Harley Davidson Case Study

Building Brand Community on the
GROUP 4

Harley-Davidson Posse Ride
Prepared for: MMA035, Dr. Csilla Horváth
Prepared by: E.L. Mulder, C. Neghina, D. Oosterveer, L. Partouns, S. Voet

December 10, 2009
Case Study

Building Brand Community on the Harley-Davidson Posse Ride

1. What are the benefits of long rides as Posse, for customers of Harley Davidson (HD)?
Evaluate the relational effects based on Exhibits 7 and 10, which refer to pre and post
evaluations.
For any Harley Davidson customer, long rides – such as the Posse – hold some clear

benefits. Firstly, each participant is given the chance to discover part of the USA. The long

rides explore the country in depth and give participants the chance to explore various

landscapes, hidden parts of the USA or legendary roads, thus broadening their horizons.

Secondly, HD customers come into contact with people sharing the same passion for HD,

riding bikes and adventure, turning such rides into social gatherings for Harley enthusiasts.

Furthermore, the rides offer customers the thrills and excitement associated with biking over

long distances, with unpredictable weather conditions, changing sceneries, road mishaps and

great road stories.

The customers see these trips as big American adventures, a change from the daily routine

and a way of experiencing complete freedom. A more tangible benefit is that participants of

this sort of rides have the chance to pride themselves of having participated in such endurance

races and can even show it via the memorabilia they can gather along the trip (e.g. t-shirts,

caps, pins, photographs). Also, some participants consider these rides an unconventional

vacation – a chance to escape the daily routine and embark on the journey of their lives, be it

on their own or with friends and family members. Last, maybe the greatest benefit for the HD

drivers is the feeling they get when engaging in such an experience.

However, if we look to Exhibit 7 and 10, we can conclude that the Posse II adventure

was not a great success in terms of the improvement of the relation between HD and the Posse

participants. Graph 1 (please see Appendix), combines the mean numbers of Exhibit 7 and 10.

Looking at the bar charts, one can see which aspects of the HD questionnaire were evaluated

best before and which after the ride. In general, we can say that the overall mean of the

evaluations has slightly decreased (from 5.68 to 5.53; see Table 1), already indicating that

Group 4 - E.L. Mulder, C. Neghina, D. Oosterveer, L. Partouns, S. Voet


aspects of the ride have lessened the satisfaction of the participants with HD. If we closely

examine Graph 1, we can see that this is mostly due to the lesser evaluations of the statements

‘HD rally knows what riding a bike is about’ (0.9 decrease), ‘My Harley is a part of my daily

life’ (1.5 decrease), ‘Harley really understands my needs’ (0.6 decrease) and ‘I am satisfied

with HOG’ (0.6 decrease). On the other hand, some aspects were evaluated better after the

ride: ‘If I were to replace my motorcycle I'd buy another Harley’ (0.6 increase) and ‘I will

definitely sign up for another long distance HOG rally’ (0.6 increase). After analyzing these

results, we may conclude, that the participants are very satisfied with their bikes, and that the

ride was a positive experience. However, aspects of the augmented product of HD where not

evaluated that well. People seemed to have higher expectations of HD’s understanding of

their needs and motive for riding. From a relational point of view, we may conclude that the

Posse rides help increase loyalty towards HD. Nonetheless, HD should pay more attention to

their customers’ needs when organizing such rides, as many participants might become

unsatisfied with HD during the event.

2. Can the Harley Owners Group’s (HOG) Posse be characterized as a community?
Similarly to the view advocated by McAlexander, Schouten & Koenig (2002), the

HOG Posse brand community is customer centered, as “the existence and meaningfulness of

the community inhere in customer experience rather than in the brand around which that

experience revolves.” (p. 39) HD riders want to be part of it and share their feelings about the

rides, which consist of about 500 participants. According to McAlexander, Schouten &

