Empathy fuels growth at Harley-Davidson

Great marketing is alive and well, happily.  After covering the Bad and the Silly at the recent Edge Conference in Boston in my last two posts, it’s a pleasure to salute admirable work that’s strategic and innovative, integrating plentiful right-brain thinking.

The Good (even Great)

Harley-Davidson is a much admired brand, and justifiably so.  One key reason for the brand’s success is empathy.

While many brands look externally for paths to growth, to acquisition or flashy new digital tools, Harley looks deep into the hearts and lives of real people.  By connecting human aspirations with the brand’s own roots, the company has developed new business opportunities while also strengthening loyalty.  No small feat.

Lara Lee, who created and ran the company’s profitable $80 million Enthusiast Services Division, shared compelling examples of three successful initiatives showcasing intelligent and imaginative use of empathy in the service of business objectives.

Expanding the tribe

In her polished address, Lee explained the rationale behind a program for new riders.  Seeking to broaden its market to include non-traditional audiences (women and younger folk), they put themselves in their would-be audience’s shoes.

Emotional truth: Motorcycles—and Harley-Davidson—can be intimidating to newcomers.

Enter The Rider’s Edge: the Harley-Davidson Academy of Motorcycling.  By developing a school for newbies around thoughtfully designed, empathic experiences, the brand created a welcoming path toward Harley ownership for new groups.  In the process it expanded the tribe—and sold a lot of incremental bikes.

Co-Creating a Customized Vision

Individuality and self-expression are values central to the Harley brand.  Beyond simple ownership, it’s been a tradition among some to customize their bikes over time—a loving fusion of vision and effort.  Today, however, far fewer customers have the time or skill to individualize their bike by the sweat of their own brow.  They may also lack both the knowledge and patience that formerly guided Harley owners to plan personalized upgrades for their ride over time.

Opportunity = Desire (Individuality + Instant Gratification) – (Skill + Knowledge + Time)

Capitalizing on twin yearnings, to have it their own way and to have it now, Harley introduced The Chrome Consultant, a dealer-based personalized shopper to advise potential owners on ways to upgrade and individualize their new purchase.  This makes perfect left-brain sense—and it’s been a profitable initiative.  

(One small right-brain note of caution: the risk of potential culture clash between those who have “earned” their custom bikes, through their own knowledge, skill and patient investment, and those who simply buy their way in to a dream bike upfront.)

Fusing passion with skills

Camaraderie is also central to the Harley brand.  As the brand’s popularity grew in the 1980s beyond its Hell’s Angels roots, the company established the Harley Owners Group (HOG) to provide a mainstream way for riders to congregate.  Chapters led by elected volunteers were a cost-effective solution, but those most passionate and knowledgeable about Harleys weren’t necessarily skilled in organizational leadership.

As the company began offering training to help these volunteers meet their new duties, they discovered accidentally that they were also addressing a powerful unmet need among many of those elected.

They longed to become leaders but had not found the opportunity or support for these dreams in their lives previously. By recognizing and honoring these deep personal aspirations, Harley helped their lay leadership grow as people.

More effective leaders made HOG chapters more vibrant and successful, attracting more members and inspiring a new cadre of leaders, all while strengthening the brand.  A virtuous cycle was born.  Today, the organization numbers a million members across 1400 HOG chapters worldwide, supported by only a handful of corporate staff.

Empathy: The opposite of fluff

These initiatives and others like them are rooted in empathy.  Could a brand less attuned to the view from its customer’s eyes and lives have succeeded in this way?  Unlikely.  While the Chrome Consultant has a faint whiff of car dealer option-salesman (rustproofing, anyone?), it’s clearly grounded in the brand’s core values and traditions.

Empathy is a foundational right-brain skill.  This badass bike brand has enhanced its status and profitability by embracing things often dismissed as irrelevant or fluffy.  Making empathy central to Harley-Davidson and addressing its customers emotional needs as well as traditional functional and intellectual needs has helped make–and keep–the brand the powerhouse it is today.