Delivering a Great Performance

We all have our favourite brands. Not many of us go so far as to have our favourite brand logos tattooed onto our skin. It’s different with Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Like most iconic brands, Harley-Davidson has a great story behind it. William S Hardy and his friend William A Davidson experimented with adding small motors to standard bicycle frames but found that their ‘motor-bicycle’ wasn’t powerful enough to scale the hills around their hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The friends’ business got under way properly in 1903, when they set out to make their first real motorcycles in their little ‘factory’ – a small wooden shed with ‘Harley Davidson Motor Company’ painted on the door. In 1904, their first dealership opened in Chicago and sold the first production motorcycles made by the fledgling company, which incorporated in 1907.

Harleys were soon dominating motorcycle races around the United States. When the company formally entered motorcycle racing in 1914, the Harley team was so dominant it became known as ‘The Wrecking Crew’.⁵⁷

With the arrival of the mass-produced motorcar, motorcycling for the general public became more recreational. Harvey-Davidson embraced the change. In 1916, the company launched its Enthusiast magazine for Harley owners – one of the earliest ‘customer magazines’. The magazine promoted Harley’s latest models, but also ‘the Harley lifestyle’. Harley-Davidson’s enduring link with ‘the freedom of the open road’ was born.

The new company had found its purpose and was telling a great story about well-made, exciting products that offered a sense of freedom and an exhilarating way of exploring the American countryside. It was engaging with and delighting its audience. It was delivering a great performance.