EASY RIDERS: THE NEXT GENERATION THE STORY OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON AND IBM Synopsis This mini-doc will tell the story of how Harley-Davidson, the perennial American icon, has been able to transition from the past to the present with the help of IBM. The Harley of today is different than the Harley of yesterday. Bikes have changed. The culture has changed. And consumers have changed, as the definition of Easy Rider now includes women, Latinos and young adults. We will explore the Harley motorcycling culture of the 1950 s and 1960 s and show how it has evolved in the 21st century. And as Harley begins their next 100 years in business, we want to show, that with the help of IBM, they are in a position to grow their business, maintain their status as an icon and remain the company that allows people to fulfill dreams.
Treatment The piece can essentially be broken down into four short chapters: Chapter I: Harley Culture The beginning of the piece will focus briefly on the Harley Davidson motorcycling culture. A glimpse into the past. We will show how Harley was featured in movies and in the press. We will show archival footage of people and their Harleys in order to establish the passion for a brand and how the brand had a deep personality and image. We will talk to Willie G. Davidson, VP of Styling, son of former President of Harley and grandson of one of the original founders. We will talk to hardcore, devoted Harley owners. And, if possible, we would like to talk to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, from the movie Easy Rider, about the Harley culture. This portion of the piece will establish how Harley was so entrenched in popular culture, but also how that tight association with its target was limiting and affected future sales.
Chapter II: the Harley Business Situation We will then talk about the change. How Harley needed to reposition themselves for future growth given the evolution of its core audience. In this section we establish the problem that IBM had to help fix. This will be communicated through a VO and interviews with various Harley personnel. We ll talk to executives within the company. Through interviews we will establish that Harley recognized it had a problem. And it needed to enlist the help of IBM. We will also show through footage what was happening in the culture of motorcycling and bikes in order to show what the environment was like when the Harley/IBM partnership was born.
CHAPTER III: The IBM Story We will then focus on IBM. How IBM helped Harley transition from the past to the present, while continuing to grow opportunities for the future. How IBM helped modernize the internal organization at Harley, helped them find new customers, helped their process run more efficiently and helped their relationship with dealers. All things Harley knew were necessary in order to stay competitive. Through interviews we will learn about the problems and issues they identified as needing to be solved and what they did to solve them. We will learn about how they helped transform Harley s IT infrastructure. How they were able to connect departments. We will learn about IBM s data mining techniques to show how to find new customers and cut down the time it takes to make a sale and process a transaction. We will talk to dealers about how IBM is helping Harley communicate with them, and helping them talk to other dealers. As a testament to this change and as a way to show how IBM s improvements were put into practice, we will feature a new bike, The Nightster showing its life cycle from inception to sale, and how the IBM IT infrastructure and data mining applications were utilized. We will interview Willie G. Davidson and Richard Christoph, the two designers of The Nightster and two people who embody the past and future of Harley. We will also establish that the resources IBM used to help Harley could benefit other industries.
CHAPTER IV: New Riders We will show where Harley is today. We will go to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days rally in Lexington, Ohio, to show the kind of people who participate. We will show the new generation of Harley riders through the diverse people who are attending the festival. We ll also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Sportster line including the new Nightster with keynote speaker Willie G. Davidson. We will make the association through VO and interviews that it is that partnership between IBM and Harley that helped find these new customers and position Harley for the future.
Opening Sequence We hear the first few chords and the beginning of a classic, driving rock song. We then cut to great archival footage of Harley riders. We see portraits of people with their bikes, photographs and also footage of people riding. These are quickly cut together in sync with the music. We hear Willie G. talk about the impact Harley has had on our culture. He could even tell a personal story of Harley. The most fanatical fan he s ever met. Or a story of a journey on a Harley. This would be a compelling quote to get us into the piece. We then see the IBM graphic and the title. Easy Riders: The Next Generation. Interviews Harley: Willie G. Davidson VP of Styling, son of former president, grandson of one of the original founders Jim Hainey CIO Laura Lee VP of Enthusiast Experience Richard Christoph Designer IBM: Bob Remme Client Executive Dave Carlquist Partnership VP Other (Nice Haves): Peter Fonda Dennis Hopper Jay Leno Hardcore Harley Enthusiasts Consumer Trends expert Locations Harley-Davidson Headquarters IBM Headquarters AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days rally in Lexington, Ohio Vans Warped Tour Various compelling locations that add texture to the film (i.e. a Harley-Davidson dealership, people s homes, places in Milwaukee, etc.)