At a conference I recently attended on Corporate Image, a representative of Harley-Davidson spoke about the success and ongoing challenges of that brand.

It occurred to me as the material was presented that Harley-Davidson still carries the spirit of a rebellious challenger brand. Its influence is indisputable within its category. The speaker, Joanne Bischmann, attributed this to "block and tackle" branding and communications. It was not specific strategies that have built the brand but day-to-day simple messaging that is understood inside and outside the company and that is applied consistently. This supports an observation that I have long held - much of marketing is not sexy. Sure there are exciting advertising campaigns, viral and guerilla promotions, celebrity endorser situations and many more tools and strategies that project sexy elements. However, when you get right down to it, marketing is also repetition, database management, copy review, budget debates, ROI struggles. Harley-Davidson has embraced this fact and are successful because they undertake the sexy and unsexy with equal energy.

Posted on February 14, 2008 4:28 PM | Permalink

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