Harley-Davidson is shouldering into the wind these days, from well-timed new models toimprovements at their dealers, headquarters, and museum. As always, the marque capitalizes on their popularity by selling motorcycle-adjacentstuff(you know, T-shirts, lawn furniture, dog collars). But now, they’ve opened a new gallery at their museum, called the Harley-Davidson Experience.
New and Improved
Back in June 2022, the revamped 10,000 square foot Harley-Davidson Shop (triple its previous footprint) opened at the museum. Lest you think it’s a place where you can watch skilled wrenches at work, let me quash that hope right now. That’s the place you go to purchase the aforementioned t-shirts, lawn furniture and dog collars (sorry, “exclusive apparel, collectibles and accessories”).
Nobody Does It Better
The thing is, H-D does this better than anyone in the industry. They clued in a long time ago, that the way to sell motorcycles, is to market motorcycles toeverybody. Folks that have never ridden a motorcycle in their lives wear H-D clothing, own H-D drinkware, decorate their trucks and “man-caves” with H-D stickers and paraphernalia.
What the Marketing Says
And so, the new Harley-Davidson Experience gallery at the branded museum will do great. The company’s press release describes it thus: “With this new multimedia experience, guests will be able to hear straight from the H-D team how Harley-Davidson motorcycles are designed and engineered to be the most desirable in the world. Find inspiration from your fellow riders’ stories or discover how easy it is to take the first step in learning how to ride.”
The gallery also features “inspiring stories from riders who have turned their dream of learning to ride into reality” and a “look at the epic journeys you can only experience from behind the bars of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle,” (hashtag, FreedomMachine).
More Riders = Good
The brand’s marketing has always been on-point and relentless. This new-ish push to inspire and train new riders can only help the brand as well as the sport in general. The more folks they inspire to ride, the better for all of us, right? And that’s exactly, squarely, where they’ve aimed this new gallery.
Admission Fees
Guests at this museum pay a $22 General Admission ticket fee, as well as an optional, additional $15 for the Spotlight Tour, $40 for the “Beyond the Gate” tour, or $125 for a VIP tour of the museum. The tours were suspended in 2020, but have returned this year. This is all marketing, one big H-D ad, and it is brilliant.
The museum’s PR manager Tim McCormick fully admits that most of the guests who come through the museum are non-riders. For a quick roundup of what to expect from the new exhibit, you can watch this local Milwaukee station’s interview with McCormickhere.
