Screw It, Let's Ride: Harley-Davidson Retools Its Marketing

When it comes to iconic American brands, taking over the care and feeding of cycle maker Harley-Davidson probably ranks right below representing the Declaration of Independence (great plot, dynamite opening) and just above marketing the Statue of Liberty (nice lady, but she's French).

Independence, speed, American manufacturing, patriotism, “Easy Rider” rebellion and piratical style are all baked into the output of the 106-year-old Milwaukee-based manufacturer's products. That's the point of the devil-may-care tagline Harley's been using in recent print ads: “Screw it. Let's ride.”

But when the economy noses down, even a brand image as strong as Harley's can become something of a liability, locking it away from new customer segments. If that happens, how do you rev up sales without eroding the brand?

That's the situation that Harley faces today. It's a luxury brand, albeit a rugged, leathery one, and dependent on discretionary income — something customers have been finding hard to come up with in this recession. And the downturn has been showing up in sales for the last few quarters: U.S. sales dropped 9.4% in the first quarter of this year. Its overall market share of the global motorcycle market fell 3 percentage points in the last year, to 45.6% from 48.8% in 2007, according to investment firm Edward Jones.

Those figures aren't bleak compared to other vehicle categories. New-car sales in the U.S. are down more than 30% from last year; and U.S. cycle sales overall were down 30.5% year over year for the quarter, according to April figures from the Motorcycle Industry Council.

Still, Harley-Davidson faces a basic problem: It needs to find new riders. And since cycle fans are highly brand loyal, the easiest way to find new riders may be to create them. Or as Harley sees it, to get non-owners with an interest in the brand to raise their hands.

“It's a bit of a misnomer to say that Harley is doing something new to reach out,” says Mark-Hans Richer, who took over as CMO in 2007. “In many cases, the brand connections are already there. Our job, rather, is to take what's already there, well understood and well loved, and broaden it. The brand has elemental truths that connect very well with people's truths about themselves. We just have to allow people to discover those things.”

YOUTH MOVEMENT

Harley actually started delving into new consumer segments last year, with a concerted attempt to increase appeal among riders under 35. Harley riders are baby boomers; they average out at more than 47 years old, up from 42 in 2004. And younger riders were in danger of tagging the classic chromed-out, big-engine Harley as their father's bike or, worse yet, their granddaddy's ride.

So Harley started doing some research into what under-35 riders were favoring in the company's product line, what values attracted them to Harley, and what might be turning off non-customers. The aim was to identify small changes in product, placement or pitch that could build sales in the lower age group.

The research found that adults under 35 were buying across all Harley's bike categories. But within those categories, Richer says, the bikes they favored shared some characteristics. They weren't as big as most Harleys, they had much less chrome than the cycles older riders chose, and in fact they had a classic cut-back “old school” look.

“We were already making these products, but we weren't seeing what was in front of us,” Richer says. “The bikes were out there, but customers couldn't find them because they were scattered through several different model families on the showroom floor. We needed to make it easier for these customers to discover these products they wanted.”

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