“My motorcycle is my weapon”
Oct 9th, 2009 by Leo
That’s the tag line for an ad campaign… But what does it mean? Does that mean he goes around running people over with his motorcycle? Of course that’s ridiculous because: A) you’ll probably get knocked off your bike and B) why would you want to warn people if it was…? Now they probably meant something a little more metaphorical – like “the road is a war, and my motorcycle is my weapon…” or something equally silly. But still, c’mon! So here’s my rant, err, editorial for the week: I think that the advertising and marketing people for motorcycles, motorcycle products, and magazines have a totally misguided sense of their audience.
Here’s what they seem to think motorcyclists are like:
- Anti-social. No one smiles. Even the Geico ad that has pictures of agents who ride shows them with a noticeably hostile countenance.
- Want to be hoodlums, wild, or in some way destructive
- Loves risking life and limb.
- Aggressive (see the ad where the guy is posed to punch you in the nose). Even if this were true, why would you want to market your product to this demographic?
- Likes to dress up like astronauts.
Now I’m sure there are people who fit that description who ride motorcycles; just as there are people who fit that description who drive cars or take the bus or subway. But it’s just not anywhere close to describing most people who ride…
Here’s what I think is a more accurate description of people who ride:
- They are social. There’s something about riding in the open that makes it easier to talk to strangers, be civil, and lend a helping hand. And have you ever seen the faces of bikers at a track day? Plenty of ear to ear smiles.
- Independent thinkers. Far from wanting to be just part of a stereotype, every biker I know is unmistakably individual.
- Safety minded. Far from being risk-takers, most “high risk” activities like motorcycling and skydiving are all about managing risk… Making risky things safer.
Anyway, I don’t mean this too seriously, the companies with silly ad campaigns something make good stuff… But I notice that the best products (like anything made by Alpinestars, or Michelin tires, or Shoei, etc) are more straight forward…because their products really speak for themselves and tell us their stories.
So what do you think about ad campaigns for motorcycle products? Love em, hate em, or don’t care either way? Take a good look next time you’re flipping through a magazine, and let us know what you think.
Have a great weekend!
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The genius behind the Adv. probably drives a Subaru wagon. They are producing jackets that say “my motorcycle is a weapon”. The ad agency probably watched a lot of Terminator movies and this is what they came up with. I’d like to see the guy who buys that jacket walk around town. Oh, I am so scared…
You’re dead on about the stereotype people have about riders. First question I get is “Are you in a biker gang?”. Marketing companies should concentrate on benefits of riding then feed off the old stereotypes. Look around, nowadays more and more regular folks are riding!!!
I share your discourse with the attitude and “creative” direction of the ad. However, I totally disagree with your statement that, “advertising and marketing people for motorcycles, motorcycle products, and magazines have a totally misguided sense of their audience”. Quite the opposite, it’s my belief that they know exactly who they’re talking to. In this case, it’s the “lowest common denominator” or as we liked to put it in the years I’ve worked in corporate brand/ID and marketing, “the low hanging fruit”.
You, like myself, may be coming from a segment that’s difficult to target: market savvy, broadly focused and thought vs. emotion driven motorcycle riders. Mind you, I’m not trying to put you, the regular readers of this blog or myself on a pedestal. However, I do think it’s safe to say that there’s a large, intellectually vulnerable and gullible audience of riders–and worse yet, potential riders–who do interpret motorcycles as a means by which to unlock and bestow upon the unworthy world their inner badass; be the tough motherf*cker they always knew they were but their mommy, the 8th grade bully or girl that ignored them in high school, apparently failed to see.
Like it or not, this is the low hanging fruit of the motorcycle industry, and from any visit to a large power sports dealership on a weekend would indicate, there’s a lot of them ripe for the picking. Those who “ride to impress” are always an easy sell because they’re in a constant pissing match with others as well as their own egos to be the baddest, most EXTREME and head-turning rider on the asphalt. Little do they know that they’re just tools for the trade.
