The motorcycle season is upon us, and this season, motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, has a goal to take over an entire town and help every town resident get a motorcycle license. The town is Ryder, North Dakota, population 85. (Yes, that’s correct, 85 people.)
The company is partnering with Ryder, which has agreed to change its name to “Rider” for the 2017 motorcycle season. The town is the envy of other small towns as Harley-Davidson repainted the town’s water tower (which is a replica of the company’s water tower) and included the company name on one side. As the mayor stated, “The tower was in dire need of a paint job.” There has also been a street dance and party, along with stationary motorcycle for practice shifting gears. Harley-Davidson’s goal is to have Ryder become the first town in America where everyone has a motorcycle license.
Will this be enough to help the company though? Harley-Davidson is seeing slow sales, increased competition, an aging Baby Boomer consumer base, and an uninterested millennial market.
How about it – do you have a motorcycle license?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss how to build and use a SWOT analysis grid: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (internal and external factors).
- Show Harley-Davidson Web site: http://www.harley-davidson.com
- Video of the promotion: https://youtu.be/Ds3HugeXjHs
- For Harley-Davidson motorcycles, break students into teams and have each team build a SWOT analysis grid.
- Strengths: what is company good at?
- Weaknesses: what needs work?
- Opportunities: what is going on in marketplace?
- Threats: what should company be wary of?
- Based on the analysis, what are the issues and risks that might occur?
- Debrief by building SWOT analysis grid on the white board.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brandchannel.com, other news sources
