hello friends welcome back this week
it’s Harley Davidson the amazing
American motorcycle brand and fashion
brand and we’re going to take a look
point one at what makes a brand into a
cult brand with a such a following
Harley Davidson is one of the few cult
brands in the world and we’re going to
take a look at that the other thing I
like to look at this week point two is
feed the customer Harley Davidson
through their ups and downs did a great
job of feeding the customer what they
wanted let’s first take a tour of the
origins and growth of Harley Davidson
and look at what happened and how it
built the motorcycles and became the
cult brand it is today I won’t spend a
lot of time on history but there’s some
very interesting tidbits that shows you
the roots of the company and how they
were built in 1901 a young man named
William Harley who is you know it like
any young man thinking about things in
the future and what would be interesting
he makes a little sketch of a motorcycle
well it was a bicycle with an engine and
you didn’t have to pedal it which would
become what we now know is the
motorcycle in the 1901 he’s sketching
that envisioning where he’s going to go
with it and in 1903 about a year and a
half later it was his friend Arthur
Davidson joined him and they built the
Harley Davidson Motor Company in
Milwaukee Wisconsin and they had a
little wooden shed 10 foot by 15 foot
and that’s where they built their first
motorcycles incidentally in 2014 one of
those early motorcycles and there’s
dispute of whether it was the second
serial number the third serial number
but one of those real early 1903 circa
harley-davidson motorcycles sold for
fifteen million dollars at a collectors
auction so if you have an old Harley
sitting in your garage somewhere you may
want to check it out because if it’s a
really old one that your
great-grandfather had you might not have
to work anymore so go dust that thing
off and take it to an auction so they go
moving along and what’s also very
interesting in June of 1903 and this
would come full circle a hundred years
later
Ford motor
he was born in Dearborn Michigan so you
had two unique American transportation
brands Ford and Harley literally built
born roughly the same time it just shows
you the advancement that was coming in
America at that time with you know
entrepreneurship so in 1904 the you know
following the birth of the motorcycle
came the in the birth of the car came
the first dealer and a dealer in
Milwaukee Wisconsin sold some of the
first production bikes the ones that
they make over and over and over again
were selling to the public not just the
first few in 1904 the first one is sold
in Chicago Illinois to the public by CH
Lange who’s a legend in Harley Davidson
history well they progressed pretty
quickly in in 1909 the first v-twin was
seen and now you look at Harley’s
everywhere and you can see that v-twin
that dates all the way back to 1909
they’re far more advanced nowadays of
course but at that time the iconic shape
of the engine and all those cooling fins
that we see and we think that’s a Harley
engine started no 9 1910 they trademark
the familiar logo this is actually not
something that a modern branding expert
did Harley made that and they made that
back in 1910 and they trademarked it
it’s been dressed up a little bit but
really hasn’t changed months since that
time it by the way in 1914 the first
motorcycle helmet was introduced not by
Harley Davidson but by a doctor who was
watching motorcycle races and seeing
people crash and get really hurt and he
came up with a way to take a little
canvas and shellac and make little more
than an egg shell that you would wear
but nonetheless another entrepreneur
sees the result of motorcycles racing
around and the helmet is born in 1917
the world’s in World War 1 and 1/3 of
all Harley Davidsons made were sold to
the military as an efficient way to to
get couriers in people around and it’s
not the last time guys with guns would
be seen on motorcycles 1920 Harley is
officially the largest motorcycle
company in the world copycats were
emerging but Harley was number one in
the biggest and by the way
that time they had 2,000 dealers in 67
countries they were just 1903 so this is
17 years later it’s global at a time
where you know shipping was done by boat
so it’s pretty amazing feat also that
year the hog entered the picture now if
you know anything about Harley’s you
know that they’re called hogs all the
time they call him a hog and where it
came from was this famous Harley racer
would win a race and then pick up this
baby pig and take a baby pig on a
victory lap a baby pig and so it became
known as the little hog and so Harley’s
became known as hogs so that’s where
that little nickname came from and I’ll
tell you a little bit later what people
think it came from but it’s not it
started with that little pig on victory
laps after one of the early Harley
enthusiasts and accomplished racer would
win there you go that’s crazy isn’t it
well 1928 the twin-cam came out and yes
they continued to grow and be successful
and be this system amazing company and
