automotive

Harley-Davidson's Plans Have Global Scope

Harley-Davidson has big plans to expand its reach globally, and has been doing so with bikes like the Street 500 and 750 motorcycles, which are smaller bikes with an appeal in markets like Asia-Pacific.

The company recently unveiled plans to increase its spend against consumer marketing by 65% over 2015 levels, and to increase its investment in new product development by about 35% from last year. That means a $70 million increase in investments. Those will be on product and brand awareness, new ridership efforts in the U.S., brand access, and shortening the product cycle.

Marketing Daily speaks to Marketing and Brand Vice President Shelley Paxton about H-D, and where it is going this year.

Q: First, there has been a reorganization of Harley-Davidson sales and marketing since the departure of Mark-Hans Richer, SVP of marketing last fall, with Sean Cummings (formerly head of the company’s Latin American division) becoming global SVP.

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A: We adjusted the structure completely. Dino Bernacchi stays in the role (director of U.S. marketing) he has been in for number of years. And I stay on [Cummings’]  team for marketing the brand across the globe. So the regions work with me. I have much of the marketing oversight that Mark-Hans had.

Q: You sold 168,240 bikes in U.S. last year and 264,627 worldwide. Is this being driven by the smaller cc street bikes?

A: There is a lot of good news around Street. We always talked about the Street 750 as a way to bring new riders into the brand. Seven out of 10 Street riders are new. It has number-one market share in Australia because we can compete in the learner- approved segment, and that’s our global strategy.

Q: Mark-Hans Richer championed the Dark Custom line of bikes aimed at younger buyers. The campaigns have been striking, as they feature real riders.

A: Yes, we’ve won Effies for the last six years with that attitude, and we continue to introduce new products under the Dark Custom umbrella. We have increased sales 7% every year, and Dark Custom is still young number one for young adults.

Q: How is Harley-Davidson’s relationship with the X Games evolving?

A: We are in Aspen right now, and have expanded our footprint in the games. Come June, we will also be racing at the Summer X Games, so we are committed to that partnership because we are seeing results from it. So we will be doing a lot more with that. We are also working with Rolling Stone — so we will be doing lots more in the lifestyle and music arenas.

Q: So, the focus on growth is global now?

A: It is a big a big focus area for us: growing international sales faster than U.S. sales. And Asia-Pacific regions have the most sales, up 7.3% year-over-year, an increase for the fifth consecutive year.

Q: How about here in the U.S.?

A: In the U.S. we have a real emphasis on growing ridership; we are the market leader, so we want to expand the marketplace to grow the pie. For example, we have a lot of efforts this year focused on expanding our Riding Academy dealer locations, which we want to grow by 18% this year; we want to grow the numbers of Riding Academy graduates by 35% in 2016.

Q: What’s coming up in advertising?

A: We are dropping a new campaign in March, a new program on a very high-profile media setting. I’m going to leave you with that.

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