Was there a change in the Marketing dept. two years ago?
The answer is that a change was made in 2007, and the new marketing guy came from General Motors. His bio follows along with a link to a YouTube video where he says: "...so put customer right at the heart of it. Use them as the inspiration as we do in the rest of our business and see what comes out. And so it started a little bit an experiment as most of these things do, and it was impressive - the ideas coming from the people who are most emotionally invested in the brand were impressive.
They knew how to talk to themselves - the things that they were interested in, and so, you know, we were able to turn the majority of our creative development over to our fans to the place we call the fan machine. And it's very rich".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c5nBtF-AGUMark-Hans Richer
Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer
Harley-Davidson Incorporated
Mark-Hans Richer is Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer for Harley-Davidson, Incorporated, with primary responsibility for overseeing all global marketing activities including promotions and advertising, motorcycle product planning, the Harley-Davidson Museum, and the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.).
Prior to joining Harley-Davidson as Chief Marketing Officer in July, 2007, Richer held numerous marketing and advertising positions at General Motors. In November 2006 he was inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Hall of Achievement for his career of high-impact, non-traditional marketing approaches. These include two Cannes Gold Lion-awarded marketing programs while at Pontiac, and prior successes helping lead advertising and promotions at GMC and Chevy Trucks. Richer also has previously won three Effies, the PMA Super Reggie, Promo Magazines' interactive promotion of the year and a Kelly Award for best national print.
Prior to GM, Richer served as the Director, Latin America for the McDonald's account at DDB Needham Advertising and served in different roles over eight years working on consumer goods brands as SC Johnson Wax and General Mills.
Richer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Richer is a motorcycle enthusiast of 24 years, and the proud owner of Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle and Road Glide Custom motorcycles.