Thursday, July 14, 2011

Harley-Davidson Brand Equity


Developing a strong brand is the goal of many companies and its marketers. As brands become memorable, recognizable, and seemingly superior to their generic equivalents they start to build brand equity. Companies with strong brand equity are able to charge more for their products and consumers are willing to pay more for their products.

Harley-Davidson Brand Equity


Harley-Davidson is a great example of a company that has built strong brand equity and is able to charge more for their motorcycles.


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For years Harley-Davidson’s CEO argued that they sold an experience and the bike just happens to be a fundamental part of that experience. One of their execs is quoted as saying “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him.”

Eventually the board of directors got on board the company concentrated on the goal of delivering this very specific experience and annual revenues grew from $1.5 billion in 1996 to $4.6 billion in 2003 and net income grew from $143 million to $761 million over the same period. When you buy a Harley-Davidson it’s not just the bike you’re buying, your buying into a lifestyle.

I took the pictures in this post while visiting a Harley-Davidson Store (shot with Canon T3i camera and Canon 50mm 1.4 lens)


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