was interesting about 1928 a bring that
up because that twin cam that twin cam
Harley 1928 had a top speed of a little
over a hundred miles an hour that was
the max out absolute flat top speed of a
hundred miles an hour this is a 1928
you’re on a motorcycle doing 100 miles
an hour
friends roads weren’t paved in America
the way they are now and you’re on a
motorcycle and those early American
roads doing a hundred miles an hour
there’s only one word for that net is
damn that’s fast by the way that year
the Indianapolis 500 the fastest car in
the race was 122 miles an hour on a on a
race track so it just shows you that the
motorcycle and everything that Harley
was about and they were all about racing
and they were all about freedom and
enthusiasm but it was all coming
together they would continue to grow and
in 1941
we have World War two and all the
civilian bike production stopped as
again they were building motorcycles for
the USMLE
Carrie there was used for couriers and
other service patrols and everything
because it was a very effective means of
transportation now in 1947 very world
war two is almost is you know rolling
out and the first motorcycle jacket is
sold so the first Harley apparelled we
move into 1954 when they had a little
bit of a hiccup they were charged with
restrictive business practices and they
started to see a hiccup in their growth
and it was because they really missed a
step and what they did was there were
cheaper motorcycles coming from other
parts of the world and they didn’t like
that they didn’t like the fact that
there were you know Japanese motorcycles
coming ashore and they tried to restrict
it by saying hey put a big tariff on
them and and that really wasn’t the way
to do it because freedom and free
enterprise around the world regardless
of how you feel that certain governments
do and don’t conduct business Harley in
my opinion made a mistake and a lot of
people thought they made a mistake and
they wanted this tear up and they were
told no that’s not going to happen
so it was blocked they continued to grow
but they kind of stumbled and 14 years
later in 1969 believe it or not this
wonderful incredible company was nearly
bankrupt and then AMF which stands for
American machine and foundry which was a
sports and enthusiasm kind of brand in
America they built a lot of things they
bought harley-davidson and they started
trying to cut a profit on it but without
a focus on the product and they they
trimmed people out they reduced size and
before you know it not only were they
were struggling company but the quality
in the performance of the bikes sagged
and the once-proud brand became tarnish
and believe it or not in the early 70s
Harley Davidsons little nickname among
people was not very friendly and it was
hardly drivable
it wasn’t Harley Davidson it was hardly
drivable you bought a Harley why would
you do that it’s hardly drivable why
don’t you buy a Honda Han
motorcycles were known as cheap
lightweight efficient and they didn’t
break so suddenly this competition and
the purchase by AMF leads to this
terrible chapter in the company’s life
well within the company were men that
had a beating heart for the origin of
Harley they really wanted to see it come
back and 13 senior executives in 1981
along with Willie Davidson who’s a
descendant of the original founder they
got together and went to AMF and they
bought the company back from AMF in 1981
and they had this this war cry they said
the eagle soars alone you can see in
some of the harley-davidson logos you’ll
see these Eagles wings
well they were all about the eagle soars
alone and we are making a comeback so
here comes Harley making a comeback now
if you really want to read the long long
story of Harley there are many books
that have been written and they take you
through all of the finer points and I’ve
skipped a bunch of them because what’s
really important is we get to the point
where men with a passion for the brand
wanted to see it recover and soar to new
heights well they started by thinking
about the customer and in 1983 they
formed hog which stands for the Harley
Owners Group and they took that from
that original nickname for the bike the
hog that dated back to the guy that won
races and would take a pig on a victory
lap and they said and now we need to get
back to what our brand stood for when we
were originally born we were winning
races we were building great bikes we
were an innovator in motorcycles people
love to be on a Harley because it was
the first one and it was iconic we had
the first v-twin engine and all these
advancements then we washed her away in
the 50s and 60s and almost went bankrupt
we got to come back and think about all
those things that made us great
well the 80s and 90s saw them stumble
here and there but they got they got it
back on track
as a matter of 1986 they took it on the
stock market so they came back there it
was a very interesting thing in 1987
right after they go on the stock market
the average income of a harley-davidson
rider was 38,000
dollars now let’s take a look at this
ten years later the income had more than
