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F_skinner
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 10:41 am: | 
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Lets see Homecoming compared to Sturgis.
Who attends Homecoming? Buell owners.
Do I want to market to Buell owners or future Buell owners.
I think Buell does well for AMA presence.
I would not base my market research of the people that attend Sturgis by a picture. I would hazard a guess that most of the pictures are on Main Street which I, and many others, never ride or park on.
If I had to drop an event due to money constraints it would not be Sturgis.
(just saying) |
F_skinner
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 10:45 am: |
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I would really love to see a market share analysis of the Buell market. I bet the demographics are all over the scale.
I will speculate that Buell, unlike Harley, has a wider demographic.
The demographic that attends Sturgis has changed over the years.
(Message edited by f_skinner on August 13, 2009) |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 10:51 am: |
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Sorry to have caused you such mental anguish. I only stated the obvious. Buell only ignores, at their business plan's peril, a place that draws 1/2 million plus motorcyclists in a one week span. And those that call them all the fringed pony tailed crowd just haven't been to the Sturgis Black Hills Classic Rally. I'll wager that having the Buell demo semi at Skip Fordyce H-D in Riverside, CA had well south of 1000 bikers show up to demo Buells. No way that was a good trade off with the Black Hills Classic. Who ever made that decision needs their head examined. I'd have gone anyway even had I known that Buell was going to be a no-show but I really was psyched thinking that I was going to test the 2010's. Buell's loss I'm sure. |
F_skinner
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 11:00 am: |
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1/2 million plus motorcyclists in a one week span
And that is the key.
I had a feeling they would be a no show. I asked the question on their Facebook site and never got an answer and it was not on the events calender on the Buell site.
One thing I do not like this year was everything was outdoors and not in the convention center.
In 07 I talked to a young man at the Buell display in the convention center that actually had been one of the guys that designed the Uly. It was his first project and he started working for Buell in 1999. That made my whole trip.
I agree, big mistake. With the marketing of Buell lately I am not surprised. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 12:56 pm: |
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The Harley "Tented" parking lot thing was a bit of a letdown this year. It was nicer when it was indoors for nothing else than the cool air conditioning. I asked if it had to do with the economy and of course they said it didn't and even said that more was spent this year with the parking lot shindig. The only way I would believe that is if they had to design and buy all those monster sized fancy metal framed tents. I'd vote for the indoor air conditioned convention feel of the past few years. It's still nicer any way they do it than that crap demo area at I90 exit 30 in Sturgis that was pretty lame in comparison to what they do now in Rapid City. |
F_skinner
| | Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 01:07 pm: |
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Plus 1. |
Firstbatch
| | Posted on Friday, August 14, 2009 - 01:39 am: |
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All great points that Buell should have been at Sturgis and HD should have had a bigger "spread" but HD is like virtually every public and private company in 2009 fighting major P&L losses and Balance Sheets that suck wind. and its all about cost cutting. This is Wall Street not Main Street. Cut cost for the short term is the mantra regardless if it makes sense for the long term. If your a chief exec at any big (or small) company its all about getting your lieutenants to bring you cost reductions for short term results. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Friday, August 14, 2009 - 11:05 am: |
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I'm glad there is a stock market but also feel that a company sells it's soul when it goes public. Everything is about looking good on the quarterly 10K. If Aldi supermarket went public it would end up raising it's prices to keep that P/E down. |