Koenig (2002), “a community is made up of its member entities and relationships among

them.” (p.38) The members can be pinpointed on the basis of their shared interests or

characteristics: they share a passion for biking, the Harley Davidson brand, enjoy travelling

and see themselves as different than their car-driving friends. Most importantly, HOG creates

and negotiates meaning; HOG members define the Harley Davidson brand and help it grow



by sharing stories about the Posse rides. They come together once a year for the Posse ride,

and spend the rest of the time reminiscing about the previous ride, wearing their Posse t-shirts

and proudly telling their acquaintances about their past or future adventure. They receive

information about the Posse through the HOG magazine; only around 500 bikers can take part

in the Posse, so the community is exclusive, since many HD riders want to be part of it. The

Posse allows customers to affiliate themselves with the brand and its customers. What is most

important, there seems to be an “unspoken, cultural understanding” (Fournier, 2000, p.9)

shared among HOG members. On the road, a “group ethos began to gel with the formation of

groups, and friendships and the intimate road experiences that bind together friends”

(Fournier, 2000, p.19), thus contributing to the forming of bonds between participants. The

participants develop their own community rituals and habits, such as the story nights or the

Posse oath. The participants are clearly devoted to the brand and develop strong social

attachments with one another during such events.

3. If so, is a community static or dynamic? Support your answers with data from the Posse
event, referring, for example, to day-to-day changes!
For the Posse rides, the community can be characterized as dynamic. Although many

of the participants were veterans previous rides (e.g. the Route 66 rally), new members joined

every year. The participants are true supporters, as they have to book their holidays around the

Posse ride if they want to participate. Brand communities can be characterized via their

“geographic concentration, social context and temporality” (McAlexander, Schouten &

Koenig, 2002, p. 39).

The main characteristic Posse participants have in common seems to be their love for

their bike and the biker lifestyle. They come from various American states, various

backgrounds and economic strata. For those with daily jobs, it is difficult to schedule such

events without taking time off-work. As a result, the people who do join the Posse ride are



true HD enthusiasts. In terms of social contexts, the community keeps in touch via various

media: from the monthly magazine to face-to-face communication during and sometimes even

after events. Communication is dynamic, as members usually keep in touch long after the

Posse events, establishing bonds that may last for years. In terms of temporality, the bonds

people create during the rides are enduring and may be either temporary (during the events) or

periodic (e.g. meeting for regular events, visiting one another in their spare time, organizing

trips together).

Spontaneity and dynamism can be encountered on most aspects of the Posse ride: from

the events organized by the dealers, where local bikers might come to greet and meet the

participants, to the impromptu story nights. HD management knows it would be impossible to

control such a big group of riders at all times, so they allow the events to unravel with little

participation from their side, giving participants a sense of freedom. Riders can take

individual paths, can ride in groups of by themselves and can even decide not to complete the

entire race.

4. How would you evaluate the interaction between HOG managers and customers?
4.1. Use information/descriptions from the case for your assessment and match it with
HOG’s stated goals.

Founded in 1983, the Harley Owners Group (HOG) is a factory-sponsored motorcycle

enthusiast club, whose initial goal was to neutralize and control the negative influences of

outlaw biker gangs on the overall biker image (Fournier, 2000, p.1). Nowadays, the group

focuses on promoting the Harley Davidson lifestyle experience and bringing the company

closer to its customers. The interaction between HD managers and their customers will be

evaluated by comparing the managers’ behavior with HOG’s stated goals.

Harley Davidson focuses on a ‘close-to-the-customer’ philosophy. Thus, employees should

know their customers inside out, understand their needs thoroughly and anticipate the future

steps the company should take naturally. To summarize, the employees should be so close to



the customer, they are actually the customer. This customer-oriented philosophy leads

inevitability to a high level of interaction between managers and buyers than in most other

companies. This high level of interaction is shown by several aspects.

4.2. Are there one or more different types/ways to get close to the customers for HOG
managers? What types of interactions exist based on the case?
At Harley Davidson, employees are taken from their desks and asked to interact with

the HD bikers by participating in riding experiences, which are meant to create a feeling of

mutual understanding and brotherhood between HD employees and regular customer, feeling

that is an integral part of the biker experience. Management teams have to undergo the same

treatment as regular participants during the race, standing in the same queues as their

customers. This equality facilitates the interaction with the customers and is appreciated by

the other participants, as it can be seen as a sign of respect. Many of Harley’s employees,

ranging from blue-collar to white collar workers, see themselves as ‘bikers’. This leads to

such a close relationship between management and customer that they would form personal

bonds that would endure in time, extending visit invitations and keeping in touch long after

the ride was over. This personal connection with customers brings managers closer to

understanding the essence of the relationship between a rider and his Harley bike.

