What the Producer Said...23 Skid-Do

I was recently asked to contribute to an article in the Financial Times about Harley-Davidson’s advertising outreach to women, Hispanics and African-Americans.  As you can probably guess, I did not pull any punches.  If you want to see the article, you can click here.

My issue was the way this brand is going about engaging with the audience.  Specifically, my problem is with their digital outreach.  It is reminiscent of the scene in Animal House where Kent and Larry are ushered straight through the Omega house party and introduced to Mohammed and Jugdish.

Just like Omega house, Harley Davidson is a strong brand that has a following, which includes, Hispanics and women, etc.  To make the decision that you are going to suddenly usher them to their proper sections of your website, is potentially very insulting. There are far more subtle ways to do this.  And, as always, I recommend that H-D turn to the movie business for guidance.  Specifically, look to the art that is the movie trailer.

The other day I was watching TV with my son and the trailer for Ice Age: Continental Drift came on.  He actually said to me, “Wow dad, the whole cast of the Ice Age movie is Black (he meant “multicultural)."

I thought about allowing him this Tooth Fairy/ Santa Claus/ Universal Healthcare moment , but then realized I didn’t want my son growing up in the same bubble that produced me (more on that in a future post).

So, I explained to him how studios edit trailers for specific audiences.  And I reminded him that we were watching BET.

It was amazing to see the light go off in his head. That night he found a whole new respect for what his father does for a living. You are not going to ingratiate your audience by putting “place-cards” on your website.  You gotta be more like Annie Reid, who just happened to be trying to cross a busy highway as Sam Baldwin notices her.  Really? Okay here’s the link.

So here’s what! When it comes to any target audience: Women, Multicultural, LGBT, you will only have success if you can prove that you know where they are, and that just happens to be where you also want to be.  This is why Visa has over 56% purchase volume and American Express (the devil) has only 15%.  And that is why Harley-Davidson better hope their female customers have dial-up.

And…fade to black.