Case

For the exclusive use of F. Del Sol, 2016.

Harvard Business School

9-501-015

Rev. November 1, 2000

Building Brand Community on the Harley-Davidson

Posse Ride

Introduction and Assignment

You have recently joined the management team at Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.), a division

of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Although you have yet to wear a leather jacket and don’t

really know how to rev up a HOG (as Harley motorcycles are colloquially called), you’ve got an open

and creative mind. That’s good, because your first assignment is to make the Border-to-Border Posse

Ride with H.O.G. from South Padre Island, Texas to the Canadian Border: a two thousand-mile, 10day trek across the country with 400 Harley enthusiasts. While the ride will surely be fun (and God

knows you need a vacation break), the real intent behind management participation relates to the

company’s “close-to-the-customer” philosophy. The company wants you to know the Harley

consumer inside out, to understand deeply his/her needs and wants, to anticipate naturally his/her

desires. Making the Border-to-Border trek will in effect allow you to say, “Hey, I am so close to the

customer I am the customer.” You will need this knowledge to help your boss, Mike Keefe, Director

of H.O.G., grapple with some significant strategic questions. Should Harley-Davidson continue to

sponsor the Posse Ride? What role does and should the ride play in the H.O.G. event mix? How

should the ride be designed to maximize its effectiveness and profit-making potential, if you decide

to keep it? With that and not much more, you set out to South Padre Island for one of the greatest

adventures in your management career. But first, a bit of background.

Background on H.O.G.

The Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) is a factory-sponsored motorcycle enthusiast club. The

Harley-Davidson Motor Company formed the group in 1983, in part to neutralize and control the

negative influence of the outlaw biker gangs that some...