On a negative note, customers can also be united by their dissatisfaction with the brand.

According to Harley employees, their customers are not shy to complain (Fournier, 2000, p.

21). During riding activities, managers are close to their customers making it easier for the

customers to express their grievances and demand explanations from those in charge.

Nevertheless the staff tries to connect with the customers throughout HOG events, hoping to

have an honest conversation about the goods and the bads of the HD brand.

Participating in a Posse is a learning experience for HD employees and is worth the

opportunity costs of missing several work days. What management learns from joining a

Posse is valuable customer insight which they can use to assess customers’ current and future



needs and become more aware of the experience that makes riders choose a HD bike. It is not

only about understanding the customers but also about learning about their attitudes towards

the Harley Davidson brand or engineering input for future designs.. This last type of customer

knowledge is more business-related.

Summarizing, we can state that the current customer-management interaction is in line

with HD’s stated goals. The HOG-events are visited by a public with a relative high income

which has in general a positive influence on the places which they visit. HOG-events are not

associated with outlaw biker gangs, meeting one of the first requests of the HOG.

Furthermore the HOG is founded with the aim of improving the Harley Davidson lifestyle

experience and to bring the company close to its customers. No doubt that also these

premises are met as the participants are extremely enthusiastic and are very passionate about

the Harley experience. Furthermore it is clear that customer and company gain closeness

through HOG rides. This is also true for local dealerships which host local chapters and thus

get the chance of establishing a direct contact with their customers.

4.3. What should the HOG managers’ role, and therefore Harley Davidson’s role
be, in the development of this community? Are they the owner of the community?
The HOG has an essential role in developing the community since they are initiators

and organizers of the rides. In our opinion, they should continue with developing the HOG

community for several reasons. Firstly, the company gets the opportunity to learn valuable

information about its customers; deeper and more elaborate than any quantitative data,

customer profile information can be used to customize marketing plans and develop better

products in the future. Furthermore since the members of this community are spending more

money on Harley Davidson products than non-members, the decision to continue developing

the community is very sensible from a profit perspective. Active members have a higher value

and spend more on vehicle purchases, part and accessories and general merchandise than not-

active members, who in turn spend more than non-members.



Lastly, the community complies with HOG’s goals thus contributing to the success of

the company. However, building a community with hundreds or even thousands of Harley

bikers is not an activity easy to control. HOG’s success depends mainly on the behavior of the

participants and their personal perception of the activities which are not fully controllable, and

can fluctuate. Even if HOG stops organizing ‘community’ events, there is still a chance

impromptu member activities will continue without the involvement of HOG indicating that

HOG does not have complete control over the community. However HOG has certainly an

influential role in this area.

5. How would the Posse ride contribute to HD’s corporate goals? How would it contribute
to its financial objectives? Should the company work harder to improve ROI of the
Posse ride?
Harley Davidson’s mission is to “fulfill dreams “ (Fournier, 2000, p.7) The Posse rides

offer their participants the chance to escape their daily routines and embark in the journey of

their lives, a journey they probably would not dare to take otherwise.

Moreover, in line with HD’s goal of having a customer-centric business model, the

events provide valuable insight into the mind and heart of the Harley Davidson consumer and

their relationship and experience with the Harley bike. Harley Davidson has always taken

pride in the quality of their products, so seeing them in action on the road and observing the

interaction between the user and the product can provide insights for engineers that are

looking to constantly improve the HD bikes and may be a smart way of detecting early

problems in the manufacturing line.

For Harley Davidson success and tradition are important parts of the corporate

strategy. Ensuring a tradition of similar events and consistency can help strengthen the core

brand by reinforcing the key values of the company. Active HOG members such as the ones

that participate in the Posse rides contribute over $575,0001 more than regular ones to HD’s

1
Estimate for 500 participants.



revenues. The budget for Posse II was estimated at just $100,000, which indicates a net

revenue of $474,000 generated by the Posse II participants, roughly $950 per participant.

