Humans have always needed myth. Myth has always played a vital role in human societies in providing meaning and order.  However, since the Age of Enlightenment, humans have come to rely on myths less and less, or so they think.  Today’s society tends to devalue the relevancy and important of myth in people’s lives.  While the tradition of oral storytelling has all but disappeared, myth is apparent in Western societies now more than ever. Now, the medium has changed.  Elders retelling myth around the fire may not happen any longer, but myths are retold daily in movie theaters, in books, on stage, and in the commercial propaganda that surrounds communities via radio, television, billboards, newspapers, and direct mail pieces, to name only a few.

Myths help people make sense of the world around them.  Current society’s devaluation of myth is mainly due to a compelling belief that myth means something that is not true.  However, many myths deal with a deeper understanding, or truth, about the human condition.  In Silverblatt’s Approaches to Media Literacy, the author states that “regardless of whether myths are factually accurate accounts of historical events, myths speak to an inner truth in a way that science cannot” (144).  It is irrelevant whether a myth is true or false.  What matters is the deeper meaning the myth can bring to the human experience.

One of the functions of myth is to provide meaning to human life and experience.  Assistant Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School, Douglas B. Holt helps explain the transition of myths into icons:

Simple stories with compelling characters and resonant plots, myths help us make sense of the world.  They provide ideals to live by, and they work to resolve life’s most vexing questions.  Icons are encapsulated myths.  They are powerful because they deliver myths to us in a tangible form, thereby making them more accessible (44).

Very often, these icons are people, not objects or brands. Consider the cultural heroes that have helped shape Hollywood: Marilyn Monroe and James Dean; and, political activists like Martin Luther King, Jr.; other celebrity figures like Princess Di; even fictional characters like Superman.  The commercialization of myth is a tricky formula for marketers to attempt.  The best marketers identify a myth that can grow with a brand and with the changing times and thus the changing consumer.  When a brand creates myth successfully, consumers come to see the myth as the embodiment of the product.  The consumer buys the brand to consume the myth, thereby forging a relationship with the brand (44).

Apple’s Mac users consume the myth of the creative, tech-rebel equipped to make battle in the new cyber-economy. Marlboro smokers consume the myth of what Silverblatt terms the “rugged individualist” and the mythic concept of the Frontier.  It is the embodiment of the Western cowboy, intent on living life on his terms and his terms only (183).  Sprite has successfully used the myth of the urban "gangsta," a variation of the rugged individualist set in a new frontier, the inner-city ghetto.  Embodying this myth allows Sprite to connect with an urban consumer, a highly-coveted consumer group.  Buying a Sprite is a consumer’s passport into an “urban,” outlaw experience, without actually having to live an urban outlaw life.  Consider the throngs of young, white suburban youth buying the experience of urban life which in reality is beyond their realm of reality.

Brands that successfully package their brand as the embodiment of a myth, a myth that is desirable and somewhat achievable for consumers, compete to be known as icons with the marketing world.  Holt classifies the competitive environment as “myth markets.”

It is in myth markets that brands compete to become icons.  The winners of these markets, become icons; they are the greatest performers of the greatest myths, and they bask in the kind of glory bestowed on those who have the prophetic and charismatic power to provide cultural leadership in times of great need (44).

According to Holt, the most common American cultural myth that is used successfully by brand managers is the myth of rebellion.  Americans are known for their doubt and distrust of authority and political systems.  Whether it is due to the country’s initial beginnings as group, banded together as rebels against a colonialist Britain or as more of an individual effort, patriots forging a new life in a new, uncharted wild; Americans are inherently suspicious of authority.  The iconic figures in American folklore, literature, and cinematic history, live according to a set of beliefs that violate generally accepted commercial, cultural and political systems.  The rebel in the Wild West takes the law into his own hands, the slacker in subculture Xtreme sports doesn’t accept conformity or authority, the hip hop, “pimp-daddy” of the ghetto defies economic standards by redefining capitalism on his own terms.

Some of the strongest brands in today’s economy have successfully packaged a cultural myth into an iconic brand. Brands like Nike, Harley Davidson, Apple, Volkswagen and Mountain Dew are completely synchronized with mythic icons; consumers are buying the experience of the myth rather than the actual product.  As this level of marketing, the product is more of a “detail” to the experience that is being marketed to consumers.

When consumers are asked to explain what Nike means, their adjectives used to describe the brand rarely reference anything about the shoes or the apparel. The adjectives symbolize a lifestyle or an attitude: freedom, high intensity, no boundaries, power, respect, strength, courage, heart, and individualism.  The Nike brand managers use this synchronicity to their advantage, using their identification with a certain lifestyle in translating that experience into several products, shoes, clothing, equipment, even retail – transforming a retail outlet, Niketown, into an athletic or even non-athlete’s fitness dream.

