Bikers Hog Web As Harley Video Ads Go Live From Sturgis

MediaPost Publications, August 8, 2007 — A LARGE PORTION OF THE avid motorcycle community--some 450,000 strong--is in the Black Hills of South Dakota this week attending the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Thousands of other bikers and fans who couldn't make the rally in person are flocking online for unprecedented live video coverage--via Harley-Davidson banner ads and a downloadable Google Gadget.

This marks the first time a Google Gadget has included live video, while the display ads arguably represent the greatest use ever of live video in a banner ad--offering 10 hours of coverage each day.

Harley Woos Female Bikers

Women are buying more motorcycles than ever, and Harley-Davidson is going after that market with a vengeance.

New York Times, July 25, 2007 — At a recent convention of Harley-Davidson dealers here, Delia Passi, a marketing consultant, was sharing the finer points of selling to women with her audience of about 150, many of whom wore boots, jeans and tattoos. One wore a T-shirt that read, “Born to Party, Forced to Work.”

Companies Extend Brand Names

MSN, January 25, 2007 — Today Show profiles the proliferation of brand extensions

Harley Just Keeps On Cruisin'

Aging customers? Sure. Nostalgia brand? Definitely. So why is its stock at a record high?

BusinessWeek, November 6, 2006 — For years, doomsayers have been predicting that a demographic time bomb would blow up Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG ). The median age of a Harley buyer has leapt from 35 in 1987 to nearly 47 today. Whatever youthful countercultural mystique Harley may have once enjoyed, it is now a middle-aged nostalgia brand.

thirty years in hog heaven

BusinessWeek, March 21, 2006 — Harley-Davidson's outgoing CEO reflects on how the brand and motorcycling's image have evolved and the need to keep "a little bit of the edge"