Marketing advisors to iconic brands & pioneering agencies
Marketing advisors to iconic brands & pioneering agencies
Fat guys with gray beards is not the image that Harley-Davidson wanted to promote for their new Dark Custom line of bikes aimed at younger riders.
We knew Harley’s crowd of fans understood the brand better than an ad agency ever would, so we built Fan Machine: a Facebook app that allowed fans to submit their own ideas for the campaign. One idea became the “Stereotypical Harley” ad below.
The Dark Custom campaign resulted in 14 point increase in market share and made H-D the #1-selling brand of motorcycles to young adults. The campaign won the Effie Award for sustained business effectiveness over 5 years.
The Fan Machine Facebook app was conceived and developed internally at V&S. It was deployed by Harley-Davidson, Converse and others.
A fan from Washington state sent in an idea about the seal of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, translating to Out of Many, One. We loved the idea and created the “Stereotypes” film below.
Like the melting pot of our country to the diversity of our riders. Proudly sharing a common belief, but never buying into the stereotypes that we're all the same. Because while we all ride, we all go our own way, and nothing's ever gonna change that. Be one of the many.
- Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson