Home arrow Brand Management arrow Brand Strategy of Harley Davidson  
 
Brand Strategy of Harley Davidson
Harley Davidson the company, before I start to tell you about the brand management of Harley Davidson, I would like to tell you a little about Harley Davidson. Most of you might not be aware; the Milwaukee based company was established in 1901. Arthur Davidson and Bill Harley were the designers; they both started from the bottom, and took the company to the top.

As they had no financial and technical support, they added two new people, Walter who is a mechanic, and William who is a toolmaker. Harley Davidson started its business by using a bunch of borrowed tools, and worked whenever they had free time. In 1903, they created a wooden building in the Davidson’s family’s backyard, and they started their work.

In 1904, they were producing around eight machines per year, the number increased to fifty in 1906. In 1907, the company merged, and within the next ten years, they started to make 18’000 machines in one year. We all know Harley Davidson has grown since then, and is still growing. There is no place in the world, where you will not find at least one of their machines.

Going towards the brand management of Harley Davidson, as many of you might not be familiar with the term ‘Brand Management’. In simple words, it ‘brand’ means to make and maintain a position of the brand. The brand management of Harley Davidson tells us that, they have built a community, which includes the members of different groups, and they used very little advertising.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on brand management and marketing strategy here.

If you want to understand that how they keep their customers so loyal, keep reading the brand management of Harley Davidson. Amongst the most powerful brand of America are Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Tide, Nike, and Levi’s. These companies have gained their status through years of marketing campaigns, using simple messages. There is a story out there, of deep pockets and uncompromising promotion. It is possible that a brand emerges without exhibition, or wall-to-wall advertisement. Most of you might not know that recognition comes from somewhere else; it is from the product itself.

It is mostly merit based, as it grows the brand over the years. Therefore, the brands personal way becomes a wealthy catch for the marketing experts to pit, to those looking for better chances of conventional campaign.

No company prefers this non-traditional way to ensure brand building, only the brand management of Harley Davidson includes such a manner. They have twice been on the edge of bankruptcy since 1960’s, both the Harley David Inc, and Harley Davidson Motor Company. Harley Davidson jumped back from the death, by using the band management of Harley Davidson, which included sticking to a clear marketing plan, and to work towards the goal of capitalizing.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on brand management and marketing strategy here.

The brand management of Harley Davidson also included the focus on customer, employees, and dealers. They use the lasting loyalty card as a brand management of Harley Davidson, which is a powerful passion, and this is what brings in the thousands of new buyers.

They made a mistake that cost them a lot, that was to bring a decline in the quality, which damaged their brand, but it was soon taken care of by the brand management of Harley Davidson. The brand management of Harley Davidson led them to a new generation of buyers, and to also new biker clubs, that help them market, by going around on them in groups. The brand management of Harley Davidson gives you few key features to understand the brand management better.

They always stick to their traditional style, the classic 40’s and 50’s design. An excellent brand management of Harley Davidson was, when they went out to listen to the comments and complaints of the people themselves. After understanding the needs of the people, they designed the classic Harley Davidson in to choppers. They experiment with many designs, and in the end got to exactly what the customers needed.

By building a club named Harley riders, they built a community, which is still used in the brand management of Harley Davidson. They started to sponsor rallies, and even offer promotions, and kept in touch with Harley Davidson owners. In the beginning, their impression made on people was of a gang, but they were riding for charity, so with time it changed the views of the people.

Another brand management of Harley Davidson that needs to be complemented is that they give their buyers a reason to belong. At the very first rally in 1984, only 28 people showed up, but now there are 365’000 members, 940 chapters around the world. They sponsor hundreds of rallies around the world every year. They also host massive gatherings, which gives all the members a chance to connect. Next year is the companies 95th birthday, and more than 100’000 riders are going to come to a massive gathering.

To extend the brand, you have to realize your old mistakes, and fix them using new methods. Therefore, the brand management of Harley Davidson required to get rid of the black leather jackets and black t-shirts, as it was giving a negative market to the brand. To tackle this problem they launched their own clothing items, which are collared shirts, blue jeans, bright color fashion items for women, and baby clothes. This was also the time when Harley Davidson began to license their shield, and bars logo, for more than hundreds of products.

This was the brand management of Harley, which went on for train sets, cologne’s, special edition Barbie's, and Zippo lighters. Every single step taken by the brand management of Harley was ensured an upscale in the brand. There were a few glitches in this management, but it turned out well, and now generated 201 million USD per year.

Even though Harley Davidson has been through rough spots, they have managed to build an impressive brand management. The brand management of Harley Davidson includes their relationship with over 600 domestic dealers, from which many have been working with Harley for decades now.

They manage this by the quarterly meetings, with 10 elected members of the dealers’ advisory council. They discuss the new models, and old problems all together, and think and discuss about how to tackle things.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on brand management and marketing strategy here.

 
Top!
Top!