Running Head: HARLEY-DAVIDSON AND KAWASAKI

Motorcycles: Examining the Digital Brand Communication of Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki

Riss McCraney

Author Note

Riss McCraney is now a student in the Department of Communication, University of South

Alabama.
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Introduction & Background

Harley Davidson
Harley Davidson is a company that has been around for over 100 years. H-D targets

young adults, women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and men 35 years and older. The company

has a long history of success in its field. Within 20 years of their founding, they were dubbed the

“longest motorcycle manufacturer in the world” and were established in 2,000 dealers in 67

countries worldwide. It was started in the 1900s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by William S. Harley

and Arthur Davidson. Arthur’s brothers, Walter and William, later joined Harley and Davidson

in 1903 and 1907 respectively. The four are considered the founders of the Harley Davidson

Motor Company (Harley-Davidson Cycles, 2001).

H-D first gained recognition as a racing bike and soon, all the first-place winners in

popular races were riding Harleys. In 1910, the company logo that includes the famed “Bar &

Shield” was established, and one year later was trademarked and patented. Shortly after, in 1912

H-D began to export motorcycles outside of the U.S. which was a groundbreaking achievement

for the time (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

Armed with a new logo and with recognition growing, H-D decided to create their own

branded content. H-D consequently developed a magazine entitled “The Enthusiast” in 1916,

which would later be recognized as the “longest continuously published motorcycle magazine in

the world.” In the 1950’s, Elvis poses for the Enthusiast, bringing greater recognition to the

brand (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

Another boost to this success was the elimination of most of the American competition.

The only company left to challenge H-D in the market was Indian. These two companies
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monopolized the field until 1953. In that year, H-D hit its 50th anniversary. To celebrate, a new

logo was created. This logo pays tribute to the V-engine, which brought the company ample

success (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

Just one year later, Hendee Manufacturing, the creator of Indian motorcycles, goes out of

business. This leaves H-D with a monopoly on the motorcycle manufacturing business for the

next 46 years (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

The next big achievement for H-D was in June of 1981 when the buyback of Harley-

Davidson Motor Company from American Machine and Foundry became official. This success

was so monumental, that it even has its own rallying cry of “The Eagle Soars Alone” (Harley-

Davidson, 2001).

In the years to follow, H-D celebrated many anniversaries. For the 85th anniversary, over

60,000 loyal customers attended the event. At the 90th anniversary, 100,000 people attended, at

the 95th 140,000 plus people attended, and at the 100th anniversary in 2003, a whopping 250,000

plus people attended the event. This goes to show the incredible reach of this brand and that its

customer base is continuously growing (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

While many people recognize the H-D brand, many don’t know that during WWI and

WWII, H-D sold and developed bikes for military purposes. Approximately 20,000 bikes were

used in WWI by the U.S. military, most of which were H-D bikes. This happened again in 1941

as the U.S. got involved in WWII. During this time, production of consumer motorcycles ceased

almost completely for military production. As soon as the war was over, H-D wasted no time

returning to creating civilian products for their loyal consumers. In 1943, they received “the first

of four Army-Navy ‘E’ awards for excellence in wartime production” (Harley-Davidson, 2001).
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While Harley Davidson’s history may be well known by some, others revel in the

opportunity to discover it by visiting the Harley-Davidson Museum in the place where it all

started, Milwaukee. The museum started as a traveling museum, which is fitting for a motorcycle

brand. The museum then obtained a brick and mortar location, which opened on July 12, 2008

and has been satiating the hunger of motorcycle enthusiasts ever since (Harley-Davidson, 2001).

Kawasaki
Kawasaki has a long history that includes a variety of products. The brand coined the

name “Intelligent Rebel” for their motorcycle riders. As a result, they target upper class young

men 18-25 that “[live] for the thrill of the ride” (mbaskool, 2008).

The official name for the brand is Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The origins of this

company go back as far as 1878. In this year, the founder of Kawasaki, Shozo Kawasaki,

establishes a shipyard in Tokyo which grew into the company we know today (History of KHI,

2017).

