Harley-Davidson joins the Early Bird Club
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Clyde Fessler gets Ireland's Top 100 Marketing Minds Motoring
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13/10/2011
News Article Summary
Marketing guru Clyde Fessler, the man who saved Harley-Davidson from the brink of bankruptcy, thrilled over 100 of Ireland’s top Marketing Directors over the An Post Direct Mail breakfast cooked by top Chef Dylan McGrath. Fessler advocates “turning left when competitors are turning right” so as to rejuvenate a brand, build loyalty and maximise revenue.
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Over a very proper breakfast, cooked by Dylan McGrath, it was the Early Bird VI, the latest in our series of high level briefings for Ireland’s senior marketers on stuff that actually matters.
Clyde Fessler turned left when competitors were turning right
Facing bankruptcy in the early 80’s, Harley Davidson looked deep into the abyss, decided it didn’t like what it saw, and transformed itself. It borrowed manufacturing techniques from its Japanese competitors, then repeatedly turned left when they turned right. In everything. Including branding, retailing and the invention of one of the world’s best loyalty programmes. An outdated rebel icon, in the process, became instead the lifestyle statement of choice of the urban professional. Clyde Fessler, of Harley Davidson, told us how they did just that.
Dylan McGrath and Amie Peters
Tony Toner Harley-Davidson enthusiast and Liam O’Sullivan; An Post
Geraldine O’Leary; RTE and Angela O’Reilly; An Post
Clyde Fessler
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