Sales & Marketing Manager Motorcycle UK and Ireland. His remit was to lead the Dunlop Motorcycle division in the UK and Ireland, with a responsibility for all customer channels for Dunlop Motorcycle tyres, including wholesale, retail and online.

Plummer is no stranger to the motorcycle industry. He has a wealth of experience that, prior to joining Goodyear, saw him heading up the Scorpion Automotive Motorcycle division. Before this, he previously held various positions at Kawasaki UK, Ducati (Moto Cinelli) and KTM UK where he was responsible for dealer development, marketing and distribution network activities. He then managed sales and marketing for Husky Sport before working with HVUK to establish a new retailer network for the Husqvarna brand as well as co-ordinating the racing activities.

With the country on Coronavirus lockdown, Trader grabbed five minutes with the industry figure to get an update on his tenure so far, and his thoughts for the future.

“We have a great product at Dunlop, but identified two issues, one was a lack of focus on marketing and the other was that we haven’t been talking to customers or dealers particularly well.

“We have historically focussed on distributors, rather than retail outlets and as a result we, as a company, don’t have a sizeable footprint in the retail network. We had become disconnected from the very people who were selling our tyres and we identified that we didn’t know who was actually selling Dunlop in any volume.

“It became clear that we needed to put considerable effort into developing the Dunlop distribution network by encouraging a better relationship with retailers, whilst at the same time still supporting our distributors to continue to fulfil retail demand. In short we want to support Dunlop retail networks, irrespective of from where they buy the product.

“We are implementing a two-pronged attack that will firstly see an increase in staffing levels with more people on the road. We’re in the process of recruiting for London and the South and will replace the Midlands rep. We aim to have five people covering the UK and Ireland, including myself, which should give us the geographical coverage and ability to support retailers by actually going and talking to them.

“Secondly, we have plans to build a Dunlop Pro Dealer Network. We will appoint 30 to 50 retailers nationwide and help them become Dunlop specialists, effectively the local ambassador for Dunlop product. They will get advantageous terms, training, more direct backing from HQ together with POS and marketing support.

“In summary, we will continue to maintain and develop our relationship with our distributors. The Pro Dealer Network will be our insight into the retail network, into market trends and what’s happening on the ground, and we’ll have additional staff to help pull it all together. There’ll also be more marketing effort, more social media, along with targeted retail advertising. We now have our own UK Facebook page at dunlopmotouk and another hidden gem, in the form of our partnership with the Haslam Race School, will be promoted heavily. The school has been running Dunlop Roadsmart 3 and will be looking to switch to the new Mutant later on this year. It’s a brilliant facility that will be great to really put the cold and wet performance capabilities of the Mutant to the test.

“This is an ever-evolving plan, but what is important is for us to put in place a structured route to market and, in the current climate, survive as best we can …”

Contact: Dave Plummer, Goodyear Dunlop
T: 07775 113582
E : dave_plummer@goodyear.com
www.dunlop.eu