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The Importance of Social Media Marketing
The Importance of Social Media Marketing
The Importance of Social Media Marketing
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I. Summary of the case study “Harley-Davidson – rockers’ idol”
So, this case study is about Harley-Davidson, a brand of motorcycles and more precisely about its development since his foundation in 1903 by 21-year-old William S. Harley and 20-year-old Arthur Davidson.
So, in 2003, it was the celebration of the 100th birthday of the Harley-Davidson. And, in order to commemorate it, fans of this famous brand rode until Milwaukee to see the parade of 10 000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Through this celebration, we can see how recognized this brand is for the owners, or should I say fans. Indeed, this case also shows how the strategy and the marketing of Harley-Davidson are good; because Harley has fans and they will do all they can for their bikes and their brand.
For its 100th year, Harley Planned for selling 290 000 bikes. And in 2002, the firm reported a gross profit of US$ 1.4 billion on US$ 4 billion sales.
But, its history has never been so easy. Indeed, after 50 years of growth destroying the local competition in the US, Harley has known almost 20 years of hard competition in his market, and especially with Honda. And seeing a deterioration of its market share (only 30%), Harley has decided to abandon overseas markets. 1969 saw Harley-Davidson merge with the American Machine and Foundry Company (AMF). The merger would last until 1981, when 13 senior executives from Harley Davidson buy back the company. After the buyout is made official, the phrase “The Eagle Soars Alone” becomes a rallying cry.
So, this merger has ensured Harley-Davidson to continue its development and its improvement, and succeeded its come back in the first line. This new team achieved this thanks to a good marketing strategy, in other words creating customer value. This new strategy has ensured to create the feeling for the owners to belong to a family, such as the Harley Owners’ Group. One of the key issue of the new strategy is thus to accord importance to fidelity.
The most interesting point of this case is that Harley has different marketing strategy according to countries. Indeed, in some markets (US, Australia, Japan, Spain, Denmark) Harley-Davidson tries to attract new customers using advertisements, but in other markets such as the Europe, the strategy is more the usage of the promotion in specialized magazines. Another interesting point is tha...
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...ording to me, this is the reason why the median age of Harley riders is growing up. So, Harley-Davidson should try to go to other segments, in order to diversify its customers. Harley has well understood this promising gap in the market, buying back the firm Buell, famous for sport bikes. And, according to Jean-Luc Mars, CEO of Harley-Davidson France, “Buell ensures to conceive radical bikes without endanger the foundations of Harley’s brand. Buell also ensures to develop internally Harley-Davidson France and its network, our entire acknowledge of the bikes market, and to innovate on original marketing techniques”.
But, this is the first step in this promising segment, where young people are for sure the more present. Honda and Yamaha, for instance, are very well recognized in this market. And, according to me, the reason is the fact that they are present in “grand prix” doing races and winning championships, and thus becoming famous all over the world. Indeed, races can prove the quality, the competitiveness, and the reliability of a brand. It is not a hazard that Honda won from 1994 to 2003 the 9 championships in the biggest and the hardest class, 16 championships won in total.
When one thinks of classic Americana, they reminisce about the 1970s and 1980s and the notion of the nostalgic past in terms of what is the classic American image. It was a time of economic prowess where the blue collar factory worker would work 9 to 5 and then go to the local bar with his coworkers. However, times have since changed. The industrial plants that once dominated the Great Lakes economic region has become a shell of its past to the point where it is now none as the Rust Belt as industry left and white collar jobs became the norm. Since this degradation has settled into this once industrial cities, many cities and companies have sought to rebrand themselves in order to build from their reputations in the past to appeal to the nostalgia felt today. One such case where these is a correlation between a company and city are that of Harley Davidson, founded 1904, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both have sought to rebrand themselves to the public and consumer, with Milwaukee seeking to transformation its image into that of a young and vibrant and city while Harley targets a new clientele. It is this shift to Harley’s "cult branding" to attract new clients that parallels Milwaukee's attempts to integrate itself to a service sector economy based on touristic leisure and the consumption of
Allstate insurance is the second largest property and casualty insurance company by premiums in the United States. Allstate insurance handles about 12% of the U.S home and auto insurance market. (Allstate, 2014). Many of Allstate’s customers fall under what one could refer to as a traditional selection of insurance for automobiles. Recently, Allstate has noticed a major shortcoming in lifestyle insurance, which includes coverage for motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, in comparison to its competitors. The motorcycle insurance sector is a 10.4 billion dollar industry and growing (PRWEB, 2012). The U.S. Department of Transportation website reports some astounding figures, including that 5,370,035 motorcycles were registered three years before the article, 7,138,476 motorcycles registered at the time of the article, and grew to 9,477,243 registered motorcycles at the end of 2012 (NHTSA, 2013). It is obvious as to why Allstate would identify motorcycle insurance as a worthy lifestyle product to devote marketing research dollars into in order to develop new strategies for cornering a share of the market.
Harley-Davidson states their mission as “We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles, branded products and services in selected market segments.” They have performed wonderfully over the past hundred years, and have not forgotten their mission or where they came from. Over the years they have stuck with the things they know, and also expanded into related services and products. Out of the 151 motorcycle manufacturers, Harley-Davidson and Indian were the only two companies to survive the Great Depression. Harley-Davidson was the only one in America after Indian dropped out in 1953, but face Indian again now since they re-entered the market in 1999.