doubled to 83,000 dollars in 1997 now
sure there’s inflation and the dollar
would rise and stuff but the point was
Harley’s were being bought by more
upscale people and if you think about
1996 someone that was born in the early
60s is now 35 and they’re kind of
returning to their roots and buying
these Harley’s that were bigger and had
the familiar sound and had all this
style associated with them and that was
really something that you look at and
see the genius of the guys that brought
the brand back at the same time they
brought the bikes back better bikes
better quality feed the owners Group
focus on the things that that mattered
to them and let the brand soar well in
2003 something interesting happen Ford
Motor Company member Ford talked about
so it’s the hundredth year anniversary
in 2003 they celebrated the 100th year
anniversary with a special edition of
the Ford f-150 pickup branded Harley
Davidson now check this out four years
earlier in 1999 the whole world the
automotive community was like what’s
going on because Harley and Ford
announced that there would be the Ford
f-150 debut in 1999 of the Harley
Davidson version of the Ford f-150 it
was black it had chrome it had the
letters Harley Davidson sitting on the
back bed of the pickup
it had the Harley you know the eagle
icon into the brand silhouette on
hubcaps and everybody in the automotive
world is saying wait a minute to some
more pickup trucks you’re branding it
for a motorcycle brand and Ford was like
we want the Harley Owners to come to
Ford and we want to show them a version
of the truck so that when they’re
hauling things around because a Harley
is a pleasure vehicle obviously it’s not
a full-time seven-day-a-week commuter
vehicle what we want to get to the
essence of the Harley brand and bring
that over to the f-150 to
our hat to show our love to those owners
and guess what it worked they sold a ton
of these and in 2003
there is a special marketing campaign
between Ford and Harley turning 100
together so a couple you know iconic
brands in America getting together but
with the most iconic of them all
harley-davidson and the symbol of
freedom and power and expression in the
motorcycle and when you say iconic it
means like it is the brand everybody
looks to it’s the symbol everybody looks
to and everything about what it is it
defines it like people say that guys the
Babe Ruth of tennis because Babe Ruth
was the iconic example of the guy that
dominated everybody
he’s the Babe Ruth of football well
Harley Davidson there is no other there
is only one harley-davidson of
motorcycles and it is the Econo crown
that is Harley so interesting thing
they’re focusing on all this branding
and accessories and in 2005
harley-davidson accessories dressing up
your bike and apparel crossed a quarter
of a billion dollars now not all of that
quarter billion was apparel but it shows
you then addition to selling motorcycles
a quarter of billion dollars was on
these accessories and apparel and
branding and we saw harley-davidson
cafes crop up there’s an amazing Harley
Davidson restaurant in Las Vegas that
you can go to and it’s similar to Hard
Rock Cafe in which it celebrates
everything that is Harley but it’s a
restaurant it’s the Harley brand so the
Harley brand by the mid 2000 had made a
full recovery and it had achieved cult
status to the point that in 2006 the
management made a simple decision they
called Wall Street and they said you
know Harley Davidson incorporated HDI
our stock ticker yeah
changing we want it to be hog because
we’re all about the owner and so the
final step is the stock ticker for
Harley Davidson is now hog dating back
to that pig on a victory lap and more
importantly the Harley Owners Group and
all about the brand which those
then took that company back from AMF
instilled so they were the cult brand
and even at a cult stock ticker now
let’s talk a little bit about cult
brands what makes a cult brand you don’t
start out to say I will be a cult brand
tomorrow it takes time to build that but
let’s look at what goes in it and
there’s about seven principles that a
lot of places there’s a great website
out called cult branding that talks
about these very a lot of these same
principles and what makes a cult brand
and the first one I get to is a cult
brand first and foremost is different
because people want to be different
you don’t buy certain fashion brands or
air jordans because you want to be the
same you buy them because you want to be
different and you think it represents
you whether it’s an athlete and just do
it like Nike or it’s like Harley power
freedom individual in this expression so
the first thing is cult brands are
different there’s a real difference is
that their essence the second is there’s
usually courage and it’s courage that is
seen in the founder or the individuals
that built the brand and certainly you
could see Harley and Davidson we’re
building racing motorcycle at a time
when many of the roads weren’t hardly
paved and so you saw courage and and
newness that was in the founders that
comes all the way through the motorcycle