Kawasaki started with ships, and has had a hand in locomotives, aviation, plants,

robotics, and eventually motorcycles. Kawasaki built their first motorcycle in 1953, but did not

become established with this product until 1966 in Chicago, IL. They first sold their motorcycles

in the U.S. under the brand name of Omega. After selling these first models, the company

learned a lot about their audience. Riders wanted something that was more exciting. Kawasaki

responded with two bikes called the Samurai and the Avenger. From this point, Kawasaki

realized they would become a company that specialized in high-performance fun (Kawasaki,

2017).
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Kawasaki officially became established as a motorcycle company in the U.S. in 1968 and

merged with the Chicago, IL location in Southern California. In 1972, they came out with the

“first mass-production sports bike to feature a DOHV, 4-cylcinder engine.” This bike was called

the Z1, and it redefined high-performance motorcycling. By 1973, Kawasaki was a major power

in the motorcycle industry (Kawasaki, 2017).

The birth of Kawasaki’s most iconic model was in 1984. The Ninja was revolutionary for

its time because it contains a “4-cylinder engine and a light, compact chassis [to] enable top

speed and quarter mile performance that [rewrites] the motorcycle record books” (Kawasaki,

2017).

When it comes to motorcycles, Kawasaki has three main principles related to the rider’s

experience. Those principles are as follows: “Our bikes should possess both Power and

Gentleness. Our bikes should be fun and rewarding to control. Pursue all possibilities (Kawasaki,

2017).”

In other words, Kawasaki aims to create a bike that is versatile. They do not want their

bikes to be thought of as crazy or untamable. They want their bikes to be used by the rider who

wants a leisurely ride with friends around town and the rider who is looking for a powerful bike

that can give them a fast-paced thrill when the mood suits them.

For the second principle, Kawasaki wants each ride to be different based on the rider. The

experience should be unique to each person. Kawasaki wants to ensure that their motorcycles can

handle any type of rider and that any type of rider can mold their ride with a Kawasaki bike.
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Lastly, because Kawasaki has a hand in so many industries, they strive to implement the

technologies and innovations they use in other industries on their bikes. This use of advanced

technology goes towards their goal of creating the best possible machine for riders to experience.

Kawasaki combines these three principles into the word Rideology. Rideology is defined

as a “development philosophy [that] has been the force behind [their] many legendary machines,

and will continue to guide [their] products in the future” (Kawasaki, 2017).

The Good, the Bad, The Ugly

Both Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki excel in providing rich content for their consumers.

Both brands have a balance of interactive features such as videos and surveys, as well as

noninteractive elements such as photos and articles.

Harley Davidson
Harley-Davidson does a lot of things right for their brand. For instance, H-D does an

excellent job of creating a loyal customer base and connecting those individuals to each other.

Harley is not just a brand to most people, it is a way of life. This way of life is something they

can bring their kids into, and when those kids are old enough, they can partake in the activities

that this life provides.

In addition, because of this loyal customer base, H-D can branch into markets outside of

motorcycles and their customers will follow. This has created a very successful retail opportunity

for Harley. The communication that H-D displays reinforces the family feel of their brand,

helping to ease the transition to apparel.

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This being said, loyal customers do not make a perfect company. H-D’s market overseas

is minimal at best due to lack of manufacturing plants outside the U.S. Despite being the first

ever to sell outside of the U.S. Dealer network in Japan, H-D is not doing everything it could to

grow their brand internationally.

Kawasaki

Kawasaki bikes are the number one brand that comes to mind when consumers think

about dirt bikes. This is something that has worked very well for the brand. Jeremey McGrath, an

established professional racer, uses a Kawasaki bike for his wins. This gives the brand a lot of

good publicity for consumers who are aware of McGrath. Kawasaki takes advantage of this by

sharing these wins on their social media platforms, mainly twitter.

An area where Kawasaki is lacking is their U.S. recognition. While Harley-Davidson is

well liked by a variety of American celebrities outside of the motorcycle world, no American

celebrities or people of interest have mentioned Kawasaki. Having an American celebrity

recognize their brand in a public manner would be helpful in growing brand recognition.

The communication the brand has with its customers is spot on. Kawasaki aims to reach a

younger male who lives an exciting lifestyle. Excitement and an active lifestyle is exactly what

consumers get from the brand communication.

