Harley Davidson in Pursuit for Female Riders - Essay Example

? Harley Davidson in pursuit for female riders Contents Harley Davidson in pursuit for female riders Contents 2 Executive Summary 3 Overview about the Company 3 Situation Analysis 3 Situation 3 Objectives 4 Marketing Strategy 4 Promotional Analysis 4 Recommendation 5 Bibliography 6 Executive Summary This project talks about one of the well known manufacturer of motorcycle bikes Harley Davidson. This project report emphasis on the event that Harley Davidson’s dealer organizer for the female riders. The event is known as the Garage party which provides women to fulfill their dreams of riding a Harley Davidson and owing one for themselves. This event is attended by thousands of women who have the desire to own a HD. The project talks about the objective of the event, the marketing strategy applied by the company to gain success in the market and stay ahead of its competitors and the promotional methods adopted by Harley Davidson in respect to the event. Recommendation to HD is not required as it has adopted all the necessary strategies needed to make an event a success and HD being a big brand, the brand names is enough for it to generate potential customers and create awareness. Overview about the Company Harley Davidson is a US based manufacturing company of motorcycles which was founded way back in 1903. Harley Davidson started with a mission to ride with every customer and apply with them the connection in each and every market the company serves in order to create a superior value for the stakeholders. The company’s vision is to fulfill the dreams of every biker on the road by providing them with extra ordinary bikes and with satisfied experience. Harley Davidson aims to fuel the passion for freedom in their customers and express individuality. Hardly Davidson provides an emotional connection with Harley Davidson bikes and other related products. The company believes in providing superior quality of products because of the trust and brand loyalty the customer’s shows in the brand and the company1. As male section is often known for their urge to drive a Hardly Davidson and own one, similarly for the female riders Harley Davidson has introduced bikes and has conducted events to encourage the female riders to drive their HD. The Harley Davidson community has organized an event for females, the Garage Party mainly targeting the female sections2 . Situation Analysis Situation This project on event management talks about the event that Harley Davidson organizes for its female riders. The events are conducted by the dealers of HD and it continues for around a month in different states of US. HD conducts two events for females, the Garage party and women riders’ month. It was conducted in the month of May when thousands of women across the world came together to become a part of HD. Women participated in events like Garage party and supported worthy cause3. Objectives The objective of such an event was to fulfill the dreams of females from learning to ride a HD to buy the right bike and to ride in the road with great confidence. The event was conducted for a cause which was attended by thousands of females across the world. Marketing Strategy HD had released that the bikes were not only ageing but also the percentage of female customers have increased over the years. The company knew that with a change in demographics the sales could be affected and realized the necessity to tap into the new market segment for females. The company’s initial strategy was to take over the brand Buell in order to tap the new market segment. The Buell bike was ideal not only for new riders but also for small riders and particularly for female riders. Seeing the growth in female customers Harley Davidson adopted the marketing strategy of product extension. The company introduced new bikes specially made for the women customers. Women are not only purchasing the smaller and light bikes but according to information on HD website, females purchasing the 883 Sportster Hugger which is designed with lower seat and short wheelbase are slowly moving to purchase the 1200cc or 1450cc bikes. Harley Davidson has used the method of licensing as a means to extend the brand to new market, for the females4. Product line extension is the marketing strategy which is mostly followed by marketers as it allows the brand to keep the same brand name which makes it easy for the target audience to relate the specific product with the brand. And this strategy is very well adopted by Harley Davidson. Promotional Analysis Promotion is one of the techniques used by marketer to promote the product and its brand. Promotional mix constitute the overall communication program of the company and it consists of advertising, personal selling, print media, publicity, sales promotion and public relation5. Harley Davidson also uses the promotional strategy in order to promote its brand and product and encourage the younger generation to ride a Harley Davidson and experience the comfort and pleasure of riding a HD. HD is one of the top most brands known for its motorcycles. It promotes its product and brand by means of advertising, through articles and also in their own websites. The company advertisement focuses mainly on females images. The company has developed its website and helps as a means of its promotional strategy as it helps HD to expand its operation online and provide information to its customers. In one of the print advertisements, it showed a message stating baby in garage which indicated that the females were in the garage party organized by HD6. HD runs advertisements on magazines targeting the women and promoting their garages parties in US7. Pictures showing females riding the bike has also been used to advertise for the event. In Canada, an article has been issued stating about the garage party to be held in US. It is one of the much anticipated event and HD retailers are busy in the preparation to welcome new guest in the Garage party8. In a magazine, HD has reported about the garage party event9. Recommendation Harley Davidson is one of the brands known for its bikes for men and women. So any activities undertaken by the brand ensures success. It has been evident that the event organized by the Harley Davidson’s dealers, the Garage party has been attended by thousand of females not only from USA but also from across the world. Thus it can be said that the marketing and promotional strategy used by the brand has hit on the target and helped in the success of the event. Therefore it can be said that no recommendation is required for the brand Harley Davidson. It is evident that the marketing and advertising strategy utilized by the brand has been effective, it has advertised about the event in its websites stating the need for attending the event. The event aims to fulfill the dreams of thousands of females who want to ride a Harley Davidson and experience the Harley. The website advertises about the event and shows articles from women who have already attended the event party and are fully satisfied with such an event. The website has uploaded pictures from the past events which are quite attractive and which would surely encourage females to take part in the event. Harley Davidson has a huge fan following and there are communities which perform or conducts such events. Harley Davidson also advertises about the event in magazines and print advertisements to generate awareness about the event in the minds of the customers so that the potential women who want to participate could come forward and enjoy the garage party. Bibliography 1. Go Pink Magazine. (2012). Biggs Harley Davidson Women's Garage Party Event Recap http://gopinkmagazine.com/content.php?203-Women-s-Garage-Party 2. Harley Davidson. 2012. Company. from http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/Company/company.html?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US 3. Harley Davidson-a. 2012. Women riders. from http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/women-riders/women-riders-month.html?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US 4. Harley Davidson. (2012). Press release. from http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/HD_News/Company/newsarticle.jsp?locale=en_CA&articleLink=News%2F0958_press_release.hdnews&newsYear=2011&history=archive 5. Jennifer Steel Hostetler. 2002. Women and Motorcycles: A Study of the Social and Ergonomic Characteristics of the Female Motorcyclist and the Relationship with Company and Market Performance. Pdf. from http://emp.colorado.edu/files/SampleCapstonePapers/Women%20and%20Motorcycles.pdf 6. James E. Finch, James R. Ogden, Denise Agden. (2005). Clep Principles of Marketing: The Best Test Prep for the Clep. Research & Education Assoc. 7. Louis E. Boone, David L. Kurtz. (2012). Contemporary Marketing, 2013 Update. Cengage Learning. 8. Mike Werner. (No Date). 18 Harley-Davidson Print Ads From Around The World. Online. http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/18-harley-davidson-print-ads-from-around-the-world.htm. Normandy, France. Read More