and its brand today lastly fun and
expression
I think that’s simple probably
Davidson’s it looks like fun how many
times you look at a movie and you see a
Harley Davidson you see them running
down the highway and you see now that
looks like fun I don’t even ride a
motorcycle
then there’s listening you know they
listen and they enable evangelist they
listen to the crowd they listen to the
cheers of the people that love their
brand and you know what they do with
that they feed it but they listen and
they allow evangelists to be born now
Harley Davidson has had some negatives
with evangelist is when Hells Angels are
associated with Harley Davidson but
nowadays you the icons and the people
they’re riding Harley Davidsons come
from you know it’s more of it’s a
rock-and-roll image but they listen and
they allow evangelists
be creative then it’s tribal it creates
true communities I’m a big fan of the
Oakland Raiders and when I see people on
the street like a Raider hat or Raider
shirt I’ll look at them and I’ll go
Raider Nation baby you know if they’ll
say right back to me they go Raider
Nation right on and so that is because
I’m part of the Culp brand that is the
Oakland Raiders I like my Raiders and I
run into people and I simply Raider
Nation baby similar with Harley Davidson
that’s one of the points of cult brand
is the tribal nature you see somebody
you salute them and they salute back
it’s a tribe where everybody is part of
it and they know what it means even if
they’ve just met each other on the
street and they’re just given thumbs up
back and forth lastly is inclusiveness
openness the openness is it’s inclusive
hey if you hop on a Harley or you’re you
hop into the gear we will welcome you to
it you have to be authentic and yet
can’t be silly but openness and bringing
invitation to others to join the tribe
is also essence of cult branding and
lastly freedom cult brands invariably
are all about freedom the freedom to
express the freedom to do it and more
importantly within freedom is cult
you can hate my heart but you can’t take
my ball
[Music]
enemies cause everyone in the tribe the
Evangelist those who are expressing to
band together and defend the brand when
you think about Harley and you think
about people that criticize loud
motorcycles you’ll see Harley Owners
come back together hello what are you
talking about
what are you talking about they’re not
the louder or less loud and a lot of
other things and other sports cars and
things like this you knock that off you
know they come together and they defend
the brand and they draw power from their
enemies and detractors because when
there’s criticism it’s basically you’re
saying that you’re different when you
get criticism of the people that are
saluting or part of a brand or adopting
that brand guess what you’re now saying
you’re different and that’s exactly what
part of being in the community is about
so the haters validate the difference
and bond together the people and the
cult brand and defending it all comes
together and I think when you take a
look at like these criteria Harley
Davidson hits every single one of them
how are they doing they’re doing great
they’ve had their ups and downs but
today there are over six billion dollars
in annual sales from 1980 little after
1990s mid 90s they hit a billion dollars
they had a little hiccup in 2009 but
their history has been known for hiccups
but they’ve always recovered so the
stock market might not have liked it too
much and criticized them but the owners
that were enjoying the new reliable
advanced versions of the legendary
Harley Davidson motorcycle expressed in
the technology of motorcycles today with
the branding that dates back all the way
back those people are not bothered by a
stock hiccup that’s not what it’s all
about it is all about being part of the
brand that is Harley Davidson so here’s
to hoping that your brand or what your
association with some day becomes a cult
brand because it is an unbreakable bond
between you and your customer the two
points this week what makes a brand into
a cult brand and
we talked about the points that does it
because harley-davidson let me tell you
they don’t some motorcycles
harley-davidson sells admission into the
badass club whether you’re wearing
Harley gear or you’re on a Harley bike
everybody that’s in it you’re part of
that club part of that that nation that
is harley-davidson and ii feed the
customer when those men rebar better
quality bikes more advanced technology
on the bikes and more importantly they
created the Harley Owners Group that
said it’s all about you and I’m going to
feed it to you and I’m going to give you
more of what you love and Harley do we
have a black pillow do we have like a
black you know what we need we need a
black pillow with chrome it’s what we
need for this week anyway please
subscribe to value tame it this is the
best channel on the internet for
entrepreneurs and all of the topics that
help you take your company to the next
level in your life as an entrepreneur
until next time I’m Thomas Wirth and I
hope I let you better than I found
[Music]
you [Music]
