On December 9th, 2010 I revealed that Harley-Davidson would launch a factory customization program called H-D1. From paint job to accessories, this program will let buyers personalize their new bike (Sportster only?) with a selection of Harley options, and this before their bike arrives at the dealership. Some of you commented and some dealers told me that they were somewhat skeptical of this new marketing approach. I don’t have all details regarding this new customization program done at the factory, except the official launch date set at February 2, 2011. Maybe it’s a good marketing concept. What I am skeptical of is the efficiency of this just released Harley commercial. It is supposed to be a teaser campaign to get clients excited. Watch it, and tell me if you are. I am not! The concept of being prisoner of one motorcycle design and of freeing yourself is poorly executed. From my point of view, the worst Harley commercial in a long time…
Added January 3, 2011 at 6pm EST: Not surprisingly, after reading my post and your negative comments, the executives of Harley-Davidson just decided to remove the feed of their video on YouTube. It explains to black screen that you are now seeing when you try to start it. It just shows the power of your comments in my Blog…
Good or bad idea, I agree that it’s a very bad video.
Understand nothing about the message!
No more working with an advertising agency. Only crowdsourcing to conceive ads. Complete failure at 1st try..
I think they were trying to say that they would free you from your cage with this new program…or maybe not.
I’m skeptical about this new venture. It seems that they will give up alot of traffic to dealerships after the purchase of the bike. Traffic that often results in high margin sales of apparel, parts, etc.
I agree that this commercial accomplishes niI. I, also, wonder who the target audience was intended to be. Has the Motor Company lost complete contact with Harley enthusiasts?
What the hell was that about …. they should fire their advertising company … that sucks!
Over & Out,
Jeff
Definitely not the best ad for sure. Which sucks because normally HD commercials are pretty decent.
Harley’s ad agency fired Harley towards the end of 2010. They were with HD for 31 years.
Read this.
http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2010/09/01/advertising-agency-of-31-years-dumps-harley-davidson/
Remember, you get what you pay for.
What a lack of creativity! Dramatic.
terrible !
As far as the customization concept goes, here is the way I see it. Assuming the buyer begins the process with the MSRP for whatever bike he is having customized, does the buyer still receive all of the stock parts that were replaced? If not, if you’re not getting them, why should you pay for them?
Otherwise, I echo Robert’s sentiment.
Is there an award for worst in advertising? And they paid somebody to do this? Harley is lost.
Hey, Cyril. I know you have a strong background in advertising. They should call you or call them with your idea.
ROFLMAO! I always wondered what those ad guys that worked the original Infiniti commercials wound up doing….
Amazing that this lesson is always lost: In an ad, SHOW your product……
Harley management is truly lost……..
LOL- remember those early Infiniti “Don’t show the car” ads? NIce to see those ad guys can still find jobs….
Harley management is just clueless……
Totally agree with Bernie.
Buy a select group of Harley enthusiasts Flip HD cameras and let them shoot “What Harley is to me”. You would have 100 years worth of commercials better than this.
Yep, pretty bad.
Reminds me of a bad night in the drunk tank.
OMG. It’s so bad. For sure this video will not go viral on the web. Shame on you Harley. Trash it.
If you see this video disappear it’s because Harley removed it from the YouTube feed after reading the critics above. Ha, ha.
The car companies have been letting you order your new car with different engines, interiors and other options practically since there have been car companies. Always wondered why Harley didn’t do it. Wish they would make a carb’d Evo an option…….. and an FXR frame………
It is a wierd ad.
This is my theory about the ad.
We understand the reason for the ad and what’s coming on Feb14, but….. the mainstream doesn’t. This ad’s an attention getter. When this ad goes mainstream, people won’t understand it, but it’ll make them curios and anticipate what’s coming 2-14-11 by Harley Davidson.
On 2-4-11 they are going to offer the long awaited and highly anticipated rear chrome fender to go with the front……….. Should be awesome, just like there new commercial……..
just kidding around folks….. 🙂
are they gunna bring some thing more than whats there in the aftermarket cataloques ?? I doubt
this will be a “personal-shop” for HOG members ….no more .
before starting “customize” something :
they should learn “how-to-design” something beautyful first 🙂
Were those Harley execs in the cage? They got to think outside that box! Wiz
OK the commercial sucks ass but personally I like the idea of upsales. Imagine if instead of having 7 different flavors of Sportster they just had: Sportster (starting at $6500). Then you could choose to buy a 1200 engine in it or LO seat or to add double front disks and a tach and some Willie G bling, each custom item would ratchet up the price and profit in the bike.