...es how powerful of a symbol it has become. You wouldn’t consider the fact that someone drives a Honda Accord a defining characteristic of his or her identity but somehow that changes when it becomes a Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail. "Four wheels move the body two wheels move the sole" (Harley Davidson Ad/ 1992). It becomes clear that the motorcycle is much more than a vehicle; it is a manifestation of American values. When you break it down nothing seems more American that freedom, and brotherhood. Film has fully capitalized on these characteristics helping make the motorcycle a powerful image that has had a defining impact on American culture.
External Opportunities • More people (94%) have new requirements for bicycles; the customers need bikes in different fields. • The popularity of Lance Armstrong has increased the interest on road bike, which represent 5% of the market. • The growing interest in cycling this is result in magazine coverage and the using of bikes and accessories in window displays that related to cycling.
Honda, like other automotive companies, also came to the conclusion of firming a joint venture. At the moment, Honda was already famous for motorcycles in UK, but it was less well known in terms of the automobiles. While Honda’s cars enjoyed reputation for good quality and durability, the import restrictions limited its success it the European market. However, the European market was essential for the company’s global expansion. With the joint venture, Honda could avoid the restrictions on the import quota by assembling cars locally, because these cars would be considered locally produced. Moreover, a local partner could assumedly offer a better insight of the market.
Smiling faces, beautiful women and “American made” were the typical elements in advertisements during this decade. DDB’s first “big idea” behind the campaign was no different; The main goal was to make the Volkswagen more American by shooting Suzy Parker standing next to a Volkswagen. It wasn’t until after visiting the production line and watching the step by step production of the Volkswagen did DDB strike gold with an innovate new “big idea.” What resonated with the American advertising team the most during this visit was the incredible quality control of the German factory, thus they decided on “an honest car promoted with Honesty.”
Having both marketing strategies and both products analyzed and the history of the important marketing decisions made and techniques used by the company written down, it will be interesting to perform a critical analysis of how the market and business realities made an impact on the marketing of Tesla Motors, why it happened and what was the effect. The presence of the CEO and the impact he makes on the public and investor confidence will also be critically reviewed. Based on the results, a list of recommendations will be composed for both representatives and marketing specialists who work in the same or similar
Despite their conception in 1903, Harley-Davidson and the motorcycle industry as a whole didn’t really take off until after the Second World War. Many people rode motorcycles during the war, with Harley-Davidson themselves supplying almost 90,000 motorcycles for the U.S. military during this time. Many veterans chose to purchase motorcycles upon returning home, as they enjoyed riding during the war and wanted to continue riding in their civilian life. This generation known as the "baby-boomers" quickly became the main target audience for many of Harley-Davidson’s marketing efforts. With sales increasing and the industry growing, many "motorcycle clubs" and "rallies" were introduced. Unfortunately, due to the lewd behavior displayed by most people associated with these clubs and rallies, bikers typically had an image of being disorderly and raucous. Harley-Davidson’s image itself took a big shot due to the Hells Angels. This was a motorcycle gang wishing to become notorious for "drug trafficking and other organized crime activities," who used only Harley-Davidson motorcycles. All of this combined to lead to a decline in demand and sales throughout the entire industry during the 1960’s. The industry was really helped out with the release of the Hollywood film Easy Rider in 1969. This film helped change the public’s perception of bikers and sparked an increase in motorcycle demand which has lasted to this day.
Italian manufacturer Piaggio ranks as one of the world’s top four players in its core business. It has consolidated leadership in the European 2-wheeler market. Piaggio should not miscalculate its competitors. Competition in the industry is very powerful, not only nationally but internationally as well. This is due to two well-established companies in this sector which are the Japanese Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha and Honda strengths are their long-run experience in the sector and the high quality image of products. Due to participations to the motorcycle championships, these two companies constantly receive positive feedbacks to their efforts in researching for first class products. In the future, other kinds of competitors are expected to arise: Chinese companies whose ability to imitate and create similar products at highly competitive prices is getting more and more dangerous (Piaggio, 2008)
James, W. B., & Graham, B. (2004). Strategic change in the face of success? Harley-Davidson, Inc. Strategic Change, 13(4), 205.
The Ford Motor Company has been in business since the nineteenth century, and it has enjoyed a rather successful run as one of the top automobile-making industries in the United States. Ford Motor Company is a prosperous business because of strategic planning and changes that it was willing to take a risk on developing and implementing. Successful corporations have to adapt to the constantly changing environment or the company will be doomed to failure. In other words, customer shopping habits change as new products are introduced to the market or when other factors beyond Ford Motor Company’s control affect which vehicles are sold. For example, there is an increased demand for fuel efficient cars when the average price per gallon
Harley-Davidson institutes a pull strategy in the promotion of the FXDS-CONV Dyna Convertible. Due to the limited number of dealerships (for example, there are only five in Nashville and the surrounding communities) customers must actively seek out a location to purchase this bike. Also, because so many customers decide to customize their Dyna Convertibles, they must place a special order with the dealer, who in turn must contact intermediaries along the distribution channel in order to satisfy the customer. Further, the fact that demand for Harley motorcycles far exceeds the supply indicates that a pull strategy is in place.
Over the past decade, the motor industry has faced many of mergers between companies in the bid to get more clients and internationalize their market share. The well planned mergers have arguably led to relative success while those that might have omitted some vital factor have had to contend with the pain of getting into damaging losses.
As a result of the increased demand of cars, the competition among car companies is becoming intense. Although the market of car is the biggest growing market in the world, there are still some companies who make cars failing year after year. However, there are some outstanding car companies such as The BMW Group performing distinctly.