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June 30, 2008
Riding with the Brand
“Lately is occurs to me what a long strange trip it’s been” the Grateful Dead once wrote. And when it comes to rocking with Harley Davidson’s Owners Group of Arkansas - it was indeed quite a flashback....
It all started with a phone call last year, announcing that the 2008 H.O.G. Rally would be held in our home town. For C3 Brandworks this is a pretty cool deal, because we dig bikes! We said, "Heck, yeah we'll do it!" and immediately started working on concepts for the rally.
We wanted to create something that represented the history of Harley and galvanize the timelessness of riding with the brand. We selected a 1937 Harley Davidson as the bike for the classic representation. (Even the bike render had to be reviewed and approved by the Harley Davidson staff.) All told, about 15 brandmarks were created and sent out for feedback.
First round of art has to go through the convention of the Rally Congressional Committee. Second round goes straight to Harley Davidson corporate for approval. So we sent them out...and then we waited. After the call finally came, tweaks were made, and a brandmark selected, we began working up the apparel and merchandise. It was a journey that took us about eight months from start to finish.
The end of the trail for us was at the rally (we had a blast at the Jo Dee Messina concert, btw!), and the best affirmation was that the very first biker we saw and spoke with (pictured below) just happened to be riding a 1937 Knucklehead motor strapped up into a more contemporary frame. What a sweet ride and great memory that made!
Thanks to all in the Harley Davidson Owners Group of Arkansas...hope to see you again next year.