Harley has been out of touch with their core user group for some time. Now it appears that they are out of touch with reality.
Unbelievable . . .
So sick of the “lifestyle, culture, mindset” advertising bs. Where’s the bike?? Harley will focus group the sh*t out of a new model and produce something nobody will like so they’re letting the customer build it with a limited palette and letting anyone create advertising for it.. Get back to basics. If you build cool bikes, people will buy them.
I would never run this ad, but I actually see a positive side to it. Even if I knew nothing about the MoCo, it would make me curious about what’s coming and I’d check it out. But then again, that’s just me.
they’ve been drinking the kool aid too long
When they say new way to customize I think they probably mean a new line of china and taiwan chrome. I don’t even know their tatget group anymore. They lost me after the Evo.
Someone tell HD to stop thinking outside the cage. Its confusing their customers.
Lets keep an open mind about the commercial. I see ” Ride a Harley go to jail” . No? All joking aside it is a very poor commercial . Maybe the marketing company has been looking at those lame jeans commercials too much.
Cyril,
Guess who is reading your blog? That is great!
Over & Out,
Jeff
HD doesn’t get it! Come on….. time to hire a new marketing company and fire all the marketing staff internally as well !!! I am sorry, but this is proof that they just don’t get it.
the more I think about this, the more pissed off I get. I have had it with lifestyle marketing interfering with my motorcycling addiction. I love motorcycles, but I do not need to be oversold on a lifestyle…. I am not a 70s wanna-biker, I do not drink PBR cuz its cool, I do not own a pan, knuckle or ironhead sportster, cuz its fashionable, I am not rockin a bedazzled cut, drinking Jack out of a strippers pastie (although I am open to that one!) and do not need to camp out in dirt hole with no plumbing to appreciate the chopper experience…. I love motorcycles, love Harleys and love the history and culture, but do not need some marketing machine spoon feeding me a lifestyle to be cool. It feels fake, we all know its fake, it is making me ill and not want to buy a new bike and therefore will eventaually move me towards another brand (HD are you listening ???) I AM YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC….. employed, can afford your product, buy a ton of accessories and am thinking about changing brands, or at least sticking with my old bikes (Evos included!) instead of buying new product.
Am I ranting? Yes, Am I pissed? Yes. Does Harley Davidson care? Probably not. That is the part that is shameful…. I am not sure HD cares about the current demographic and that is a shame. I will be buying for 20+ more years…. and I have owned a shitload of bikes…. so it seems like they would want to cater to people like me, but what do I know. I am just a loyal consumer, thats all.
Why does no one step in and steal Harley’s dominance? It’s Wide F’ing Open!
Eric Maurer
Right on. My sentiments.
To some this will cost you Three our Fathers and Two Hell Mary’s for giving defamation to the Harley Gods. You are close to going to hell for being a hater. LOL
Easy on us old guys, LOL
If your reading this there is a decent chance you own a HD. It is likely your’re a well informed enthusiast as well. Odds are you have already been bagged by HD. They’re throwing new bait in a different pond. Who knows what they will catch…..
the river of “hate,” such ebb & flow.
where would YOU ALL be without HDMOCO paving the way? as i have alluded to before…your illustrious S & S powertrains, Ultimas, Merch’s, TP’s…etc & so…all based on the OG.
give them a god dam break, huh? dealing with change, vendors, a HUGE dealer network, EPA, lawyers, unions, etc. more than ANY of yous could handle!!!
you guys with your mom & pop operations, the “custom” shops that make (3) $36,000.00 units a year, the egotistical “biker build-off crew”….what do you have to contend with? arranging bike night with the local watering hole?? whatever.
by the way – i have a LOT of friends who run INDY shops AND help INDY’s every chance i get.
get off the computer, check your tudes’ and just ride?
i am so glad WE ARE SO BUSY (yes, an HD OEM) that i ONLY have time to “lurk” here once a week or so.
hang your heads in shame…if “they” go down – SO WILL YOU.
they removed the vidéo !
can’t believe that ….
