Harley drives beyond brand loyalists

Media Asia, 05 October 2006, 09:09AM

Harley-Davidson has launched one of its biggest local branding drives yet, which sees the iconic motorcyle brand depart from its traditional target audience — loyal enthusiasts — to include new-comers.

Harley-Davidson...widening its appeal to a larger target market

"It's no longer enough to preach to the converted," said Angela Lim, associate account director at RocketX, the agency behind the campaign. "Harley-Davidson is an exclusive club, but it needs new members and it's got to be accessible."

Harley-Davidson Singapore GM Richard Park said: "Our campaigns have been focused mainly on new acquisition — those who have a licence to ride big bikes in Singapore and owners of other competitive brands."

The campaign launches in tandem with a series of major growth initiatives at the company.

According to Park, the upcoming year will be pivotal for the American icon at both a global and local level.
In addition to enhanced engines and facelifts for many of its models, Harley-Davidson's flagship Sportster family is celebrating its 50th anniversary, with the local market to receive six out of 2,000 special edition Sportster models.

Harley-Davidson kickstarted the campaign last month with a series of teaser ads fronted by the tagline, ‘It's going to be a big, bad year'. Launch ads will continue this year, with follow up campaigns to run in 2007. The product-focused campaign also attempts to capture the brand's mysterious allure, to a large extent understood only by existing owners.

"For years, Harley-Davidson has always been the icon of freedom and adventure," said Park. "But the mystique of Harley-Davidson is quite hard to explain, which is why we also have a slogan on our t-shirts — ‘If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand'."

Owning a Harley-Davidson bike comes with automatic membership to the Hog — Harley Owners Group — as well as access to exclusive branded accessories: the company will soon launch a new brand campaign for its MotorClothes.

Harley-Davidson entered Singapore four years ago, achieving steady sales growth at 15 to 20 per cent a year, according to Park.

This article was first published on Media Asia