it’s Harley Davidson the amazing
American motorcycle brand and fashion
brand and we’re going to take a look
point one at what makes a brand into a
cult brand with a such a following
Harley Davidson is one of the few cult
brands in the world and we’re going to
take a look at that the other thing I
like to look at this week point two is
feed the customer Harley Davidson
through their ups and downs did a great
job of feeding the customer what they
wanted let’s first take a tour of the
origins and growth of Harley Davidson
and look at what happened and how it
built the motorcycles and became the
cult brand it is today I won’t spend a
lot of time on history but there’s some
very interesting tidbits that shows you
the roots of the company and how they
were built in 1901 a young man named
William Harley who is you know it like
any young man thinking about things in
the future and what would be interesting
he makes a little sketch of a motorcycle
well it was a bicycle with an engine and
you didn’t have to pedal it which would
become what we now know is the
motorcycle in the 1901 he’s sketching
that envisioning where he’s going to go
with it and in 1903 about a year and a
half later it was his friend Arthur
Davidson joined him and they built the
Harley Davidson Motor Company in
Milwaukee Wisconsin and they had a
little wooden shed 10 foot by 15 foot
and that’s where they built their first
motorcycles incidentally in 2014 one of
those early motorcycles and there’s
dispute of whether it was the second
serial number the third serial number
but one of those real early 1903 circa
harley-davidson motorcycles sold for
fifteen million dollars at a collectors
auction so if you have an old Harley
sitting in your garage somewhere you may
want to check it out because if it’s a
really old one that your
great-grandfather had you might not have
to work anymore so go dust that thing
off and take it to an auction so they go
moving along and what’s also very
interesting in June of 1903 and this
would come full circle a hundred years
later
Ford motor
he was born in Dearborn Michigan so you
had two unique American transportation
brands Ford and Harley literally built
born roughly the same time it just shows
you the advancement that was coming in
America at that time with you know
entrepreneurship so in 1904 the you know
following the birth of the motorcycle
came the in the birth of the car came
the first dealer and a dealer in
Milwaukee Wisconsin sold some of the
first production bikes the ones that
they make over and over and over again
were selling to the public not just the
first few in 1904 the first one is sold
in Chicago Illinois to the public by CH
Lange who’s a legend in Harley Davidson
history well they progressed pretty
quickly in in 1909 the first v-twin was
seen and now you look at Harley’s
everywhere and you can see that v-twin
that dates all the way back to 1909
they’re far more advanced nowadays of
course but at that time the iconic shape
of the engine and all those cooling fins
that we see and we think that’s a Harley
engine started no 9 1910 they trademark
the familiar logo this is actually not
something that a modern branding expert
did Harley made that and they made that
back in 1910 and they trademarked it
it’s been dressed up a little bit but
really hasn’t changed months since that
time it by the way in 1914 the first
motorcycle helmet was introduced not by
Harley Davidson but by a doctor who was
watching motorcycle races and seeing
people crash and get really hurt and he
came up with a way to take a little
canvas and shellac and make little more
than an egg shell that you would wear
but nonetheless another entrepreneur
sees the result of motorcycles racing
around and the helmet is born in 1917
the world’s in World War 1 and 1/3 of
all Harley Davidsons made were sold to
the military as an efficient way to to
get couriers in people around and it’s
not the last time guys with guns would
be seen on motorcycles 1920 Harley is
officially the largest motorcycle
company in the world copycats were
emerging but Harley was number one in
the biggest and by the way
that time they had 2,000 dealers in 67
countries they were just 1903 so this is
17 years later it’s global at a time
where you know shipping was done by boat
so it’s pretty amazing feat also that
year the hog entered the picture now if
you know anything about Harley’s you
know that they’re called hogs all the
time they call him a hog and where it
came from was this famous Harley racer
would win a race and then pick up this
baby pig and take a baby pig on a
victory lap a baby pig and so it became
known as the little hog and so Harley’s
became known as hogs so that’s where
that little nickname came from and I’ll
tell you a little bit later what people
think it came from but it’s not it
started with that little pig on victory
laps after one of the early Harley
enthusiasts and accomplished racer would
win there you go that’s crazy isn’t it
well 1928 the twin-cam came out and yes
they continued to grow and be successful
and be this system amazing company and
was interesting about 1928 a bring that