I don’t fault the industry for taking advantage of these easily-impressionable folks. At the end of the day, it’s the business’s job to make money; not to evangelize a “better” rider lifestyle. If they choose to associate their brand with that knuckle-dragging crowd, then it’s yours and my money they’re missing out on. They will change their attitude when the marketplace changes its attitude. Try as they may (or may not), they don’t steer the direction of the motorcycling public. They only feed off of it. And when there’s an abundance of deep-fried suckers with “latent badassness” on the plate, the industry is happy to stuff their faces with them.
Eh..
I’m skeptical of any claim that it’s just the free market dictating what the companies do… That’s what the American car makers have been saying about SUV’s these past years – and they were right in some senses…but very wrong at the same time.
Anyway, the bikers I randomly run into around NY don’t seem to fall into the wannabe hoodlum category… Even the actual hoodlums don’t seem to resonate particularly with the advertising. So maybe it’s a California thing since there are more bikers out there.
I have bought Icon gear (one of those hoodlum companies) though… A pair of textile gloves and the knee armor. But my purchase had nothing to do with their advertising campaigns, just the price and quality – so I suspect that’s where their actual sales usually come from. Although maybe it’s my inner-hoodlum rearing its head.
Cheers!
California certainly casts a wider net, if you’re just referring to the island and not all of NY. Same might be said for San Francisco as it compares to the entire Nor Cal region. I’m not making a “free market” stand for the sake of cheerleading; more so from a cynical P.O.V. But, as you brought up the SUV comparison, the car makers did in fact change their tune when gas prices shot up. Now, most car companies have all but abandoned the SUV market. The difference in this case is Teknic & ICON are just playing with marketing money and not investing heavily into tooling for products that can’t change with whatever trend comes next (watch out for armored skinny jeans, more helmets with checkerboard patterns and stripes, plus tighter leather jackets to satisfy the neo-cafe racer crowd…I can’t wait!).
And for the record, I also own a few ICON pieces; like you, more so for the products themselves and definitely NOT for what I’d consider “lowbrow” marketing creative. I’m probably not what ICON or the like would consider as their target demographic (hell, I have a Street Triple and a “girly” Vespa), but on some level, their products stand on their own merits.
But my point about the free market is that by the time the companies see the market telling them what to do – they’ll be near out of business…
Speaking of which, Harley is guided by market forces too – but it doesn’t mean they’re actually giving people what they want… Harley needs to get in touch with today’s cruiser riders who are NOT Harley fans…which is the majority of cruiser riders… Because they could-be Harley fans if the company just understood some basic things… such as that most cruiser riders (even Harley riders) are not Sam Crow wannabes.
I’m with you, Leo, on the gap between insurance marketers’ perceptions of riders and the riders themselves (and how they want to be marketed to). Robo, you have a fair point about the easily impressionable, bad-ass youth picking up their first (wholly inappropriate) bike and needing insurance to go with it.
But.
There are enough of us out there who have motorcycle insurance who are always looking for a better deal. We are not only riders, but we’re also home owners and car owners. Multiple-policy discounts, anyone?
And some of us are women. I get frustrated every time I open the Motorcyclist, Rider, or Cycle World magazines and am bombarded with some scowling tool barely out of college; I get the distinct impression that the insurance company has no idea who I am as a customer.
Further, there are still states out there (I live in one of them) who don’t require motorcycle insurance. I would venture to say that the low hanging fruit is probably not basing their motorcycle insurance decision on the fact that the guy they want to be like is posing by a motorcycle in a magazine. They’re bad ass, remember? They don’t need insurance. It’s us, those who are safety minded, who are buying the insurance. We have families, we have assets, and we’re not all 21-year-old boys.
…but I’m a 21 year-old boy.
‘Course all I want is a nice cafe’d honda cb350, a checkerboard helmet, a pair of fitted armored jeans and a nice leather jacket….
Incidentally I don’t think the companies know about this because no one makes such things for this market. My demographic apparently wants a big supersport with a seat height of 40+ inches and an average fuel mileage of around 2. Also we seek textile jackets that look like a cross between space gear and neon-purple muscle suits. Or so I’m told by the people who want my money.
Free markets only function with competition. Someone has to innovate something first, then the free market starts up until the whole thing stagnates again.