These marketers are selling the experience, not the product, which flies in the face of traditional marketing practices.  The product is a side note. If that does not seem believable, consider the Harley experience.  Forbes writer, Jonathon Fahey sums up that experience:

Motorcycles are simple. No doors. No roof. No bumpers. When it’s cold, you’re cold. When it rains, you’re wet. And after a long ride, whether you have traveled a stretch of road that takes your breath away with its beauty or almost kills you, you have been through something profound with your bike, and you fall in love with it.  The love is evident at rallies that draw half a million riders to stand around and gawk at their machines.  It is evident in the tears bikers shed after finishing cross-country trips (60).

            After reading about the Harley experience, it is easy to see that it is more than a motorcycle or bike, it is about the relationship a rider forges with that piece of machinery underneath them and what that machine can bring into their life: roads never traveled, sights unseen, and experiences unlived. It brings a spiritual level to the owner’s life. Many riders equate their Harley experience as a level of spiritualism.  It is said that during weddings for Hell’s Angels, they use the Harley Owner’s Manual as their “Bible.”

Consider the fanaticism of the Harley owner. As Pine and Gilmore put it, “How many other company logos do you see tattooed on users’ bodies?” (18). Alec Wilkenson wrote in The New York Times: “If you ride a Harley, you are member of a brotherhood, if you don’t, you are not” (qtd. in Schmitt 173).  And, with any brotherhood, there is a price of entry.  In many Harley riders’ cases, the price of entry into that exclusive club is getting the Harley logo emblazoned in skin tissue on a forearm or chest.

Harley Davidson is a way of life.  According to Bernd Schmitt, author of Experiential Marketing, “Consumers see Harley is a part of their identity.”  From the bikes themselves to the branded clothing to the tattoos, Harley in one brand name encompasses a lifestyle (69).  This lifestyle cuts across all societal levels – from the Hell’s Angels to the Harley HOG (member of the Harley Owner’s Group) to the top-level corporate executive to even royalty. Even the late King Hussein owned a Harley; an Arab king living the embodiment of an American rebel. Photographer Anne Leibovitz photographed the king and his wife Queen Noor on the king’s motorcycle in the Jordan dessert (Noor, 242j).  The photograph shows King Hussein “buying” into the experience of Harley, wind in his hair, the dessert whipping past him, he owns the road.

Analyzing Harley Davidson’s use of the rebel myth through a mythic approach shows how true Harley Davidson has remained to the characterization of this American myth, building upon that story, and cultivating a brotherhood of riders who now embody that myth through the purchase of an iconic brand.

            Harley Davidson uses a variety of media to convey their rebel myth.  The brand not only has traditional media at their fingertips in the form of television, radio, print and billboards, they also have the luxury of actual people wearing their brand in the form of clothing and tattoos. Another strong tool in the Harley arsenal is word of mouth.  One of the strengths of an iconic brand is the product owners or consumers, in this case, the riders.

            But, as Melanie Wells warns in her Forbes article on cult brands, even “the most loyal fans can hijack a brand and make serious trouble for a company.”  Harley faces a heavy critical consumer base.  Any deviations from engine redesign faces some of the harshest criticism any brand will face.

            In order to appeal to the serious Harley HOG, the advertising campaign and brand communication has remained consistent throughout several years.  Since the buy-back from American Machine & Foundry, the marketer has maintained a consistent voice throughout their communication.  As always, the bike is one of the featured images in the advertisement.  Most Harley ads depict an open road, far-reaching landscapes and put the reader into the driver’s seat, allowing them to experience the sights of a Harley rider.  The bike, at all times, looks its absolute best. Its chrome gleaming in the sunlight, not one fleck of mud or dirt defiles this priceless piece of art.  The bike, or the art, in the advertisement almost pops off the print ad or outdoor board, the viewer can almost feel the vibration of the motorcycle underneath them.

            The motorcycle leads the experience, keep in mind that the owners are called “riders” not “drivers.”  The bike leads the consumer onto the open road, leading them down a path that holds unknown sights, sounds, smells and tastes that only a Harley man (or woman) can handle.  Remember, that even the corporate executives want to be considered “bad boys” around the water cooler.

The media plays a large role in mythologizing process, like people and events.  The rider in Harley advertising is depicted as ultra-cool, always in control, a man among men.  Hair blowing in the wind, leather jacket and jeans, sunglasses on, a Harley rider is the ultimate embodiment of every bad boy and rebel without a cause all rolled into one.  Everyone wants a piece of that action.  Why are people drawn to this experience?  Despite the rebel image, the loner, Harley riders want to belong to something, something larger than their self. Some draw parallels between theology and materialism in this case.

Robert Jay Lifton, a psychiatrist and author of The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation says:  “We all need to be something larger than ourselves.  If you’re  part of, say, Harley-Davidson, you can feel that this movement has existed before you were born and will continue beyond your finite life span” (Wells 199).

