I’ve written previously that Harley-Davidson has been losing traction in worldwide motorcycle sales and is pushing a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting more Latino-centric customers and other racial minorities to the biker lifestyle.
With costly and parallel marketing efforts the company is pushing multi-generational and multi-cultural marketing campaigns. Like a circus clown juggling all balls, H-D is trying to attract minorities, boost sales with younger riders, promote the female factor which is geared to attracting women riders and at the same time maintain just enough focus on baby boomers, who as a group, have been the historical sales engine for the company. Complex to say the least and it makes me wonder if a ball will get dropped.
By catering to the booming Latino population does Harley stand to alienate its core customer base? Will the American public soon be seeing Harley-Davidson Supermercado dealers which focus only on Latino’s? I don’t know. It’s been reported that there are currently 49M Hispanics in the U.S. with nearly $1.1Trillion in purchasing power. Today they make up 16% of the U.S. population. It’s estimated that by 2050 Hispanics will make up 30%, eight years after Caucasians’ fall below 50% of the U.S. population. America is witnessing a demographic revolution that is largely driven by Hispanics. Purchasing power is the after-tax personal income people have to spend on virtually everything from necessities like food, clothing and housing to luxuries like recreational equipment and vacations.
So it’s logical to think that some Harley dealers will need to make local adjustments or conversions to a Hispanic orientation. Similar to how a neighborhood-market-oriented ethnic food store needs to continue to reinvent around customer-centric shoppers. It’s a wakeup call for H-D. However, there are other factors which seem to make motorcycle sales culturally indifferent. For example nearly one in ten of the nation’s 22M Latino workers (9.7%) are unemployed. According to Pew Hispanic Center survey one in ten Latino homeowners reported missing a mortgage payment. This mirrors all other multi-culture sectors of the population in the U.S. so, I wonder if Harley’s expectations of the Latino community isn’t aggressive or wishful thinking? Another data point is the Hispanic “Mass Affluent” households. Defined by Mintel as those with between $100K and $1M in investable assets and which currently comprise 10% of the U.S. population. The Hispanic Mass Affluents reported they cut down or deferred overall spending because of the recession. Sound familiar?
It’s my view that until H-D makes a decision to hire an executive VP similar to Wal-Mart’s Jose Antonio Fernandez and learns how to serve Latinos from experiences obtained in Latin America/Mexico….they aren’t super serious about merchandising the way Hispanics shop. Until then we’ll continue to see Hispanic marketing around the edges such as this casting call announcement where H-D is encouraging all Latino Riders….aka Harlistas to share their story in a documentary which is being directed by Alfredo de Villa. H-D’s manager of market outreach, Karina Jaramillo-Saa, states that the film will encapsulate the spirit of Harlistas and H-D wants to share the passion of Latino riders with the rest of the world.
The documentary feels like the continued isolation of an ethnic enclave. Is Harley-Davidson guilty of an innocent lapse in judgment here or is there truly racial overtones? The public was polled and the documentary research indicates Latino riders are best to share motorcycle passion via a film? What about a female-only casting call or a Caucasian-only casting call and documentary? Wake up H-D! It’s about assimilation of ALL riders and sharing the passion with the world?
Photo courtesy of Flickr.
Hmmm, well, I’m female and Hispanic (Spanish heritage). My first bike, over 20 yrs ago, was a FJ1200. I have had Harley’s since 2005, and I love them… I didn’t buy due to advertising or marketing. I bought against the trend.
My father (Spanish, ExPat) a US Army man, had two 47’s and a 59, also against the trend.
I don’t know what to think of this Mac…
I bought my Harley’s because I had always wanted HD. Period.
Really interesting post. Thanks.
As a gringo bike builder (ex-banker) married to a hispanic marketing person, (exec marketing at Disney), i’ve repeatedly heard/seen the statistics about the latino market growth. It is a sad state of affairs (and still shows our prejudices) that american companies cannot get their heads around the fact that a growing segment of a market, (whether it’s latino, asian, etc) requires course adjustment and more importantly, inclusion. Inclusion not being just throwing some feeble documentary at a demographic in the hopes they will “bite” on the opportunity. Once again this is a prime example of corporations and it’s leaders becoming myopic in their evaluation and focus on their market and not seeing the “Big Picture”. Which by the way is constantly changing and maturing. Those companies that do have such a flexible structure that can accommodate changes in direction and focus, will be the long term winners.
BTW, great blog! Enjoy reading it on regular basis.
Cj
Automobile manufacturers are also studying these trends and going after these markets. Personally I feel they should concentrate on quality, value, and price.
Ride on,
Torch
I am having a hard time taking HD’s trend towards marketing any particular group. They have a huge campaign towards women with May being the month dedicated to women but, they use celebrities that cant possibly show the normal woman and ones that women cant identify with. Women have been riding for years and now they have daughters that ride and so on.
Hispanics, young people, women, or whom ever…..they will buy a HD because its an institution and they want to be a part of it, because the product is part of America, because its a great product and its fun.
Further more, why buy other motorcycle companies….why not improve their own!!