History of Harley Davidson
The American motorcycle company Harley Davidson was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903 by childhood friends William Harley and Arthur Davidson.
Harley Davidson has been a household name in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century when a 21-year-old young William S. Harley strapped an engine to a bicycle. Since then, in only two years, the motorcycle giant has launched the first version of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Even today, his company has proven to be one of the most reliable and growing companies in American history.
Harley has Became the World’s Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer in less than 20 Years with its Dealer Network
By 1920, Harley Davidson had become the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer with almost 2,000 dealers network. Although it was founded five years after the establishment of the Indian motorcycle company, the latter used its racing cars to gain a large following.
It was Harley’s “Wrecking Crew” racing team, its name acquired through its dominance in the sport in the mid-1910s, and India’s top racing team later adopted this name-that helped propel Harley to the top.
Today, Honda Motor is considered the highest-volume bicycle manufacturer, but it manufactures everything from small scooters to Gold Wings, from 50 cc engines to 1,800 cc blocks. In the world of large bicycles with engine power of 601 cc and above, Harley Davidson is still the king and still holds 50% of the market share in the United States.
Harley Davidson’s Owners Group(HOG)
Chapters Loyal Fans Marketing Strategy
Why Harley Davidson is Called Harley Owners Group-HOGS
Harley is called Harley Owner Group “Hogs” for a reason. The name “Hog” is synonymous with Harley Davidson bicycles. Although you might think it is related to their majestic and bulky size (or sound), in fact, the nickname was adopted because Harley Racing team member Ray Weishaar owned a piglet, which became the mascot of the team.
A Community of Riders in your Backyard
Riding activities vary from team riding, safety lessons, competitions, circles, HOG ™ national rides and weekend riding tips. Although riding is a major concern, many groups come together to raise funds, participate in events, and more. We have unlimited possibilities because you can come up with your next event idea. Join the local HOG chapter to meet and ride with other Harley owners in your area.
What are the Chapters?
The local team will bring together interested people on Harley Davidson motorcycles. If you join the local chapter, you will always have many opportunities to meet friends, have fun, and support important activities and rides!
Chapter Location
Currently, there are more than 1,400 official chapters of H.O.G. worldwide, and each chapter is sponsored by an authorized Harley Davidson distributor.
The Four Ps of Harley Davidson Marketing Strategy
Harley Davidson has had a lot of success. Despite the global automotive market’s challenges, the company is profitable. Harley Davidson’s marketing methods provide insights into how companies maintain their business resilience.
The marketing mix 4P’s include products, place, promotions, and prices. 4P is a collection of strategies and tactics used to execute marketing activities.
Harley Davidson’s marketing mix (4Ps) clarifies how motorcycle manufacturers rely on personal sales to boost their products, brands, and companies. Despite the massive and increasingly severe competition, this marketing mix element supports the company’s actions to attain a resilient brand.
1. Products
Harley Davidson has fewer product categories. This part of the marketing mix defines the output of the company’s sales. The product lines in the Harley Davidson product portfolio are as follows:
- Motorcycles
- Engine
- MotorClothes goods and collections
- Parts and accessories
- Rentals through an authorized Harley Davidson rental dealer
Harley Davidson is popular for its tailor-made motorcycles. Other product lines the company retails are engine and motorcycle parts and accessories.
Harley Davidson also provides clothing and related products under the name MotorClothes. In addition, the company also offers sales of various motorcycles.
2. Place
Harley Davidson products are distributed to maximize sales. In this element of the marketing mix, the location of contact with consumers is included. As far as Harley Davidson is concerned, the following are the sales areas of its products:
- Harley Davidson Authorized Dealers
- Harley Davidson Online Store
- Harley Davidson authorized rental dealer
Harley Davidson authorized dealers are the main channel for selling company vehicles. The company’s maximum revenue comes from these distributors. Some dealers are also permitted to rent Harley Davidson motorcycles.
3. Promotion
The Harley Davidson brand and products are widely marketed. This portion of the marketing mix covers communication skills and strategies. Harley Davidson’s advertising portfolio includes the following strategies/tactics, grouped by relevance:
- Personal sales (on-site sales) Advertising
- Public relationship
- Direct marketing
- Sales promotion
Personal sales are Harley Davidson’s most powerful promotional strategy. Particularly, the on-site sales strategy is used to enable buyers to try out and examine the company’s motorcycles at authorized dealerships
4. Price
Harley Davidson charges a premium for its products. This pricing strategy has a narrow price range. For example, Harley Davidson motorcycles are often more expensive than any other motorcycle brand in the United States. The organization justifies its high prices by demonstrating the quality of its products’ craftsmanship and longevity.