up because that twin cam that twin cam
Harley 1928 had a top speed of a little
over a hundred miles an hour that was
the max out absolute flat top speed of a
hundred miles an hour this is a 1928
you’re on a motorcycle doing 100 miles
an hour
friends roads weren’t paved in America
the way they are now and you’re on a
motorcycle and those early American
roads doing a hundred miles an hour
there’s only one word for that net is
damn that’s fast by the way that year
the Indianapolis 500 the fastest car in
the race was 122 miles an hour on a on a
race track so it just shows you that the
motorcycle and everything that Harley
was about and they were all about racing
and they were all about freedom and
enthusiasm but it was all coming
together they would continue to grow and
in 1941
we have World War two and all the
civilian bike production stopped as
again they were building motorcycles for
the USMLE
Carrie there was used for couriers and
other service patrols and everything
because it was a very effective means of
transportation now in 1947 very world
war two is almost is you know rolling
out and the first motorcycle jacket is
sold so the first Harley apparelled we
move into 1954 when they had a little
bit of a hiccup they were charged with
restrictive business practices and they
started to see a hiccup in their growth
and it was because they really missed a
step and what they did was there were
cheaper motorcycles coming from other
parts of the world and they didn’t like
that they didn’t like the fact that
there were you know Japanese motorcycles
coming ashore and they tried to restrict
it by saying hey put a big tariff on
them and and that really wasn’t the way
to do it because freedom and free
enterprise around the world regardless
of how you feel that certain governments
do and don’t conduct business Harley in
my opinion made a mistake and a lot of
people thought they made a mistake and
they wanted this tear up and they were
told no that’s not going to happen
so it was blocked they continued to grow
but they kind of stumbled and 14 years
later in 1969 believe it or not this
wonderful incredible company was nearly
bankrupt and then AMF which stands for
American machine and foundry which was a
sports and enthusiasm kind of brand in
America they built a lot of things they
bought harley-davidson and they started
trying to cut a profit on it but without
a focus on the product and they they
trimmed people out they reduced size and
before you know it not only were they
were struggling company but the quality
in the performance of the bikes sagged
and the once-proud brand became tarnish
and believe it or not in the early 70s
Harley Davidsons little nickname among
people was not very friendly and it was
hardly drivable
it wasn’t Harley Davidson it was hardly
drivable you bought a Harley why would
you do that it’s hardly drivable why
don’t you buy a Honda Han
motorcycles were known as cheap
lightweight efficient and they didn’t
break so suddenly this competition and
the purchase by AMF leads to this
terrible chapter in the company’s life
well within the company were men that
had a beating heart for the origin of
Harley they really wanted to see it come
back and 13 senior executives in 1981
along with Willie Davidson who’s a
descendant of the original founder they
got together and went to AMF and they
bought the company back from AMF in 1981
and they had this this war cry they said
the eagle soars alone you can see in
some of the harley-davidson logos you’ll
see these Eagles wings
well they were all about the eagle soars
alone and we are making a comeback so
here comes Harley making a comeback now
if you really want to read the long long
story of Harley there are many books
that have been written and they take you
through all of the finer points and I’ve
skipped a bunch of them because what’s
really important is we get to the point
where men with a passion for the brand
wanted to see it recover and soar to new
heights well they started by thinking
about the customer and in 1983 they
formed hog which stands for the Harley
Owners Group and they took that from
that original nickname for the bike the
hog that dated back to the guy that won
races and would take a pig on a victory
lap and they said and now we need to get
back to what our brand stood for when we
were originally born we were winning
races we were building great bikes we
were an innovator in motorcycles people
love to be on a Harley because it was
the first one and it was iconic we had
the first v-twin engine and all these
advancements then we washed her away in
the 50s and 60s and almost went bankrupt
we got to come back and think about all
those things that made us great
well the 80s and 90s saw them stumble
here and there but they got they got it
back on track
as a matter of 1986 they took it on the
stock market so they came back there it
was a very interesting thing in 1987
right after they go on the stock market
the average income of a harley-davidson
rider was 38,000
dollars now let’s take a look at this
ten years later the income had more than
