Brand Community of Harley Davidson - Essay Example

Analyze a brand community of Harley Davidson. In this analysis you should give a short overview of the main characteristics of a brand community and justify how your chosen community has these characteristics. Table of Contents Analyze a brand community of Harley Davidson. In this analysis you should give a short overview of the main characteristics of a brand community and justify how your chosen community has these characteristics. 1 Table of Contents 2 Brand Community 3 Reference 6 Brand Community Brand community for Harley Davidson is the Harley Davidson riders. Whenever one thinks of Harley Davidson, the first thing come in the mind is of course the bike but alongside they probably may think of an open dessert highway with open jacket and boots and an exhaust rumbling that could make a jet engine meek. The bike stands for individuality, freedom and rebelliousness. And these qualities are reflected on a Harley Davidson rider (As One, 2011). The brand community which will form part of the report is Harley Davidson Owners Group. It is a community which was started in 1983, a web based community. This community is supported financially by Harley Davidson (Donaldson & Toole, 2007, p.153).The club has more than million members around the world. The members of the Harley Davidson owners group tend to be a little different. It has a heritage of the early 1903 and it has been associated with loners and rebels. The motor cycle is referred as personal expression. The Harley Davidson riders are not just buying a machine which is faster, bigger and powerful but they are buying lifestyle. The bike is all about brotherhood and self expression, hanging out with friends and travelling easy (Stermer, 2007, p.20). Subculture Subcultures of consumption are distinct and it is for a homogeneous group who are formed for a particular set of consumption or activities. Harley Davidson motorcycle owners form such a group of subculture. Four main phenomena of Harley subculture were presented. Consumer Initiated New-Product Development Harley owners are stylish and technological advanced in motorcycle equipment and their clothing. They exhibit a subculture of an extra ordinary commitment which is usually not unique to a biker’s subculture. One of the heritages of Harley is the grass root innovation. Harley in modern days continues to have an intimate relation with its riders through its activities in rallies and corporate sponsorships. The clothing of Harley Davidson is regarded as hardcore biker’s style. For example, the black leather vest with insignias serves as the uniform of the Harley Owners Group. By 2000 HOG has about 60,000 members (Keown, 2005, p.12). When it comes to mass marketing, Harley Owners Group (HOG) has marketed the outlaw of motorcycle club. The HOG have a symbolic uniform which makes them a part of Harley Davidson group. Grooming is more important for the HOG members. The HOG sponsored rally which included lectures on motorcycles, its safety and maintenance along with a focus group which concentrated on HOG merchandise (Association of consumer research, 2009). The brand identification of the Harley owners group is covered under brand resonance. HOG members are identified and serve a good relationship with the brand. Signs of loyalty are indicated by Harley tattoos, stickers on the bumpers of their bikes and through wearing of Harley apparel. The community has around five lakhs members and about 1200 chapters (Kumar, 2007, p.71). Harley’s owner group are located around the world and this makes it easier to identify the brand much strongly and also identified as a spirit of freedom and independence. HOG has created a mentality of freedom of the open road (Bailey, 2011). Ethos is regarded as a core set of values for Harley Davidson owners. It includes a feeling of freedom, machismo, patriotism and a religious aspect of the subculture for the Harley Owners Group (Bordens, 2006, p.216). Tradition has always been mainstays of Harley Davidson and this is followed by HOG. The retro look has always been the natural choice of Harley Owners Group (Hook, 2003, p.44). Harley Davidson bikers believe in a motto “live to ride, ride to live” which suggested that ridding Harley Davidson is nothing but a lifestyle. The world of Harley Davidson culture is a sacred domain within the everyday life of Harley owners. There are several attributes which contributes to spirituality of riding a Harley Davidson, such as they feel the closeness with nature, the sensory awareness of the motor, mantric throbbing of the engine, the riders can feel the risk every moment. According to Languist, riding a Harley is considered as a modern equivalent of shamanic experience of magical flight. Another religious aspect of the Harley community is the reverence with which every Harley riders treat Harley Davidson motorcycle. The bike cannot be touched without the permission of the owner it is regarded as illegal. Another ritual of Harley Davidson is the cleanliness of the motorbike, there should not be a spot of dirt in the bike before the riders ride on the Harley Davidson. The principle of brotherhood among the Harley riders carries a religious value they signifies a community of shared belief, experience and purpose. But there seems to be a darker side in the religious value of Harley owners. There are few outlaw clubs with names like Hells Angels, Pagans and Satan’s Slaves which play off with the religion in a way that suggests Antichrist (Schouten & Macalexander, 1995, p.50). A community is marked by the sense of shared moral responsibility; it is a sense of duty towards the community and its people. Among the Harley riders it is a common courtesy to help another Harley rider when and as the need arises. The Harley Davidson rider feels a sense of desire and affinity to help other members of Harley group (Guinn, Allen & Semenik, 2008, p.552). Among the Harley riders there is a bonding of brotherhood along with something that is elusive to characterize. The riders not only experience a shard pursuit but also elitism that one rider is privy to something that most people do not experience. Whether the biker is a surgeon, professor an outlaw or even a plumber the motorcycle is never away from the riders consciousness (Rollin,2006, p.14). Harley Davidson has been recognised as an American icon with represent a symbol of love, free spirit and verve of living life with all sense (Lynch, 2003, p.1). The motorcycle is regarded as much more than a bike. It is a lifestyle for the riders. For HOG riding a Harley is a matter of pride. The riders are well identified as all of them portray a tattoo of Harley with Harley clothing. The Harley owners group is much more than just an organisation of motorbikes. It’s about passion that unites the one million people from all over the world (Harley Davidson, 2011). Harley Davidson plays an active role in socializing the new members. The Harley owners group supplies information to the new members and also with the full range of Harley clothing and accessories. The concept of grass roots R and D has been regarded as a stylistic and advanced technology. This has helped to generate many ideas in the apparel of Harley Davidson (Schouten & Mcalexander, 1995, p.57). HOG began to communicate much more effectively with the end users of the company. Today it’s one of the largest clubs of Harley Davidson (Teerlink & Ozley, 2000, p.11). Reference As One. (2011). Harley Davidson: Taking the Rebellious Oath of Citizenship. [Online]. 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