- This element of the marketing mix is linked to Harley universal Davidson’s differentiation strategy, which capitalizes on the distinctiveness of differentiating merchandise from the competitors
Five Lessons from Harley Davidson’s Marketing Strategy
1. Cultivate a Core Audience
If most people think of Harley Davidson drivers, they think of older, wealthy white men—they are not wrong. Although some people may find such a wide customer base to be disadvantageous, the truth is that Harley Davidson’s success is largely due to their loyalty and appreciation of a small core audience.
2. Do real-time Marketing Research
Funding events and organizing meetings full of Harley fans are the main way Harley Davidson collects consumer data. For example, Daytona Bike Week is an annual gathering of Harley Davidson riders and enthusiasts. Thousands of Harley Davidson data collectors enter the celebration to directly contact new and old customers.
- Harley Davidson can improve every aspect of its business, from bike performance to sales strategy, to improve the customer experience
3. Have Relationship-Building Strategies
When a consumer buys a Harley, he or she becomes a lifelong member of the Harley family. For the past 15 years, Harley Davidson has run a program called Harley Owners Group (HOG) to bring Harley Davidson owners and the company together.
- The Harley Owners Group delivers participants with a variety of bicycle-related problems, from repair workshops to help in the establishment of a local motorcycle club
4. Leverage Emotional Appeal
Although Harley Davidson products look like cars, the company does not focus on selling motorcycles. Harley Davidson simply cannot compete with the quality of other bicycles on the market-especially bicycles from Japan and South Korea, which seem to be cheaper and often have more complex mechanisms. Therefore, Ken Schmidt, then marketing director, decided to turn Harley Davidson into an emotional brand in the 1980s and 1990s.
- For most consumers, Harley Davidson is more than just a bicycle; it is independence, love, individualism, strength and mystery-it is passionate because it makes customers come alive
- Customers are not just customers; they are family members, brand ambassadors, and heirs of American traditions
Unlike other motorcycle manufacturers, Harley Davidson markets the emotions associated with the bicycle, not the bicycle itself, which allows consumers to stay connected and continue to invest in the company.
5. Use Price To Differentiate Loyalty Brand
Harley Davidson is not worried about the quality of motorcycles for many reasons. As mentioned earlier, American brands can easily buy cheaper international products, and their main consumer groups have enough money to buy large stickers.
- The only people who own Harley Davidson motorcycles are those who are truly loyal to the brand; those who love bicycles, no matter when they get it or how much they spend
- The distributors of Harley Davidson can track customers from multiple dimensions by collecting and analyzing data from all channels. As a result, they can easily identify, reward and motivate their top customers, while also incentivizing potential loyal customers
- The biggest challenge associated with the Harley Davidson brand is that for most customers, the product is usually a “once in a lifetime” purchase. This means that distributors must expand their customers to other product and service lines to increase their lifetime value
Harley Davidson: The Royal Standard in Unique Marketing Strategy
Due to its rich design and innovative marketing strategy, Harley Davidson is in a leading position in the global heavyweight motorcycle field. It is a legacy of 120 years of experience, and the social and cultural environment is shaping the company’s products in different regions.
Let others Campaign for you Brand Evangelists Loyal Fans Motorcycle Clubs
This is an ingenious marketing strategy because it helps Harley Davidson customers and enthusiasts to advertise for them.
Throughout the history of movies, Harley Davidson motorcycles have appeared in many popular movies. Here are some movies featuring the iconic Harley:
1. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”
“Terminator 2: Judgement Day” includes an unforgettable chase scene that includes an off-road vehicle, a semi truck, and a 1990 Harley Fat Boy. It is safe to say that the addition of “Fat Boy” helps to keep this exciting segment in the minds of movie lovers all over the world forever.
2. “Easy Rider”
“Easy Rider” in 1969 starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, but perhaps the brightest star in this movie was Panhead Chopper in 1951. Fonda and Hopper spent most of their time in the movie traveling through the country on Harley motorcycles. This famous Harley even inspired several motorcycle enthusiasts to make their own helicopter replicas.