doubled to 83,000 dollars in 1997 now
sure there’s inflation and the dollar
would rise and stuff but the point was
Harley’s were being bought by more
upscale people and if you think about
1996 someone that was born in the early
60s is now 35 and they’re kind of
returning to their roots and buying
these Harley’s that were bigger and had
the familiar sound and had all this
style associated with them and that was
really something that you look at and
see the genius of the guys that brought
the brand back at the same time they
brought the bikes back better bikes
better quality feed the owners Group
focus on the things that that mattered
to them and let the brand soar well in
2003 something interesting happen Ford
Motor Company member Ford talked about
so it’s the hundredth year anniversary
in 2003 they celebrated the 100th year
anniversary with a special edition of
the Ford f-150 pickup branded Harley
Davidson now check this out four years
earlier in 1999 the whole world the
automotive community was like what’s
going on because Harley and Ford
announced that there would be the Ford
f-150 debut in 1999 of the Harley
Davidson version of the Ford f-150 it
was black it had chrome it had the
letters Harley Davidson sitting on the
back bed of the pickup
it had the Harley you know the eagle
icon into the brand silhouette on
hubcaps and everybody in the automotive
world is saying wait a minute to some
more pickup trucks you’re branding it
for a motorcycle brand and Ford was like
we want the Harley Owners to come to
Ford and we want to show them a version
of the truck so that when they’re
hauling things around because a Harley
is a pleasure vehicle obviously it’s not
a full-time seven-day-a-week commuter
vehicle what we want to get to the
essence of the Harley brand and bring
that over to the f-150 to
our hat to show our love to those owners
and guess what it worked they sold a ton
of these and in 2003
there is a special marketing campaign
between Ford and Harley turning 100
together so a couple you know iconic
brands in America getting together but
with the most iconic of them all
harley-davidson and the symbol of
freedom and power and expression in the
motorcycle and when you say iconic it
means like it is the brand everybody
looks to it’s the symbol everybody looks
to and everything about what it is it
defines it like people say that guys the
Babe Ruth of tennis because Babe Ruth
was the iconic example of the guy that
dominated everybody
he’s the Babe Ruth of football well
Harley Davidson there is no other there
is only one harley-davidson of
motorcycles and it is the Econo crown
that is Harley so interesting thing
they’re focusing on all this branding
and accessories and in 2005
harley-davidson accessories dressing up
your bike and apparel crossed a quarter
of a billion dollars now not all of that
quarter billion was apparel but it shows
you then addition to selling motorcycles
a quarter of billion dollars was on
these accessories and apparel and
branding and we saw harley-davidson
cafes crop up there’s an amazing Harley
Davidson restaurant in Las Vegas that
you can go to and it’s similar to Hard
Rock Cafe in which it celebrates
everything that is Harley but it’s a
restaurant it’s the Harley brand so the
Harley brand by the mid 2000 had made a
full recovery and it had achieved cult
status to the point that in 2006 the
management made a simple decision they
called Wall Street and they said you
know Harley Davidson incorporated HDI
our stock ticker yeah
changing we want it to be hog because
we’re all about the owner and so the
final step is the stock ticker for
Harley Davidson is now hog dating back
to that pig on a victory lap and more
importantly the Harley Owners Group and
all about the brand which those
then took that company back from AMF
instilled so they were the cult brand
and even at a cult stock ticker now
let’s talk a little bit about cult
brands what makes a cult brand you don’t
start out to say I will be a cult brand
tomorrow it takes time to build that but
let’s look at what goes in it and
there’s about seven principles that a
lot of places there’s a great website
out called cult branding that talks
about these very a lot of these same
principles and what makes a cult brand
and the first one I get to is a cult
brand first and foremost is different
because people want to be different
you don’t buy certain fashion brands or
air jordans because you want to be the
same you buy them because you want to be
different and you think it represents
you whether it’s an athlete and just do
it like Nike or it’s like Harley power
freedom individual in this expression so
the first thing is cult brands are
different there’s a real difference is
that their essence the second is there’s
usually courage and it’s courage that is
seen in the founder or the individuals
that built the brand and certainly you
could see Harley and Davidson we’re
building racing motorcycle at a time
when many of the roads weren’t hardly
paved and so you saw courage and and
newness that was in the founders that
comes all the way through the motorcycle
and its brand today lastly fun and
