www.CVOHARLEY.com
CVO Social => In The News => Topic started by: muddypaws on April 05, 2019, 07:28:16 AM
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https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harley-davidson-announces-global-brand-president-300824976.html
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Hmmmmmm. :confused5:
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Grimmer's resume includes a stint at Clif Bar, Plum Organics, Campbell Soup, and he was Founder and CEO of Habit, the world's first personalized nutrition life science company. All food companies.
Yep, with a background like that he is a great fit for HD. Not. I saw this over & over in companies I worked for. Some guy with ZERO industry experience is given a huge job with a monster budget & they try to market a MC company like a soup company or some such crap because that is their background & that is what they know.
Harley's new ad campaign "Harley Davidson is Mmmmmm mmmmm good!".
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Grimmer's resume includes a stint at Clif Bar, Plum Organics, Campbell Soup, and he was Founder and CEO of Habit, the world's first personalized nutrition life science company. All food companies.
Yep, with a background like that he is a great fit for HD. Not. I saw this over & over in companies I worked for. Some guy with ZERO industry experience is given a huge job with a monster budget & they try to market a MC company like a soup company or some such crap because that is their background & that is what they know.
Harley's new ad campaign "Harley Davidson is Mmmmmm mmmmm good!".
Well said.....and true
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How do you sell motorcycles to the next generation? Hire a soup and cereal bar salesman. We all know how crazy millennials are for soup and nutrition.
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I've always said, build a good product at a reasonable price and people will come. No need for all the marketing strategies / hoopla....guess that's not the case here. Soups on!
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Harley has some of the best marketing in the world and it does not cost them a dime (people even pay them to do it for them). Look at all of the stickers, tattoos, clothing, etc. that is freely worn. I would say that Harley gets more free marketing then any other company in the world.
:oops: :nixweiss:
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I agree that H-D has great brand recognition by all the marketing it has done over the years but it has locked itself into it's traditional look,sound, and history. Everyone world wide probably recognizes the bar and shield and other aspects of Harley. Us baby boomers drank plenty of the koolaid in the past and love the nostalgia but we are aging out or just plain dying off.
I can see that in order to survive as a company H-D will need to ask the hard questions of the younger people and see what would make them buy a Harley and also overcome the years of negative messaging about motorcycles in general being dangerous "murder cycles or donorcycles" or brand specifically that Harleys were for old men and were expensive, stuck with old technology, prone to breakdown and other bad comments.
It may mean that H-D needs to produce an affordable, up to date in performance and technology bike that is just turn key so the new owners can just walk in and buy one and ride out without needing the 300+ page accessories catalog.
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This was the most interesting take-away from the article (for me):
"Grimmer will bring together our consumer facing teams around the world who will together invigorate the Harley-Davidson consumer experience and deliver a global brand force that resonates with new riders and engages today's riders to support our growth going forward."
The PR to English translator would render that as something like:
"Grimmer will work so that all within the company will (again) try to put a shining face on a company and its product line with the hope of better luring new markets because the main product line of that company can no longer carry its own water."
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"No Soup for you!!!!" campaign? :nixweiss:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9NIkQBQBREU/TYo0bhoFzeI/AAAAAAAACNw/GfSgpz_RhzY/s1600/soupnazi.jpg)
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I've always said, build a good product at a reasonable price and people will come. No need for all the marketing strategies / hoopla....guess that's not the case here. Soups on!
True. But then again you can sell anything with the right marketing. Anyone else remember the "Pet Rock" in the 70's?
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Looks like HD has hired a guy with a background in "warm and fuzzy feelings" to market MoCo to Millennials--like pajama boys, Litas, and soy boys--bc that's the population that's coming to (relative) maturity. To the "true-believers" in marketing, you can sell anything to people if you market it correctly. Like bigchuck said, remember the Pet Rock...
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Marketing can be short term like the Pet Rock sales were or it could be longer term like Bicycle Playing cards or Monopoly.....Question would be which goal is the management shooting for, quick flash in the pan profits and leave or stay around and make a lasting company. Been a long time since the higher ups were long term H-D customers or employees so I'm not sure they have the product loyalty anymore.
They need a marketing program like what Oldsmobile tried years ago "This is not your father's Oldsmobile!"
I guess to interest the younger folk they will need something like "This is not your grandfather's Harley!"
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Oldsmobile is certainly a made-me-laugh example for today's Harley..... :huepfenlol2:
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Marketing can be short term like the Pet Rock sales were or it could be longer term like Bicycle Playing cards or Monopoly.....Question would be which goal is the management shooting for, quick flash in the pan profits and leave or stay around and make a lasting company. Been a long time since the higher ups were long term H-D customers or employees so I'm not sure they have the product loyalty anymore.
They need a marketing program like what Oldsmobile tried years ago "This is not your father's Oldsmobile!"
I guess to interest the younger folk they will need something like "This is not your grandfather's Harley!"
Hopefully, HD marketing will not use the same strategy as a failed car company. But, the MoCo is betting on a soup salesman to turn things around, so anything is possible.
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They need to treat it (MoCo) like the legacy Motorcycle company that it is and not your everyday a typical product company. Their Management sourcing however says otherwise!