| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
http://www.sltrib.com/home/1899197-155/tiger-to-en dorse-indian-made-motorcycles | ||
| Midknyte |
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-02/woods- moves-to-indian-made-motorcycles-from-buicks.html "...Woods, who said he has never ridden a motorcycle, is shifting to selling Indian-made motorcycles from Buicks with a four-year endorsement contract with Hero..." Woods, who said he has never ridden a motorcycle who said he has never ridden a motorcycle he has never ridden a motorcycle never ridden a motorcycle never ridden a motorcycle | ||
| Hughlysses |
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| Court |
>>>Woods, who said he has never ridden a motorcycle Interesting. He has the same qualifications as Keith Wandell. Well . there ya go. | ||
| Hughlysses |
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| Aeholton |
Been watching the tournament Golf Channel today. Saw a Hero commercial. | ||
| Larryjohn |
"Interesting. He has the same qualifications as Keith Wandell." Of course one is the CEO of a motorcycle company and the other is just an endorser. To me Tiger's role is not much different than a pretty girl sitting on a motorcycle at a show. His role is to attract attention to the brand. | ||
| Court |
>>>To me Tiger's role is not much different than a pretty girl sitting on a motorcycle at a show. You've a keen grasp of the obvious. And . . in all fairness . . . Wendell, who had never ridden a motorcycle when he came to Harley-Davidson, has learned. He has also, although I'm not fond of him, done a marvelous job. The Harley-Davidson stock price was $26.25 when he arrived . . . it just closed at $69.69 has a 28.1% annualized growth rate over the last 3 years and a dividend payout rate of 1.58%. My personal take on him is that personally he has poor manners. | ||
| Larryjohn |
Thanks for the insight Court. I'll hold my obvious observations to myself on this topic  | ||
| Finedaddy1 |
...and is a douche bag. My comment is based his decision to shut down BMC and not sell to another company when he had the opportunity, which resulted in people losing their jobs when they could have "possibly" been saved. | ||
| Larryjohn |
Actually more than a douche bag or someone with poor manners. From a business perspective, he obviously thew away an excellent opportunity. Inability to capitalize on your own product and talent seems a little shortsighted to me. Fortunately a CEO with much clearer vision than Wandell was able to capitalize on that talent. Sometimes it's not hard to make money in spite of yourself. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Ending the relationship may have been the right decision based on the market conditions at the time (that still persist). But to just throw it away, instead of spinning it off, was foolish. EBR will never be a competitor to Harley, and if anyone understands the financial value of a historical legacy, HD should have. They could have spun off EBR with their blessings and support (and by support, I mean anything but $$), and then forever claimed to have enabled the company that EBR will become, play the "Support US Jobs" card, and claim a spritual link to any EBR successes in racing. It was all upside to them, no downside. My thoughts are the books were cooked (in a fully legal but completely disingenuous way), or there were individuals at HD that were putting "covering their own ass" in front of helping EBR employees and the HD company. It may have been a reasonable business decision, but if Jack Welch said, "if always picking the obvious safe answer is the best you can do, I don't need you". | ||
| Rodrob |
Perhaps you guys miss the point. Hero has also sponsored a major PGA tournament with network TV coverage and huge exposure. What does this say about their plans for the brand in the US, and perhaps EBR? They never got this much exposure in the US from racing. Very interesting. | ||
| Buelliedan |
The Hero/EBR partnership is the best thing that has ever happened to Buell in their short history. Harley was never as committed as Hero has been and the amount of money they are willing to spend will only equate to awesome products coming out of East Troy!! | ||
| Finedaddy1 |
I agree, but never miss an opportunity to refer to Wandell as a douche bag. | ||
| Steveford |
I remember one of our pompous Harley sales bozos trying to interest the golf crowd in the V-Rod: get a hole in one and win the bike. I don't believe it generated any sales for the dealership but maybe small displacement motorcycles would appeal to the golfers? | ||
| Rodrob |
I don't think it has anything to do with Golfers per se. It's about general brand awareness. When Tiger Woods plays in a golf tournament, he gives it instant credibility and along with the prize money draws major players which draws major TV coverage. The HERO Wold Challenge, instantly puts Hero on the sports map in the US. I think this is a huge statement about HERO's commitment to the US market. Notice it was not the HERO/EBR World Championship. So where does EBR fit in their long term US plan? Time will tell. | ||
| Court |
Be mindful that in the HERO / EBR world that EBR is a %0.000001 element. EBR is a vendor of services to HERO, not a general partner. HERO wants engineering services from EBR and they are getting a high quality product in a timely manner . . . far superior to anything Honda ever dreamed of doing. If EBR wants to make motorcycles with their profits, that's fine with HERO but it's not the reason for their association. The Tiger Woods association is just like the EBR association . . . only MUCH bigger in terms of nominal dollars. Just think if HERO had tossed $100,000,000 the way of EBR? :-) | ||
| Noone1569 |
I find it odd that Tiger is the spokesperson for Hero. I'm struggling to find a link between the demographics of people that will buy $5000 "entry level" motorcycles and the people that watch, attend, and follow professional golf events. Regardless, this is awesome just for the expose that EBR is getting in its partnership with hero. | ||
| Court |
The correlations are not always either intuitive or obvious. I recall going to a meeting at HD one day that regarded replacing the Buell PR firm (Laughlin-Constable) at the time. One of the major agenda items was where to place Buell ads that would actually drive business. There were some very strange ideas presented .... But they were based on sound research. Very few motorcyclists read motorcycle magazines and most who do are brand loyal. HERO is a business, one of the larger and more successful in the world. Therefore, as with their involvement in WSBK racing, you can bet these millions weren't soent for fun, hobby or entertainment. They expect a return. | ||
| Buelliedan |
In asia golf is huge but the bikes they ride are small. The Tiger/hero relationship is about the Asia market not the US. Heros are not even going to be sold here till 2016 so it is obvious where they are directing these ads. You guys need to stop believing that everything revolves around the USA. Asia is the market where the money is starting to be. | ||
| Doz |
So no EBR engineered golf clubs to improve my game?... darn! I agree with Buelliedan- this has nothing to do with the US market and probably will have little to do with EBR, at least in a direct way. | ||
| Rodrob |
More details - https://autos.yahoo.com/news/hero-motocorp-coming- us-help-140019784.html |