Ok
Eric Maurer
I tried to give you some guidance. Now you have pissed off the redneck PBR crowd.
You should know that these people need a purpose in life just like you and I.
If I hear that you drove any of these people over to the other side [ Indian, Victory or Custom ] I will be upset.
The motor company deserves these people. They work very diligently to coheres this faction of the market.
No ! You can’t call it brain washing. LOL
i beleive it’s “coerce” (Mr Fuji) – and i excercise freewill on many fronts.
and i am NOT a Redneck…nor even worse…dare i say it…DEFINITELY NOT a HIPSTER. drank/been drinkin Pabst b4 it was the in thing…that and “the High LIfe.”
Why not have fun, just ride…and let the chips fall where they may. Why, why throw gas on an open flame?
Wish Eric lived near us, sounds like a good man….cool thoughts.
What don’t the “all knowing righteous many” of this blog propose “what” Harley do? within reason, mind you – thus ‘bring back the FXR, a kickstart, etc….well, you know where i’m goin. IF YOU WANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY….BE SERIOUS. and OBJECTIVE.
THEY READ THIS BLOG!!!!
Hate takes you NOWHWERE.
Mr Fuji, NO disrespect…the word is “coerce.”
Oh, and i have a purpose…to ride, help others to ride/ride bikes that are “real” rideable bikes (not these ridiculous raked/stretched billet goofy painted $35,000.00 customz, lol), provide for my family, and help thy neighbor.
I/We are NOT rednecks nor are we that dreaded “new breed” of HIPSTERs but instead penny-pinching (and saving!) blue collar folk who never forgot where we came from and what good ol honest to goodness beer tastes like…oh, and i really prefer Miller’s High Life. (no fuity flavors or light shit here!)
Eric Mauer brings valid points to light. Cheers. Would like to hang with him
Must we continue (everyone else?) to throw gas on the flames of HATE.
it’s COMMON KNOWLEDGE the HDMOCO lurks here…Why NOT offer objective suggestions? (though i believe only a few of you could, as most of the “builder crew” have such egos and harbor unmeasurable jealousy, lol).
back to suggestions for HDMOCO, keep it realistic? the FXR, though one of the greatest bikes to ever grace the pavement – is done, forget about kickstarters, etc & so on. The HDMOCO has ALWAYS travelled to “the” major events and sought public opinion.
Just stop the “wah wah wah whining cuz “your opinion” differs from theirs!
PABSTBLUERIGID
You assumed, I meant to use the word “coerce”. When in fact, I purposely used the word “coheres”, which means “To stick or hold together in a mass that resists separation”…..just like HDMOCO!!!!
And, as far as PBR, I was replying to Eric Maurer’s comment about PBR and drinking PBR “because it’s not cool” I agree with him in all PBR posted. But…..you replied.
I find the custom builders to be creative, intuitive and well informed. More so than Harley Davidson.
Outside interest took bike building to new levels bringing new and improved equipment to the market place. That includes engine, transmissions and accessories.
Do you really believe that HD would have ventured from the norm if it were not from outside pressure? So hats off to the independent builders for expanding the horizon!
So….you don’t like Custom Bikes….no more than I like rednecks on Harley’s! an insult to the motorcycle.
Sounds like most of you need a hormone infuson.
Any of you heard of Pearl beer? Used to drink the shit out of that stuff! It’s a Texas thing! Wiz
I have never heard of Pearl Beer, but in Seattle, they seem to drink the shit outtta PBR and Rainier. Personally, I am partial to Jose Cuervo, but that is a story for another day.
Does Raineer beer still have them little puzzels inside the cap? They were Great! Wiz
Hey I resent that remark. Being a native of the Pacific Northwest – we put Micro Beer and Quality coffee on the map! Rainer beer! That went out in the 70’s – great commercials but crappy tasting beer.
As for HD Advertising/marketing, I wont comment may hurt my chances of working with them in the future.
One more thing – Puzzles inside the cap that was Lucky Lager beer. I collected beer bottles as a kid and turned them in for .02 cents a bottle and we always liked finding the caps and trying to work the puzzles. If Rainer beer did this, they copied Lucky Lager again another 70’s beer.
I wuz doin’ alotta drugs back then, livin’ in Spookaloo [Spokane],maybe it was Lucky. Wiz