Thugs Sell Motorcycles

“When you dine with the devil, bring a long spoon.” — Machiavelli
Having a ‘thug’ like Ludacris anywhere near your marketing campaign may not be a good thing.  Yet, Harley-Davidson has decided having a pitchman who glamorizes a life of guns, violence, drugs and is disrespectful of women is EXACTLY what’s needed to turn around motorcycle [...]

Read Full Post »

Harley-Davidson Turkeys Of 2009

As Thanksgiving approaches and families prepare to gather around the table to share turkey and stuffing, the Northwest Harley blog editorial team (me), decided it was time to look back at the announcements and decisions from the motor company that made news this past year for all of the wrong reasons.
This is my list of [...]

Read Full Post »

South Park Takes On Harley-Davidson

Life imitates art or is it the other way round?  It turns out the “inconsiderate douche bag’s on Harley’s” are creating noise as they ride up and down the street wrecking everyone’s quite time on South Park.
It’s a protest movement in Season 13, episode 1312, where Cartman calls out a pack of bikers whose loud [...]

Read Full Post »

Bottling Ideas

I was flipping TV channels last night and landed on FX during a commercial.
Nothing so special about that… WAIT… they’re advertising a Sons of Anarchy custom Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Superglide motorcycle with a Custom Reaper paint job!
THAT… idea seems very familiar.  Sure enough, I blogged last year about how H-D marketing ought to consider developing [...]

Read Full Post »

Harley Hispanic Trends

I’ve written previously that Harley-Davidson has been losing traction in worldwide motorcycle sales and is pushing a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting more Latino-centric customers and other racial minorities to the biker lifestyle.
With costly and parallel marketing efforts the company is pushing multi-generational and multi-cultural marketing campaigns.  Like a circus clown juggling all balls, [...]

Read Full Post »

Outrun The Sun

In a world where business people are constantly trying to hoodwink us, with extensive marketing and constant barking to pay attention the Harley marketing team has upped the ante and quietly paved the way to fabricate a fake brand.
I’m talking about the “TRUE BLOOD” Iron 883 which was developed for a nonexistent audience on TV.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Harley-Davidson Lip Service

Now more than ever, Harley executives say that customer experience is critical to how motorcycle firms compete.
They’re right: research indicates a high correlation between good customer experience and increased customer loyalty.
Unfortunately not all dealers get high marks from their customers. And that translates into lower sales, higher churn, and lost business that goes to competitors.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Biker Buff As CEO

Question — Does the CEO of a multi-billion dollar motorcycle company need to be a motorcycle enthusiast?
The newly named Harley-Davidson CEO, Keith Wandell, sent a letter to the approx 1400 independent dealers opining his excitement in joining the motor company.  I was able to obtain a copy.  What did it say? But, more important what [...]

Read Full Post »

Harley’s Pimped Out Big Rig

If you’re Harley-Davidson what do you do when motorcycle sales are slumping and the marketing department ideas have become Tom Cruise ‘cold’?
You take a ‘money is no object’ challenge, pimp out your top styling guy and craft a customize big rig!  WTF?
Navistar, Inc. (NYSE:NAV) let Willie G. “pump-up” the Night Rod muscle and rolled out [...]

Read Full Post »

Harley SAMCRO Limited Edition Motorcycle

For a company that has been around since the dawn of time Harley has been most successful in what’s called “licensed lifestyle” items.  You’ve seen all the pet products, footwear, jewelry, under garments, furniture, Burger King toys, and other companion products which promote or extend to items that people use as a badge of identifying [...]

Read Full Post »