Although other factors such as the work hours imputed for the preparation of the events and

the actual time on the road has to be considered, we can still claim that Posse rides are indeed

valuable for the financial performance of the company. Also, while on the road, the riders

have the chance of visiting various Harley Davidson dealers and make purchases from them

in terms of spare parts, memorabilia, or other merchandise items.

Although successful events, there is always room for improvement of the Posse rides.

Firstly, the organizers should ensure that the overall experience is constantly positive, and

anticipate any problems, such as the t-shirt shortage. The negative word-of-mouth generated

by poor planning could hurt the company and the brand. In order to increase the event’s ROI,

selling opportunities should be capitalized more by enabling customers to make purchases

along the way, and not having to carry the products throughout the journey (e.g. through

home deliveries).

These rides could also provide the chance for management to evaluate individual

dealers and identify room for improvement in order to ensure a higher customer satisfaction

overall. The entire event should be considered a chance for evaluation, testing and research.

6. Should HD continue with Posse and other rides? What role should HOG play in the
marketing mix?
At HOG, as Alan Landry, one of the participants of Posse II says: “They present

experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise” (Fournier, 2000, p.19). A ride gives people a

feeling of freedom and when finished a sense of completion. Together with their new made

Harley friends they have achieved something unique.

Thus, one reason not to abandon these rides is the pleasure the ‘hard-core’ Harley

customers gain from it. But it does not resume to simple fun activities. These rides make these



enthusiastic Harley customers a valuable asset for Harley, giving the participants a strong

feeling of partnership and the chance to create tight bonds with people sharing a common

passion. Partly due to limited registration, which provides a feeling of exclusivity, Posse rides

become a religion, or better yet: a culture. With its core value of freedom, the belonging to

this culture can be expressed through memorabilia such a t-shirts bought on the ride as a token

of participation, or shared tattoos of the HD logo or emblem of the Posse ride. These rides

have even developed their own rituals, such as the spontaneously originated story night and

the Posse oath.

This subculture of Harley customers becomes a very important spokesman for the

company. As two Posse II participants said: “the conversation is going to come with people

and it will be talked about for years.” and “I’ll bet this ride is going to come up in our

conversation a half a dozen times a month just because we’ve got pictures” (Fournier, 2000,

p. 21). Because of the feeling of being ‘a Harley person’ that is carried out by these

participants, and associations of adventure, patriotism, toughness, getting out of corporate life

and togetherness that come with it, other people, be it bikers or not, could get affinity with it

and want to join as well.

But it is not only this positive word-of-mouth that is a benefit. The checkpoints during

a ride in the form of Harley dealerships also create many opportunities. Many tourists are

attracted by the commotion, including people from around the neighborhood riders or non-

riders. This is a great promotional stunt for Harley. For the dealer it is a great merchandise

opportunity as well. And for management, the benefit lies also in the fact that they see how

the dealerships are run across the country.

The final benefit of these rides lies in the contact it provides between management,

employees and customers. An expectation among management is to attend at least one event



annually. Costs of not working at these times are balanced against the opportunity to get to

know the customers; how they feel about the entire brand, and get new product ideas.

To back up the qualitative benefits of these rides, there is also quantitative proof of its

success. These rides become means of activating HOG members, and increasing their

customers’ worth. Furthermore, a pre- and post survey at the Posse II ride indicates that after

being on the ride the eagerness to participate on another ride increased to a 100% strongly

agree response, as did the answer to the question whether a replacement bike would again be a

Harley.

It is clear from the previous explanation that the rides organized for members of the

HOG have a large word-of-mouth function. Of course participants of these rides do not

comprise all of the members, only the active members (about 1/3). However, this WOM

function can also be ascribed to the entire HOG. Membership holds that you receive the

company’s magazine, have access to the Fly & Ride program and receive several rider

benefits. It gives new Harley owners who receive a one year free membership a direct feeling

of belonging to the Harley community. This community again could be considered a culture,

be it not as strong as the subculture of active members who participate in rides. As one

member puts it: “It’s a mystique, a lifestyle as opposed to a brand” Lisa Landry (Fournier,

2000, p. 10). The memorabilia, such as pins and t-shirts, where the H.O.G. is responsible for

again functions as artifacts or symbols of the Harley culture.