Website Analysis
Both brands have an incredibly unique website. They are recognizable to their consumers

based on color scheme alone. To top that off, they are both the first link to appear when

consumers to a google search for their brand name.

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Harley-Davidson
The first thing to be said for Harley-Davidson’s website is that they have great calls to

action in their header. The site has a very classic feeling that invokes a sense of nostalgia in

many consumers. The home page is simple and includes a header with a slideshow that the

visitor can manually activate.

One problem with the home page is that there is not a button that will easily tell a visitor

where they should look next. To see where to go on the site, you must use the pages and browse

the subpages. This made it difficult to find more information about the brand as the history was

not under an “About” page. The history was under a small tab entitled “Company.”

Before finding this tab with H-D’s history, one might click on the tab entitled “Museum.”

This is a point of interest because a visitor can find out more information about the brand in a

museum. It is a clever way to introduce the visitor to more information while gaining profit for

that information. The only problem with this is that the museum is in Milwaukee, WI which is

not close to all visitors.

After being on the site for about 30 minutes, a pop-up appears asking the visitor to take a

satisfaction survey. This is a terrific way for H-D to capture the attention of the visitor and get

feedback. After 30 minutes of being on the site, the visitor has had enough time to explore the

site and form an opinion, but not enough time has passed for the visitor to leave the site.

One thing that H-D should consider is the layout of their history. While the layout is

interactive and organized, it takes ample amounts of time to get through the information. A

condensed version of the timeline would be beneficial for visitors who want just the highlights.
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Overall the site’s focus is motorcycles, apparel, and any causes they are partaking in at

the time. For example, there is an ad on the site for a black leather riding jacket that has pink

outlines for breast cancer awareness. This is an effective way to tell your consumers about issues

that matter to the brand and will resonate with them, persuading them to purchase the product.

Kawasaki
The first thing one notices when visiting Kawasaki’s website is the bright lime green that

defines their brand. This color against the neutral black or white background of the site can be

overwhelming for visitors. In addition to this loud color scheme, the header of the site is a

scrolling slideshow. This adds to the feeling of being overwhelmed.

The information on the brand’s history is spread out throughout the site. It would be

much easier on the visitor is all the information was in one place and sectioned off by product.

The first page the visitor is likely to find is under a page entitled “Experience.” The title of this

page is confusing to say the least. It does not lead the visitor to believe that the history of the

company will be under this tab.

Once a visitor has reached the subpage of “Kawasaki Heritage,” a video begins to play

showing the history of the brand. This seems like a powerful addition to the page, but the video

is unclear and hard to process. It can be especially confusing for the visitor who doesn’t know

the extensive history of Kawasaki.

After navigating to a different part of the website, the visitor can find a concise history of

Kawasaki in a narrative style. While the narrative style is easier to read and understand than the

timeline, it does not give a lot of information.

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Overall the Kawasaki website is not as appealing as their social media platforms. The

website is very flashy; however, it does have all the information a consumer might need to

purchase products, including sale prices on the home page.

Social Media Analysis

Harley-Davidson: Facebook
Harley-Davidson’s Facebook page has over 7.6 million followers and sends a message

that is consistent with its website. It is organized so that visitors see pictures first. These pictures

are mostly if not all professional photos. They post a “Photo of the Day” with a link to the page

on their website that features the product depicted in the photo. These types of photos make up

much of the visual content on the page. However, H-D often posts a picture of a specific

motorcycle model. The caption lets followers know that H-D wants to see their bikes. Many

followers will post picture of their bike, but H-D does not respond to the photos.

Later, followers will find that H-D created the page not as a platform for interacting with

their customers, but for their customers to interact with each other. They state that the Facebook

Page is not the best place to get help with a problem but rather a “great place to fuel your

passion.” While this may make a follower feel more at ease about the lack of interaction H-D has

on the page, it may push some followers to another platform with more brand interaction.

While H-D is not commenting or interacting with their customers on an individual level,

they do post daily with multiple posts per day.

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The color scheme and classic feel of the brand are consistent throughout all social media

platforms and their website, but there are inconsistencies in the way consumers feel when

visiting each platform.

