The (new) swagger of Buell
The other day, during a very long drive to Topeka, Kansas, a friend and I were talking about advertisement and marketing. It’s not an unusual topic for either of us as we’ve both been in the middle and periphery of that trade for years. Though our modus operandi are different; she’s done far more corporate work versus my music & technology background, we do agree on quite a lot.
Our discussion turned and we found ourselves looking across an immense crevasse at one another. We disagreed not just a little, font choice or layout, but about content. We became the USSR and USA at the height of the Cold War -polar opposites. Her disdain and my admiration came at the newest marketing effort from Buell Motorcycles.
Titled The Book Of Buell, this 20+ page PDF (and gorgeous hard copy I later found out) reads like a 70/30 split: 2-wheel manifesto and marketing brief. The artwork is mostly action shots of the bikes with architectural-style drawings overlaid. The text is meant to look newly printed but smeared. The whole thing, pictures, text and all, gets a bit of a whitewash muting down the colors.
Book of Buell - Page 3
Except for gender, my friend and I are of similar ethnography: mid-30s, married, both have been riding motorcycles for similar lengths of time, both own Japanese bikes (though she’ll soon be returning to the Ducati fold) and both enjoy going to and watching motorcycle races.
So, how could two people who are so alike view the same marketing materials so differently? Let me give you a snippet (from page 14):
“IT’S OK NOT TO WAVE BACK. Listen, we’re not against waving in general. There are dozens of situations where a well-executed awe is in the best interest of all parties involved. If you should find yourself a on the top tier of a parade float, or on the deck of a departing cruise ship, or protruding from the sunroof of a stretch limousine, waving is the perfect way to let someone out of earshot know you care. But a Buell is not a social networking tool. It’s a performance motorcycle, and it’s meant to be ridden as such. So the next time someone with an extended swing arm and neon ground effects waves at you mid-apex, it’s okay if you don’t return the gesture. Your hands have better things to do.”
While we may have argued about other bits of text in the book, that one piece alone was the crux of our argument. She felt it was rude, I thought it was an interesting take on enjoying your bike. She said it was elitist, I said it was clever writing.
In either case those two perspectives are, I would surmise, exactly what Buell can expect to see for quite a while. Is it bad press? Perhaps. But it does garner a reaction.
Let me see if I can illustrate an alternative -
Everyone remembers the “Got Milk?” campaign. All those smug celebrities and athletes sporting (pun intended) a milk mustache. Ads rolled out everywhere- to billboards and bus stops, t-shirts and magazines. With “Got Milk?” the marquee faces brought an implied worth to the campaign; with Giselle Bundchen milk became sexy or with Muhammad Ali it’s tough and with Mark McGuire milk is athletic (and likely a secondary substance consumed before a game). In any case the campaign raised awareness through the use of these celebrities but the gravitas of the ad was dependent on the person in the photograph not in the actual product.
Buell has gone the other direction. There’s no point in disguising the intention, nor any point in hiding behind an assumption. This is go for the throat marketing. Buell is taking a position for you. There’s no need to guess, it’s there in digitally-smeared black text on page 8: “A Buell won’t make you any friends.”
Now, back to our discussion: She found the text coarse and undiplomatic. When I opined that perhaps it could/should be read tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek, it didn’t matter. The case was closed and she disliked the very spirit. Her thought, I’ll paraphrase, this type of marketing does as much damage to the casual reader as it does to the avid biker. Further, it puts a wedge between potential new riders and the non motorcycling public who regularly think those of us on two wheels are hooligans anyway.
Sure, Buell isn’t being very apologetic about the stand it’s taking. I’m not certain they should. The nucleus of the message: Buell motorcycles aren’t for everyone.
I believe good marketing is poignant. It pushes your buttons and, hopefully, points you in a direction you may not have considered. Sometimes that push is gentle (“have a Coke and a smile“) other times not.
The Buell campaign takes a stand. Moreso, this seems to be the first time we’ve seen Erik and the folks at Buell push a vision into the mainstream. It’s a big foray with a healthy swagger and some big, carbon fibre balls. It feels like the smallish Buell just entered the wild west saloon, found the biggest man at the bar and poked him in the chest.
The tipping point, every campaign has one. Lets pretend for a minute that this campaign grows and becomes the mainstay for Buell. What’s the next step? Once you’ve prodded the giant let’s hope you’re ready because it’s not much of a fight without a follow-up. That said…
I’m going to sound two-faced, but, the everyman+elitist garbage that comes with owning a Harley Davidson is going too far. Not all of us are buying a lifestyle along with a bike and Buell may have to step on the toes of their HD parent to keep some autonomy and differentiate from the squeaky, weekend-worn leather chaps crowd.
Buell will have to find some way to stay in the dangerous middle for most of the customer base. Appealing to racers (club and pro) is one place but we know that doesn’t keep the company flush with money for development — they need to sell lots of bikes to lots of different people.