That the H.O.G. is responsible for creating a culture makes it a very strong

promotional tool, and thus should be placed under promotion in the marketing mix. Harley

does not even have to advertise heavily, the members of the H.O.G. will spread the word as

will the events that are organized by the H.O.G.



References

Fournier, S., McAlexander, J. & Schouten, J. (2000): Building Brand Community on the
Harley-Davidson Posse Ride, Harvard Business School Cases, Boston;

McAlexander, J. H., Schouten, J. W. &Koenig, H. F. (2002): Building Brand Community,
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66, January 2002, pp. 38–54.

Appendix

Graph 1: Pre-ride and post-ride Survey Results: Means

Pre-ride and post-ride Survey results Pre-ride mean
Post-ride mean
7

6,5

6
Rate

5,5

5

4,5

4

3,5
G
ti s my lif e
d

th d s
m

ut
i

e
en

th

O.
rs
le
Ia

n d of m bo

d ne e
m
.

e.

l
ar

nd ai ly
ne

H.
fr i

he

as is a
ke

sto

ll a
nc
on

yH

ow
t li
a

ot

I a rs ta y d
cu
un r es r id in is ta

all l pa is a
e
rs
to

an
en

wi
m

t m b ik
ley
pe

a

s
e

d
ev

of
b e b uy
rid

y
ar

fi e
g

a
of

r le
n

se

lon
rH

g

rt
is

to

e
d

Ha
I 'd

si g ip w c au
in
th

sa
he

er
pu

e
tk

cl e

at
d

ou
th
ot

a

m
en

ou

at

wh
ld

gr
cy

no

yu
ab
i th

wh
u
m

ki n nds

te
ab

or
co

H a n d e fo r a

d
m

H a is in
ot

H a tan
r e nds
lot

e
co

re
ley

ym

fri

a

rs
sh
re

up
sa

yc

y
y
ta
ar

g

de

r le
r le
m
ld

rs
tH

lon

n
y

all
ou

sa

ce
bu

of
li fe
Iw

la

l ly
y

y
ly

yu
e

y
r le

e

p

M
e

ea
r le
ns

i te
on

re

ad
Ha

all
se

Ir
fin
to

m
No

re
de
y

la
e

e
M

y
er

av

r le
ee

i ll
Iw

Iw
Ih

Ha
If
If

Questions



Table 1: Questions , means and answer percentage pre-ride and post-ride questionnaire

Questions Pre-ride Post-ride
Mean Disagree Middle Agree Mean Disagree Middle Agree
I would recommend this ride to a friend 5,7 3% 45% 52% 6 0% 17% 83%
My Harley says a lot about kind of person I am 5,4 7% 38% 55% 5,5 0% 50% 50%
No one but Harley could put on event like this 5,2 1% 35% 55% 5,3 17% 33% 50%
If I were to replace my motorcycle I'd buy
another Harley 6,4 7% 4% 89% 7 0% 0% 100%
I have made lifelong friends because of my
Harley 6 7% 21% 72% 6,2 0% 17% 83%
I feel a sense of kinship with other Harley
owners 6 7% 14% 79% 6,3 0% 17% 83%
I will definitely sign up for another long distance
H.O.G. rally 6,4 3% 11% 86% 7 0% 0% 100%
Harley really understands what riding a bike is
all about 6,1 3% 21% 72% 5,2 17% 33% 50%
Harley really cares about me as a customer 5,1 3% 42% 55% 4,8 17% 33% 50%
I really understand what Harley is all about 5,7 3% 31% 66% 5,5 0% 42% 58%
My Harley is integral part of my daily life 5,3 7% 42% 55% 3,8 42% 33% 25%
Harley really understands my needs 4,8 13% 49% 38% 4,2 33% 50% 12%
I am satisfied with H.O.G. 5,7 11% 24% 65% 5,1 17% 50% 33%

Overal mean: 5,68 5,53


Harley Davidson Case Study

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Harley Davidson Case Study

Similar to Harley Davidson Case Study (20)

More from Carmen Neghina

More from Carmen Neghina (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Harley Davidson Case Study