On the brand’s Facebook page, followers do not get the feeling of attachment to the brand

that they get on other platforms. The family feel is alive between followers but is absent between

riders and the brand. The opposite is true in part for the website. On the website, visitors feel an

attachment to the brand as well as other riders in the H-D community.

These inconsistencies are understandable because Harley states on their Facebook page

that their followers should utilize the page to connect with each other, not with the brand.

Kawasaki: Facebook
Kawasaki’s number of followers on Facebook is far behind that of Harley-Davidson’s.

Kawasaki has over 1.4 million followers on Facebook. While this is not an ideal number for a

Facebook following, the page is wrought with daily activity. This is seen easily as soon as a

follower visits the page because the first section is the posts. This is a good tactic because it

shows what people have been discussing on the page and how recently it was discussed.

Kawasaki posts multiple times daily and does have some interaction with their followers

on a personal level. When Kawasaki posts a picture or video and followers comment on it,

Kawasaki may respond. While they do not respond to many followers’ comments, they do

respond more often here than on their other social media platforms.

As with Harley-Davidson, the color scheme is identical across all social media platforms

and the website, but there are other inconsistencies.

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Followers feel more connected to the brand on Kawasaki’s Facebook page. The brand

feels more welcoming and alive on the Facebook page. Conversely, on Kawasaki’s website,

users feel overwhelmed and less connected to the brand. The visual aesthetics of the website are

reminiscent of unwanted pop-up ads that people rush to close out of.

Harley-Davidson: Other Social Media Platforms

Accessing the social media platforms from the mobile website was easy, whereas

accessing them from the desktop site was trying. On the mobile site, the social media icons for

the brand were all at the bottom of the home page. This is not the case for the desktop site, which

makes it more difficult for users to connect with the brand through social media.

Once the user can find the social media sites for H-D—and ensure that what they have is

the official site—they are able to see more of H-D’s racing background. This can be thrilling for

a user who was previously unaware that H-D got its start in racing.

On H-D’s Instagram page, they have an ample number of followers—2.4 million—and

are only following 785 people. This is something that H-D could improve on. One thing they do

well here is utilize the story feature. This gives followers a look into the racing world that

Harley- Davidson quietly resides in.

Another platform they take advantage of for this purpose is snapchat. When a user adds

H-D on snapchat they are instantly able to see H-D’s story. The story is generally an elongated

version of the story from H-D’s Instagram page, which can be boring and repetitive for

consumers.
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Twitter is another platform that H-D uses. This platform is much like H-D’s Facebook

page in that there is not much interaction between individuals and the brand. H-D does not

comment on tweets they are tagged in, nor do they seem to respond to comments on their tweets.

Though, there aren’t many comments on their tweets for them to respond to. They will

occasionally retweet some of their customers, but usually their retweets are of businesses they

are partnered with.

The colors across each platform are consistent, as mentioned prior. Some of the posts are

consistent across the platforms as well. For example, H-D is currently advertising the 2018 Street

Bob. The ad they created for this bike is the first thing you see on multiple platform headers.

This leads followers to think that the rest of the content will be the same across the platforms as

well and could cause them to leave the site without scrolling to see more content.

Kawasaki: Other Social Media Platforms

Connecting with Kawasaki on social media is easy because they have their social media

platforms listed on the bottom of their mobile and desktop sites. Kawasaki has various social

media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr.

On Instagram Kawasaki does not utilize the story feature, which is strange, seeing that

they post a lot of videos on their other social media platforms. The story feature would be a great

tool for that purpose.

Kawasaki’s snapchat is specifically for their racing audience. One thing that is strange

about Kawasaki’s snapchat is that you cannot see their story immediately after adding them. This

usually means that Kawasaki has the app set for friends to be approved before they can see any
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content. This could potentially deter some of their customers who live fast-paced lives and do not

want to wait for content.

The Twitter account for Kawasaki does not have nearly as many followers as other

platforms. This could be because Kawasaki posts a lot of video based content and Twitter is not

an ideal platform for that. They do not retweet often and when they do, it is usually content from

Jeremy McGrath. Kawasaki is also lacking in interaction with their customers on an individual

basis here. They do not respond to comments on this platform like they do on Facebook.

