Chapter 8. Competitive Intelligence
Vignette: Building brand loyalty is a chief concern of Harley Davidson.
Featured URL: http://www.harley-davidson.com
Gaining the competitive advantage:
One way to become the leading motorcycle company is to research customers and to feed their needs. Assuring customers of a quality product is only part of the story. Building a community of customers is key to continued success. How do you describe a motorcycle customer? The stereotype of the gang style biker gives a misleading impression and this is only a tiny part of the picture - people of all ages, backgrounds, and varying interests make up the client base for this thriving market.
Activity
At the Grand Opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe, Las Vegas on the evening of September 23, 1997, more than 1500 guests attended the celebration including: Burt Reynolds, Carrot Top, Stephanie Powers, Downtown Julie Brown, Donna D'Erico, Pamela Anderson Lee, and John Voight.
Celebrity spokespersons sometimes show support for a favoured product
or service. In this case, these stars came out to enjoy an evening
in one of the two Harley-Davidson cafes (the other is in New York City.
Jay Leno collects motorcycles - are they solely Harley Davidson bikes?
What does Tom Cruise ride? Brad Pitt? Are there other famous people you
can think of who might be open to acting as a spokesperson for a brand
of motorcycles?
In this activity, you are asked to match up celebrities with cars and motorcycles. Decide which music, sports, TV or movie star would best suit being a spokesperson for the those models listed below. Give an example of a movie or concert or other entertainment event that you think could be identified with this celebrity's promotion of the vehicle.
You will find links to sites for both cars, motorcycles and celebrities
in the Resource section. Note: Don't use the same celebrity. The top two
rows are cars, the other two rows are bikes.
| Porsche - 911 Carrera | Cadillac Eldorado | Mercedes Benz SL | Dodge Viper |
| Jaguar XJ8 | BMW Z8 | Lexus RX 300 | Jeep Wrangler |
| Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R | Ducati Monster S4 | Indian 2001 Chief | Harley FLSTF Fatboy |
| Honda Gold Wing | Yamaha YZF-R1 | BMW K1200 RS | Triumph Thunderbird |
Cars
AutoTrader.com - one of the larger
car dealers on the Web
cars.com - new and used cars
About's Car Buy Site
- an expert's guide to car buying information
Celebrities
Women Celebrities -
a guide to female stars
Celebhoo.com - search for stars
Forbes.com
- Top 100 Celebrities
Seeing-stars.com - Where
to see Hollywood Stars
entertainment.lycos.com
- alphabetical index to celebrities
Celebrity Spokespersons
Meow Mix and Tony Randall -
http://www.meowmix.com/jingle_hall.asp
Samsung Optics and their promotion strategy -
http://www.samsungcamerausa.com/customer/whats_new.asp?board_id=7
Article: "Unknown? Borrow the Fame of a Celebrity Spokesperson" by Mike
Ogden -
http://kansascity.bcentral.com/kansascity/stories/1997/09/08/smallb2.html
Dream Foundation and celebrity support -
http://www.dreamfoundation.org/v2/sponsor.html
March of Dimes and Vanessa Williams -
http://www.modimes.org/programs2/natlambassador/vanessa.htm
Motorcycles
About Motorcycles - your guide to hundreds of links about motorcycles
http://motorcycles.about.com/mbody.htm
BMW Motorcycles - http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/home
Ducati Motorcycles - http://www.kc-international.com/
Indian Motorcycles - (Peter Fonda rides a 2000 Chief)
http://www.indianmotorcycle.com
Honda Motorcycles - www.hondamotorcycle.com/
Kawasaki Motorcycles - http://www.kawasaki.com/index.html
Suzuki Motorcycles - http://www.suzukicycles.com/
Triumph Motorcycles - http://www.triumph.co.uk/
Yamaha Motorcycles - http://www.yamaha-motor.com/
Motorcycle e-Zines
Instructors: Optional Activities
As with all of the Web exercises, the exercise for Chapter Eight can be used as suggested or certain parts can be adapted to better suit your student population. You will want to estimate how much time is required to complete any part or all of the parts. It will be helpful to give students a suggested time frame for completing their assignments. It will also help to determine how much credit might be given for the assignment.
1. Checking Out the Competition
Given the inspiration of the information found in the Resources about celebrity spokespersons, create an invitation to a celebrity with an interest in motorcycles, inviting him or her to take part in a marketing plan for one of the motorcycle companies given above. Using the site itself, point out to your chosen celebrity the advantages of promoting the products involved. What can you offer the celebrity that will entice them to take part? Money to their favourite charity? What would your competition do to entice this person? How can you win over the celebrity you have in mind? Illustrate your strategy with the letter you might write to them as an invitation to participate.
2. Becoming an Expert
Which of the non-computer-based external sources of competitive intelligence
for motorcycles could you use to write a report that compares two of the
Motorcycle companies represented in the web sites given in the Resource
section? As shown in Exhibit 9-2 in your textbook, the external sources
are as follows:
| Experts | Newspapers; Other Publications | CI Consultants |
| Yellow Pages | Government Agencies | Trade Shows |
| UCC Filings | Speeches by Competitors | Suppliers |
| Neighbours of Competitors | Photographs | Advisory Boards |
3. Hold the Presses
What sources of data on the motorcycle sites given in the Resource section can be helpful in developing competitive intelligence? Find articles and press releases on the motorcycle web sites that give competitive intelligence information. Give a brief annotation for any article or press release that you find telling what information it gives.