This Is Not A Sales Pitch – Yeah, Right

It showed up in my inbox.  I was randomly selected by the “Harley Research Team” to participate in an online survey. 

As a registered ticket holder for the Harley-Davidson 105^th Anniversary event, I was unique (like the other 100K+ people attending) and “got” to take a survey to help Harley plan for my stay.  Well isn’t that nice that they care so much about my stay in Milwaukee?!

I don’t buy it.  However, I did complete the 10 minute survey which had approximately 7 of the 20+ questions asking me about my plans to buy a new motorcycle and if so which manufacture was I considering and the timeframe.  I think the marketing guys got into a conference room with the Dealer network/Sales folks and said, “Hey, why don’t we ping all those 105^th ticket holders and see how many are planning to buy a new motorcycle”?  “Maybe they haven’t heard about all the new Copper-tone 105^th models we have in show rooms”? 

There were no questions about the Museum or attendance.  That is discouraging since I didn’t get a ticket via the lottery process and the museum is closed during the 105^th.  I’ve whined enough about that though previously.

The email goes something like this:

Dear Mac,

The Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary celebration is almost here! As a
registered 105th Anniversary ticket holder, please take a moment to complete
a short survey for our internal research team.  This is not a sales pitch.
Your feedback will help us plan for your stay in Milwaukee.

For participating, you will be entered into a drawing to win ONE of five $100
gift certificates to be used at any Harley-Davidson dealer. Click on the link
below to access the online survey.

If you are using AOL or if you have any problems linking to the survey, please
copy and paste the below survey link into the address line of your Internet
browser, and then manually enter your password in the space provided.

Survey Link:  http://www.surveyzone.net/s058

I know I’m busting Harley’s chops on this, but I’m fairly confident the email survey is about trying to anticipate/predict the attendance turn out of the 105^th event and get some sales data.  With Sturgis attendance down this year it only stands to reason they would confirm ticket holders who indeed do plan to attend the event.

I hope they get the “Honey Bucket” count accurate because I hate standing in long “relief” lines!