The advertising campaign for Harley Davidson contains the mythic theme of the Frontier and its evolution into the Myth of the Old West.  According to Silverblatt, “the myth of the frontier was…associated with abundance and opportunity.  America was blessed with seemingly boundless resources” (177).  This is translated into the idealization of the open road for the Harley rider.  Controlling one’s destiny sitting atop a vibrating piece of machinery is an evolution from the days of the Old West, sitting atop a fiery steed.

Once the brand has successfully embodied myth, conveying that myth to the masses is the next hurdle.  While selling experiences is the key to success, mass marketing is still the name of the game.  How the iconic brand is spread through mass marketing is important because the brand risks dilution if the communication sways from the myth. The diffusion of innovations theory plays an important role in creating experiences for consumers with brands, commonly called experiential marketing. 

Experiential marketing is distinct in four key ways: it focuses on consumer experiences, treats consumption as a holistic experience, recognizes both the rational and emotional drivers of consumption, and uses eclectic methodologies (Schmitt 30).

With regard to the definition of experiential marketing, it’s important to state that it is the consumer who is participating in the experience (consumers aren’t always mentioned in the industry definition).  The industry definition often leaves out the importance of the brand being part of the experience, rather than just a “sponsor” of it.  However, it is vitally important to involve the brand, support the positioning and provide peer-to-peer interaction. Therefore, a better definition, and one coined by Schupp Company, a full service advertising agency in St. Louis, is:

Experiential marketing

Achieving specific marketing objectives by providing the consumer with a unique experience that involves the brand, supports the brand positioning, and seeks to link the consumer to the brand through positive one-on-one interaction.

The goal is to leverage first-hand interaction (with the product) to form a lasting bond with the brand.  This can be accomplished in many different ways.  The key, however, is creating an experience for consumers that they will remember beyond that initial experience and will be recalled during consideration of repeat brand purchases.  Additionally, this is best accomplished through an integrated, one-voice approach.  If consumers receive the same message from every point-of-contact with the brand, the better they will retain that memory of the experience.

Consumers build loyalty by having an ongoing relationship with that product or brand. As with any human relationship, those relationships begin with conversations, in many cases, intimate conversations. It is vitally important that consumers feel that their opinions are trusted and heard within the company.

Harley Davidson has done a great job listening to the needs and wants to riders and dealers.  Some within the corporate structure may say that, actually, the brand is manipulated too often by the consumer base, but a relationship has been forged and the flow of communication continues with the brand and the fans.  Conversations that are positive, that make the consumer want to further that relationship and continue the partnership that has been created. 

            And those conversations are what good marketers, like Harley Davidson, try to create when they market experiences. Trying to have one-on-one conversations with consumers on a mass level. That is the trick, making consumers believe they have had a personal, intimate experience or conversation with a product while trying to touch as many people as possible to make it worth the money.  Harley, like Nike and other iconic brands, provides an experience far beyond selling a commodity.

            Harley has successfully packaged their brand in the embodiment of a tried and true American myth, the rebel, an evolution of the Western outlaw.  The brand communicated that mythical embodiment through a consistent level of communication and the understanding of selling experiences to a wide cross-section of consumers.

The brand, bordering on a cult, has captured the imagination of riders and wanna-be riders around the world.  You don’t even need the motorcycle to live the Harley life.  A leather jacket with Harley Davidson emblazoned on the back allows a consumer to buy the experience of Harley life for a far less expensive price tag.

Myths help people make sense of the world around them and identify with something that is larger than themselves.  Some may liken it to a consumer’s need for something larger than life, a spiritual need to connect with other people and a theology of a road warrior attitude and lifestyle.  Harley Davidson delivers this level of spiritual enlightenment to their dedicated fan base and for even those who will never buy a motorcycle; they can buy into that enlightenment and become a part of a rebel community, if even for a little bit.

Works Cited

Brunvand, Jan Harold.  The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction. Ed. Jan Harold Brunvand. 4^th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998.

Fahey, Jonathan.  “Love into Money.”  Forbes. 7 January 2002.

Leibovitz, Anne. King Hussein and Queen Noor on their Harley in Wadi Rum. Contact Press Images.  Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life. By Her Majesty Queen Noor.  New York: Miramax Books, 2003. 242j.

Pine, Joseph, II., and James H. Gilmore.  The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage.  Boston: Harvard UP, 1999.

Pine, Joseph, II., and James H. Gilmore.  The Experience IS the Marketing.  BrownHerron Publishing, Aug. 26, 2002. http://www.amazon.com/BrownHerron/

Schmidtt, Bernd H., Experiential Marketing: How to Get Your Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate to Your Company and Brands.  New York: The Free Press, 1999.

Silverblatt, Art., Jane Ferry and Barbara Finan.  Approaches to Media Literacy: A Handbook.  London: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1999.

Wells, Melanie.  “Cult Brands.”  Forbes.  16 April 2001.