Harley’s Broken Image: Viagra and wannabes
Today's Financial News - Posted April 2, 2009
Harley Davidson (NYSE:HOG) is working on reviving its brand image, but the market is not buying it. Riders have their own thoughts on the company.
By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore – (TFN): For so many American businesses, it is all about the image. A brand can either make or break a company. Create a positive picture in a consumer’s eye and you will make a sale. But engrain a negative sentiment and you will likely lose five sales.
When it comes to brand marketing, there is no other company better than Harley Davidson (NYSE:HOG). With the nation’s deepening recession wreaking havoc on the bike maker’s sales, the company is forced to ensure its consumer image does not meet the same fate as the nation’s bad-ass biker gangs.
Hence, “Screw it. Let’s Ride.” Harley’s latest marketing promotion.
By telling potential buyers some sissy, near-beer drinking, little economic “downturn” can’t keep a diehard rider off his bike, the Milwaukee-based company is trying to lure customers back into showrooms and stir up some marketing hype.
Unfortunately, the image the company wants to project to the public may not be the one its target demographic perceives.
Take a look at a comment I found following an article about Harley on my hometown (the host of Harley’s largest manufacturing facility) newspaper’s Web site:
“Harley riders are a bunch of Viagra-popping losers trying desperately to get noticed.”
That is just one of a slew of similar comments made by folks who obviously don’t buy into Harley’s bad-boy image.
The dwindling of the company’s once-powerful brand has surely played a large part in the company’s reduced share price.
If this recession has taught us anything, it is that a strong brand is a powerful ally in a tough market. Just look at McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) and its rock-solid trading activity.
Undoubtedly, one of the keys to the burger maker’s success is its value proposition. Consumers know they will get a deal when they head to the Golden Arches.
That is certainly not the case when you walk into a Harley showroom.
Would you like leather with that?
The very first thing you are taught when you enter a marketing class is there are two types of businesses, value providers and differentiators. Harley is a differentiator.
The problem with being a differentiator is it gives the competition something to attack. Foreign bike makers, the so-called “metrics,” have slowly been nibbling away at Harley’s bikes. Yamaha, Honda and even BWM offer similar products at much better prices. The only thing you don’t get is the brand image.
But now that the Harley image is dying and is even becoming cliché, fewer and fewer riders are willing to pay Harley for the right to sit at the cool-kid’s table.
It does not matter what this economy does in the next few months. If Harley cannot get the “Screw it. Let’s ride” mentality quickly spread to a new generation of riders, or if it cannot offer a strong bike at a discounted price, its sales will remain in depressed territory.
We all know Harley has ridden through plenty of storms in its past. But it took the development of a strong brand to make it happen.
What is the company left to do now that its brand is decaying?
I echo the sentiment of many riders when I say it is time for the company to start thinking about a value menu. Americans can no longer afford to be cool.
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3 Responses to “Harley’s Broken Image: Viagra and wannabes”
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April 3rd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Yamaha with the Virago jolted Harley into the 20century and lobbying can only get you so far, the consumer knows what they want. After a few riders break a drive belt and have to pay the dealer price for repairs they may start looking for shaft drive bikes (metrics) The majority of sport bikes use chains for reliability and rapid gear ratio adjustment.The cruiser brigade want reliability, Harley has only got there in the last few years. Remember we are talking disposable income here ,Toys for the majority of riders and they will want the best bang for their buck.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
when i pull up beside a jap bike and i look at the rider on that bike I feel sorry for him or her because I get the feeling they dont get it.who wears a golf shirt and kaki pants on a bike.Thank god they didnt buy a harley because they dont belong on one.the yuppie is riding what he or she is supposed to be riding.they worked their way up from a vespa to what they consider cool.and thats as close as they will ever get.these people have fun memorizing the dictionary
June 15th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Mike — What don’t non-HD riders get? That in order to enjoy riding you have to be a judgmental prick on a Harley? The riders I respect are the ones who ride because they love to ride. That’s all there is to get. I’ve ridden several different makes in my life and can tell you that the open road is just as beautiful regardless of the machine I’m on. It’s really irrelevant what anyone rides — or wears, for that matter. You are a snob and are in no position to feel sorry for anyone else.