3. “Ghost Rider”
Ghost Rider is the incarnation of the most recent beast motorcycle feature movie, with some iconic scenes starring Nicholas Cage. The Harley Davidson used in the movie is based on Panhead’s Chopper. Although “Ghost Rider” as a movie cannot be compared with many of the great movies listed here, it features a very cool helicopter provided by Harley Davidson.
Wild Hogs
This comedy film, featuring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy, revolves around a group of middle-aged friends who decide to ride motorcycles, including Harley-Davidsons, on a cross-country road trip
The Place Beyond the Pines
In this crime drama, starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, Gosling’s character is a stunt motorcycle rider who uses a Harley-Davidson FXSTS Springer Softail.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Starring Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson, this action film prominently features Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The characters ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles throughout the movie.
Harley Davidson: In A Post-COVID World, Keep Your Customers Close
American idol Harley Davidson ran into trouble before COVID entered the town. As shareholders threatened to fight for proxy rights, its former CEO resigned. Shareholders were worried about the decline in sales of the brand. The board of directors disagrees with the strategy of selling smaller and cheaper bicycles and staying away from the core customer base who likes larger, heavier, and more expensive machines.
- Harley Davidson is informing its dealers of a new strategic approach: reducing models that are attractive to high-priced brand motorcyclists
- The strategy is to restrict motorcycle products in the showroom, which will “promote exclusivity.” The new strategy includes the basic criteria for brand transformation: focus on your core customers
Katy Perry Delivers Harley Davidson’s Dream Advertising Campaign for Free.
Katy Perry doesn’t just write songs and make music videos. She listed Harleys as a title and fully stated that she will continue to serve as a brand ambassador.
A week or so after the first video appeared on YouTube, she posted a “making” video (above). In the end, she admitted that the day the video was filmed was her first time riding on a public road.
As it happens, the pop star plans to travel to Milwaukee later to shoot two episodes of “American Idol.” Harley Davidson invited her to visit the museum, and she immediately agreed to visit after getting off work. In fact, she came to the museum directly from the airport, dug up a lot of things, and asked her if she could come back to shoot more short films before leaving.
After the shooting of her American Idol, she returned with a small group of staff and imitated the AMSR video (a guest starring by the museum’s restoration director Bill Rodencal) that surprised the fans.
It’s all about the Brand
Harley Davidson has adopted a unique and non-traditional marketing strategy in the digital age. Most of the marketing strategies of Harley Davidson revolve around face-to-face with consumers. CMO Mark-Hans Richer explains this as providing customers with an epic experience of communicating with Harley Davidson manufacturers and producers
Setting up a blessing of thousands of Harley bicycles with Pope Francis is just one example. The other is an event called Project LiveWire, which is a holiday tourism event that launches the company’s new electric machine.
Customers and fans can enjoy bicycle displays, live music, face-to-face interaction with Harley Davidson engineers and designers, and incredible bicycle exhibitions
Thus, when Harley Davidson introduced its new all-electric machine, it didn’t take long for headlines around the world to appear. The company has toured in 30 cities and tested bicycles with many riders, which not only sparked a marketing boom but also delivered decent feedback for the company
Conclusion
Harley Davidson’s marketing strategy has proven to be a key driver of its unparalleled success in the motorbike industry. By building a strong brand identity and community, leveraging emotional storytelling, and maintaining a consistent image throughout its history, Harley Davidson has created a unique and enduring appeal that resonates with riders around the world. Their marketing approach goes beyond selling motorcycles; it sells a lifestyle and a sense of belonging. This connection with customers has not only fostered brand loyalty but also translated into sustained growth and enduring success, making Harley Davidson one of the most iconic and successful motorbike brands globally.
Deepak Wadhwani has over 20 years experience in software/wireless technologies. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Intuit, ESRI, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Nortel, Microsoft and Oracle in over 60 countries. Deepak has worked on Internet marketing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange Country, Denver, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, San Francisco and Huntsville. Deepak has been a founder of technology Startups for one of the first Cityguides, yellow pages online and web based enterprise solutions. He is an internet marketing and technology expert & co-founder for a San Diego Internet marketing company.