Good luck to Buell on the new campaign. It’s gonna take some of those carbon fibre cojones to stay in the fray, which I hope they do. Besides, your bike and the company that makes it, should have an identity, take a position *and* have a swagger, your milk shouldn’t.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
So much of politics is based around appeasement, whether the audience is a foreign nation, lobby, or constituents. Buell is taking a stance, and it’s a political choice to announce that their riders don’t, and they don’t, need to appease, satisfy, or molly-coddle anyone but themselves. Buell stands very little to gain by trying to pacify other riders, stay within the lines of acceptable social convention (all riders are in this together and must wave as they pass), and so on. I don’t ride anymore, and I never rode anything large displacement, but this stance gives me new respect for Buell.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
From another view, it appeals to the high school non-conformist allure – “I want to be different and not care what anyone else thinks” – and that’s possibly what’s being awakened here.
August 9th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
The unfortunate this is that the campaign lacks continuity. Buell just came out with a new catalog for 2010. After all the hoopla about the new logo and new “branding” and months of talking up the “entirely new look” by the Buell marketing staff I confess I was a bit miffed to find the catalog with the new (the 19th since HD and Buell joined forces) on the cover and the entire catalog, save for a warped version of the new logo on an ugly shirt, consisting of various “old” Buell logos.
In addition, I’ve had the oppprtunity to visit several Buell dealers since the “rebranding” and dealer show. While customer may be confused and left wanting as they try to decide “is there going to be a 2010 Blast?” and the, after seeing them on dealers floors asking “who makes the Blast?” . . . . dealers are livid. Their opinion starts with the “cubing of the Blast” but carries through other missteps in the marketing program. I am not connected with Buell and had 3 dealers contact me for material last week. The dealer in Frederick, MD had 3 customer, money in hand, come in to buy Blasts and was unable to provide any marketing information since the Blast has been left out of the catalog the last two years and is gone from the website this year.
I’ve been riding Buell for over 22 years and am generally quite enthusiastic but confess the current program has me confused and confounded. Two of the fellows in our local Porsche Club recently saw my Buell. One raced out and bought one just like it the next week, another traded his Ducati two weeks later. Two others, on the cusp of doing the same thing are now holding their purchase in abeyance given the appearance that Buell is abandoning the recreational rider in favor of “balls out racing only”. It’s confusing enough that, unsure of the future of the Blast, am heading to look at a BMW for my wife this week. As much as I enjoyed my Buell XB9X (the smallest product in the newly culled Buell line) there is simply no way a 100# 5′-0″ gal is going to fit . . . . the Blast, I am reminded by all the commuter Blast’s around Manhattan, is the perfect small bike and at 60+MPG makes a ton of sense.
Personally, I’m indifferent. I’ve got my Buells but if the feedback I’ve had from riders and 6 dealers (I realize it’s not an adequate sample size) is any indication the new marketing campaign was a shot that missed the target.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:34 am
First off, I have to fess up that I was appalled at the much ballyhooed Blast-crushing. Then my interest was piqued when Buell released the online version of the “Book of Buell.”
If this truly does mark a change in direction from trying to make a bike for every kind of rider to becoming a more focused performance brand, I’m all for it. Buell’s identity still needs to crystallize in the minds of all the but the die-hard faithful (like Court Canfield and myself).
I’m not convinced that we might not still see a new bike using the Blast engine, albeit with revamped body work to be marketed as a racer in the 500cc class. There is precedent for small sportbikes like the hugely popular Ninja 250.
What remains to be seen is Buell’s resolve to truly remain ruthless in engineering. They’ve made promises. Now Buell needs to work quickly to deliver.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:18 am
But this is a simple issue, for marketers. Any decent focus group would have caught it. Women, on the whole, adapted to their social position by prioritizing social connections, while men are celebrated for competitive success. So an ad campaign that implies “choosing this bike threatens your social connections” is just going to read “BIKES FOR ASSHOLES” to the majority of the female audience. If a company thinks marginalizing a growing segment of their prospective customers is awesome, they’re really rolling the dice.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I think that’s it about time. I have always wanted to see America produce a sport bike. For over 25 years Eric Buell and his “skunkworks” have been at work trying out different ideas. They’re “out of the box” approach is what I like to see, no one is making excuses for what Buell is and that’s how it should be, go Eric. I now own my third Buell (I’ve had an XB12R, XB12S and now the 1125R) and I will be a loyal follower of Buell. America has needed to “take the bull by the horns” approach and this company isn’t scared to do it!!
August 15th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I’m not a Buell owner and have never even ridden a “real” sport bike but I think the point of the ad is good. Last month in Motorcyclist magazine there was an article that told a story about a group of Americans who went over to Germany for some touring and mentioned to the guide that unlike in the US cyclists didn’t wave back. The guide said, “Over here riders are more concerned with good motorcycle control than whether or not they seem friendly.” Buell is not going after the laid-back, social riding, cruiser crowd but those who see themselves as serious discriminating riders. Seems to me, in a market crowded with excellent bikes, a company has to say something that stands out. In fact, the September issue of Motorcyclist has a Buell ad that starts off, “Sitting is not a sport.” It ends, “If the answer involves sitting, you may want to consider something different. A porch swing maybe, or one of those floating pool chairs.”
September 12th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
J,
I am still enjoying very “Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional minority and by the mainstream media which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.” my black ’06 ST-1300…what a great bike. As to the matter, the followign comes to mind. I found it on the Adventure Rider site as someone’s signature;
“Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional minority and by the mainstream media which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”
Take care, J.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Boy, I messed-up that post!