Harley Davidson's Hog Wild Anniversary Celebration
Wednesday, August 27, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: And finally tonight, Harley Davidson is gearing up for its 105th anniversary this weekend. The company's four-day celebration kicked off today. Motorcycle riders from all over the country are making their way to Milwaukee, where a million Harley fans are expected to gather. While sales in the U.S. have slowed in the sluggish economy, overseas, it's a completely different story. Lucy Craft shows us how Harley hogs are all the rage in Japan.
LUCY CRAFT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The tens of thousands of visitors to this annual extravaganza staged outside Tokyo might think they had stumbled upon a county fair. There were country line- dancing lessons, free rides for the kiddies, a manicure tent and a contest for the best-dressed dog. But the sponsor of this homey family fest is an American manufacturer more often associated with rugged individualism than the home-alone set -- Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidson is on a roll in Japan. The century-old iconic motorcycle maker has torn up the textbook for marketing and struck pay dirt. Japan's motorcycle makers control the world market for bikes. Yet they've been forced to sit by helplessly as Harley has zoomed away with a controlling share of their home market in the heavy-displacement class, the most lucrative corner of the business says Rod Copes, an executive with Harley Davidson.
ROD COPES, VP, ASIA PACIFIC, HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTOR CO.: The Japan market, for Harley-Davidson, is very important. Outside of the United States, they're one of our top countries as far as overall sales and they have done a very nice job of kind of localizing the Harley-Davidson culture within Japan.
CRAFT: It's not that Honda and Yamaha can't build monster 750 cc cruisers just as good-- they do; it's that Harley has coasted ahead on a brand image that has more to do with Marlon Brando and an Asian longing for American-style independence. Here's one fan.
TRANSLATION OF: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since I was a kid, Harley has always been the king of bikes.
CRAFT: Japanese marketing manager Katsuya Masuda says Harley is associated with pure Americana.
TRANSLATION OF: KATSUYA MASUDA, DEPT. MGR, SALES PROMOTION, HARLEY- DAVIDSON JAPAN K.K.: For all Japanese regardless of age or gender, Harley stands for freedom and adventure, all wrapped up in one motorcycle.
CRAFT: Harley will do just about anything to get a potential customer onto one of its hogs, including helpful hints on how to cope with that bane of every biker chick, helmet hair.
MASUDA: Women told us their hair got mussed when they ride and they wanted advice about how to fix it, so we hired a beautician to do demos.
CRAFT: So America's outlaw bike of yesteryear has become today's wheels of choice for Japans dentists and secretaries. Harley-Davidson's family-friendly strategy has allowed it to grow sales here in Japan every year for the last 10. It expects to keep growing again this year. Overseas sales are increasingly crucial for the Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, who's looking to make up for the slack in its home market and focusing on countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan. Lucy Craft, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Gotemba, Japan.
