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Filed Under: What The F*ck

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I’m not even entirely sure where to start with this one. I know we’ve lambasted some ads from the motorcycle industry for being poorly executed, preaching the wrong message, or simply teetering on on the realm of Oedipus Rex, but this ad spot from Nissan takes the cake as the worst advertisement ever to involve a motorcycle. I’m honestly at a loss for words, so I’ll just say that I’ve always thought that the Nissan Juke was the ugly still-born bastard love child between a platypus and a tarnished sack of candied apples (I hear it’s nicer from the inside, where you can’t see how awkward of an automobile it is). I’d rather drive a Pontiac Aztec.

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Banter

Video: Casey Stoner Helps Hock Some Hondas

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It’s been a while since we had a motorcycle advert to critique, but with the thawing of winter’s ice, we should have a plethora of videos to show in the coming motorcycle friendly months. First up for the new riding season is Honda with this CBR1000RR ad that features MotoGP star Casey Stoner, and what appropriately looks to be Oz’s Repsol Honda Casey Stoner race replica that he is riding.

As far as motorcycle marketing goes, this clip is a pretty good effort by Honda Australia. Star GP rider, good production quality, and a demand generation focus all make for a compelling advert. Honda will need all the help it can get though, as it’s hard to sell the same bike that’s been out for four years, albeit with some fresh paint and some minor tweaks here and there.

In a market segment where dyno graphs and high-tech gizmos rule the sales sheet, here’s to hoping that quality in adverts can make up for quantity on the dynamometer in the Land of Kangaroos. Check it out after the jump and let us know what you think.

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News

Wisconsin Offers Harley-Davidson Branded License Plates

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The great State of Wisconsin has begun to offer Harley-Davidson branded vanity license plates to its four-wheeled constituency. With the words “Share the Road” wedged underneath a double-dose of Harley-Davidson branding, the proceeds of the new plates will go to help fund State-sponsored motorcycle safety programs (a worthy cause).

Admittedly, we’re having a hard time with this story. On the one-hand, we love to see that motorcycle safety courses and programs are getting funded. There is a need to educate new riders, and to generally be good stewards for our sport and industry. On the other hand though, we generally frown on the commercialization of public programs, and while Wisconsin is the home of America’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, the whole thing just feels dirty.

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News

Caution: Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health

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Pirelli (makers of the 2011 Pirelli Calendar) and the Italian arm of ad firm Y&R (the NY arm of Y&R did the Xerox/Ducati ad set) want you to know that smoking can be hazardous to your health. Playing off the Surgeon General warning labels found on cigarette packages, Pirelli’s new ads show a motorcycling protagonist full of gusto putting one of his Italian doughnuts to good use with a puff of smoke and a mighty burnout (we’re working on our ad copy hyperbole).

There’s some good play on words going on here, which Y&R has put to good use with motorcycling imagery. We especially like the line “smoking can cause circulation problems” as the photo focuses on the time-warped spinning tire, while the “protect chicks: don’t make them breathe your smoke” seems a bit more pedestrian and blunt. Good photography, a hot custom bike, clever ad work. Chalk up a win for Pirelli (more photos after the jump).

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Bikes

Latest KTM 125 Duke Video Goes to the Well

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Marketing in the motorcycle industry is usually derivative at best, and nothing exemplifies that sentiment more than the tried and true rebel typecast that we see slung-around in advertisements on television, print, and the web. So it should perhaps not surprise us to see KTM going back to this marketing well when promoting the KTM 125 Duke.

Phat beat DJ’s, wheelies down the roadway, late night hooning on dark city streets, these are all the elements needed to make 13 year-old boys who haven’t reached puberty feel like total bad asses…and maybe KTM can sell some bikes with it along the way too. Check the video after the jump. and

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News

Splitsville: Ad Agency Carmichael Lynch & Harley-Davidson to Part Ways

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Carmichael Lynch, the ad agency behind Harley-Davidson’s “Screw it, Let’s Ride” campaign, has just announced that it will be parting ways with the Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer. In a pair of “it’s not you, it’s me” press releases, the two companies, which have partnered together for the past 31 years, cite different reasons for their mutual departures.

Harley-Davidson CMO Mark-Hans Richer said in the company’s statement that, “our strategies have been moving away from a singular consumer target and a one-size-fits-all agency solution. Rather than accept this new reality, Carmichael Lynch chose a different path and we respect that.” Meanwhile according to Advertising Age,  President of Carmichael Lynch Doug Spong said that, “Our agency leadership came to the consensus that we’ve taken the Harley-Davidson brand as far as we can. It’s in our best interest to part ways.”

We just think that Harley-Davidson is on Step 1 of our three part strategy on How to Save Harley-Davidson.

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News

Harley-Davidson Hits Chatroulette – Internet Genius or Advertising Disaster, You Make the Call

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There is no doubt at this point that Harley-Davidson needs to engage new markets and customers in order for the company to continue to succeed. Along this vein, the Milwaukee brand recently retained the services of Sassenbach Advertising to help push the biker message out onto the internet. With virtually no budget, a computer, and a webcam, the German ad agency engaged over 170,000 people per week with the Harley-Davidson brand message “Sorry I’m on the Road” on Chatroulette, the latest internet craze.

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