Granted, the comments that people leave on their posts are few and far between. In addition,

when people do comment, they don’t say anything that necessitates a response.

YouTube is one of Kawasaki’s best platforms since most of their content is video based.

Despite that, their subscriber number is barely above their number of followers on Twitter. Their

YouTube account is very organized and easy to navigate. The content is also surprising and

enjoyable. The videos are similar but different than the ones on their other social media

platforms. They include commercials, interviews with real riders, tips for Kawasaki care, and of

course, people riding their motorcycles. Kawasaki should promote their YouTube more to

increase their number of followers. The account itself and the content is good which means the

subscribers could be low due to lack of knowledge.

Tumblr was a surprising social media platform for Kawasaki to have, since it seems to be

picture and text based. The number of followers an account has is not displayed on Tumblr, so it

is hard to determine Kawasaki’s success on the platform. However, viewers can see that

Kawasaki does not post much of their own content. They reblog content from other users.
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Kawasaki’s social media is a pleasure to observe, because while it is familiar across all

platforms due to the color scheme, the content is not the same, which makes for a more engaging

experience.

Strategist Recommendations
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson needs to make more of an effort to interact with their customers via

social media. They have very loyal and loving customers and should take advantage of that. In

addition, they should make it easier for their customers to connect with them on social media via

the home page of their site when using a desktop device. This is especially important because

many of their customers are older and may not be using a mobile device to access their site.

Global reach should be a bigger focus for H-D. With a manufacturer recently established

in India, they need to take advantage of that foothold and continue to expand into countries

where their reach is not as great.

H-D should continue to treat their customers like family. H-D feels like a home for many

customers and those customers will bring their families into the H-D lifestyle. This will create a

younger generation of customers who will grow to appreciate the H-D brand.

While these families will create a younger customer base, H-D cannot rely solely on this.

They need to work harder to reach out to younger generations. Many millennials think of H-D as

a brand for their parents or grandparents. H-D should help this generation to realize why people

love the brand so much.

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Kawasaki
Kawasaki should consider a website redesign. The feel of the website needs to blend

seamlessly with the message they are trying to convey. The message of a fast-paced and fun

lifestyle is present in their social media while their website is only halfway there. Unfortunately,

the half that the website is currently achieving is the fast-paced part. This creates an

overwhelming site for consumers to navigate.

Kawasaki’s consumers like to post photos of their products and tag Kawasaki. Kawasaki

should be and can be doing more than just reblogging or retweeting their followers. One

suggestion is to start a photo submission contest. Once every two weeks, Kawasaki can post a

few of their top photos from their followers who have tagged them. This will give each of their

platforms a more personalized feel for consumers and might help to up their following on some

of their sites which leads to the last point.

Kawasaki’s follower count across their social media platforms could be much better. This

is especially visible on Twitter because Kawasaki is following notable brands and has no notable

brands following them. Something they could do to fix this is get a celebrity to recognize them.

Kawasaki has roots in California and Chicago and there are plenty of celebrities from those areas

that could help Kawasaki boost their followers, brand awareness, and status.

Engaging the Target Traditionally

As mentioned prior, Harley-Davidson is currently advertising their 2018 Street Bob model. The

ad below was created to be positioned in the Enthusiast, H-D’s branded content magazine. The

ad should run during the holiday months as people will spend more money during this time of

year and this is one of the more expensive models.

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References
Bajaj Kawasaki Ninja SWOT Analysis, USP & Competitors (2008). Retrieved October 16, 2017,
from http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/automobiles/371-bajaj-kawasaki-ninja.html.

Harley-Davidson USA. (2001). Retrieved October 12, 2017, from http://www.harley-

davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home.html.

History of KHI (2017). Retrieved October 17, 2017, from

http://global.kawasaki.com/en/corp/history/index.html.

Kawasaki. (2017). Retrieved October 10, 2017, from https://www.kawasaki.com/.

SWOT Analysis of Harley Davidson (2016). Retrieved October 19, 2017, from
https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-harley-davidson/.