Easy Riders
harley-davidson covets more black bikers
2007-12-03
By Frank S. Washington

Harley-Davidson is one of the most famous brands in the world. It ranks 45th on a list of the 100 most valuable global brands and is worth almost $8 billion. As the lone American manufacturer of motorcycles, Harley-Davidson’s 104-year history is the stuff of movies. Still, despite a brand recognition that most companies will never attain, Harley-Davidson has missed the African American market -- big time!

At an event in Marina del Rey, California for urban market media to showcase models for 2008, there was a revelatory moment. A fact sheet provided by Harley-Davidson showed that blacks accounted for only 1.5 percent of new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales. Worse, for Harley-Davidson, is that only 7.9 percent of its total U.S. sales are to people of color.

With an aging owner base and flat sales, the bottom line is that Harley-Davidson needs new customers. The other side of Harley-Davidson’s anemic sales numbers in terms of black, Asian and Hispanic consumers add up to a tremendous opportunity for growth.

That’s why Harley-Davidson hired LAGRANT Communications. The Los Angeles-based advertising, marketing and public relations firm specializes in the African American and Hispanic consumer markets.

“There are currently a lot of African American Harley-Davidson owners,” says Lynn Bonner, Harley-Davidson’s director of market outreach.  “We also know that we need to grow those numbers by educating African Americans. It’s about making sure that what we’re saying is reaching the right audiences.”

Seven of approximately 700 Harley-Davidson dealerships are owned by African Americans. Blacks sit on the company’s board of directors and are members of senior management, 10 percent of Harley-Davidson employees are black or Hispanic and Harley-Davidson purchased more than $190 million worth of material from minority-owned suppliers including women.

And there are Harley-Davidson-only African American motorcycle clubs like the Defiant Ones, celebrating 50 years this year, Rare Breed, 18 years, Magic Wheels, Soul Brothers and East Bay Dragons.
Still, getting more African Americans to purchase Harley-Davidson motorcycles is a long tough road that requires LAGRANT to start out by educating the educators. At a mixer held here at the FantaSea Yacht Club, LAGRANT told representatives of urban market media outlets that it wanted the event to serve as a launching pad for building lasting relationships.

Indeed, there are few African American automotive writers and still fewer, if any, African American reporters who write about motorcycles regularly. Thus, LaGrant must identify African American reporters who are willing to write about motorcycles and the industry. That means learning the business of motorcycles, the mechanics of motorcycles and how to ride a motorcycle.

LAGRANT has and does arrange for urban market reporters to attend Harley-Davidson’s Rider’s Edge where they learn to ride motorcycles and then get licensed. It’s almost impossible to attend Harley-Davidson events, chronicle the biker lifestyle or write about the company’s products without knowing how to ride.

Charisse Browner, LAGRANT’s Harley-Davidson account director, was mulling the possibility of bringing urban market reporters to the company’s assembly operation in York, PA. next year. The idea is for them to learn about motorcycles literally from scratch.

“We can always do better,” says Bonner. “Our ability to share motorcycling experiences with a diverse community is going to benefit us greatly. We want people to see themselves on their next Harley-Davidson or their first. If that means lessons, riding clothes, riding on the back, having you at the controls, custom paint or chrome, we want you to do that as well.”

Frank S. Washington is managing partner/editor of AboutThatCar.com