expression
I think that’s simple probably
Davidson’s it looks like fun how many
times you look at a movie and you see a
Harley Davidson you see them running
down the highway and you see now that
looks like fun I don’t even ride a
motorcycle
then there’s listening you know they
listen and they enable evangelist they
listen to the crowd they listen to the
cheers of the people that love their
brand and you know what they do with
that they feed it but they listen and
they allow evangelists to be born now
Harley Davidson has had some negatives
with evangelist is when Hells Angels are
associated with Harley Davidson but
nowadays you the icons and the people
they’re riding Harley Davidsons come
from you know it’s more of it’s a
rock-and-roll image but they listen and
they allow evangelists
be creative then it’s tribal it creates
true communities I’m a big fan of the
Oakland Raiders and when I see people on
the street like a Raider hat or Raider
shirt I’ll look at them and I’ll go
Raider Nation baby you know if they’ll
say right back to me they go Raider
Nation right on and so that is because
I’m part of the Culp brand that is the
Oakland Raiders I like my Raiders and I
run into people and I simply Raider
Nation baby similar with Harley Davidson
that’s one of the points of cult brand
is the tribal nature you see somebody
you salute them and they salute back
it’s a tribe where everybody is part of
it and they know what it means even if
they’ve just met each other on the
street and they’re just given thumbs up
back and forth lastly is inclusiveness
openness the openness is it’s inclusive
hey if you hop on a Harley or you’re you
hop into the gear we will welcome you to
it you have to be authentic and yet
can’t be silly but openness and bringing
invitation to others to join the tribe
is also essence of cult branding and
lastly freedom cult brands invariably
are all about freedom the freedom to
express the freedom to do it and more
importantly within freedom is cult
you can hate my heart but you can’t take
my ball
[Music]
enemies cause everyone in the tribe the
Evangelist those who are expressing to
band together and defend the brand when
you think about Harley and you think
about people that criticize loud
motorcycles you’ll see Harley Owners
come back together hello what are you
talking about
what are you talking about they’re not
the louder or less loud and a lot of
other things and other sports cars and
things like this you knock that off you
know they come together and they defend
the brand and they draw power from their
enemies and detractors because when
there’s criticism it’s basically you’re
saying that you’re different when you
get criticism of the people that are
saluting or part of a brand or adopting
that brand guess what you’re now saying
you’re different and that’s exactly what
part of being in the community is about
so the haters validate the difference
and bond together the people and the
cult brand and defending it all comes
together and I think when you take a
look at like these criteria Harley
Davidson hits every single one of them
how are they doing they’re doing great
they’ve had their ups and downs but
today there are over six billion dollars
in annual sales from 1980 little after
1990s mid 90s they hit a billion dollars
they had a little hiccup in 2009 but
their history has been known for hiccups
but they’ve always recovered so the
stock market might not have liked it too
much and criticized them but the owners
that were enjoying the new reliable
advanced versions of the legendary
Harley Davidson motorcycle expressed in
the technology of motorcycles today with
the branding that dates back all the way
back those people are not bothered by a
stock hiccup that’s not what it’s all
about it is all about being part of the
brand that is Harley Davidson so here’s
to hoping that your brand or what your
association with some day becomes a cult
brand because it is an unbreakable bond
between you and your customer the two
points this week what makes a brand into
a cult brand and
we talked about the points that does it
because harley-davidson let me tell you
they don’t some motorcycles
harley-davidson sells admission into the
badass club whether you’re wearing
Harley gear or you’re on a Harley bike
everybody that’s in it you’re part of
that club part of that that nation that
is harley-davidson and ii feed the
customer when those men rebar better
quality bikes more advanced technology
on the bikes and more importantly they
created the Harley Owners Group that
said it’s all about you and I’m going to
feed it to you and I’m going to give you
more of what you love and Harley do we
have a black pillow do we have like a
black you know what we need we need a
black pillow with chrome it’s what we
need for this week anyway please
subscribe to value tame it this is the
best channel on the internet for
entrepreneurs and all of the topics that
help you take your company to the next
level in your life as an entrepreneur
until next time I’m Thomas Wirth and I
hope I let you better than I found
[Music]
you [Music]
Please follow and like us: