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Accelerating the Dream
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Bruce Rossmeyer
David Morris
09/01/2006
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Photograph by Tricia Krefetz & Jerry Wyszatycki
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Rossmeyer’s own passion for the brand is evident. An avid rider, his
stores are graced by Harleys from his personal collection. Destination Daytona’s
array includes a 1914 “Silent Grey Fellow”, a 1941 US Army model, a 1951
three-wheeled Servi-car, a retro-look 1993 FLTSC with sidecar, and a dizzying
selection of customs. His favorite is a unique signed-and-numbered
black-and-silver 100th Anniversary Ultra Glide.
Harley’s pedigree is a
powerful draw. “Almost as much of my revenue comes from merchandise as from bike
sales,” Rossmeyer observes. His stores use the “shop-in-shop” layout to induce
the customer to seamlessly browse the entire range. Walk in looking for chrome
engine covers, and you’ll leave with shopping bagfuls of Harley stuff you just
can’t do without.
 Customs are offered for sale at the same location as assembly line machines. Photograph by Tricia Krefetz & Jerry Wyszatycki /Avatar Productions. (Click image to enlarge)
He readily acknowledges the influence of big department
stores, citing Nordstrom and Neiman-Marcus. Rossmeyer even offers his own
co-branded major credit card. There is a touch of Stanley Marcus in the man—that
same joy in minding the store. “We want people to step inside the Harley
experience. For the grown-ups, it’s like Halloween. Put on Harley gear and
you’re instantly a ‘bad dude’ or ‘biker chick’. If the little boy or girl, whose
parents buy them Harley pajamas, dreams someday of owning a bike, well, God
bless ’em.” Rossmeyer wants to accelerate the dream. “I’ve watched the audience
grow and change tremendously in just ten years. If we’re ready to reach out,
there’s a whole new generation out there that when it matures, will step up to
the brand.”
The increasingly important female demographic has not escaped
him. “That is probably our single most important area of growth. Women now make
up close to 20-percent of our customers,” he adds. “They’re not the ‘babes on
the back’ anymore. They’re riding dressers and putting the men to shame.” He
knows first hand—daughter Shelly, who manages the Destination Daytona store,
rides her chopper to work daily.
Lest one might think Rossmeyer would use
his marketing heft to influence the product, he takes a “You build ’em, I’ll
sell ’em” attitude. “The company knows we need to attract people who wouldn’t
normally look at a Harley. Take the V-Rod. It raised a lot of eyebrows in our
own constituency and got attention from consumers who hadn’t been thinking about
us. Now there’s a range of V-Rod based models. Is that where Harleys of
the future will be going? We need to do things like the V-Rod to find out.” He
salutes Harley’s current involvement in racing with National Hot Rod Association
(NHRA) champion Vance & Hines Screaming Eagle V-Rod-based dragster. “Just as
NASCAR has really captured the mainstream American consumer, we feel NHRA is
also about to break through. That will bring us a whole new Harley
enthusiast.”
 Color, chrome and custom accessories enhance the Rossmeyer buying experience. Photograph by Tricia Krefetz & Jerry Wyszatycki /Avatar Productions. (Click image to enlarge)
His core business remains the cruiser and chopper owners, and
their insatiable appetite for customization. Rossmeyer sees no signs of the
trend tailing off. He has no issues with the one-offs. “The custom builders have
been really good for us, because they’ve shown how far you can take your bike to
totally personalize it. Their creativity pushes us to become more creative.
We’ve built customs for everyone from [basketball star] Shaquille O’Neal to
[rock star] Steven Tyler.” His alliance with the daddy of custom builders, Arlen
Ness, is further proof. Apart from Willie G., “Arlen has probably done more for
the Harley image than any other single person in the world,” Rossmeyer observes.
Their joint venture will be showcased in Destination Daytona.
For Rossmeyer,
constant grassroots marketing is essential. He deploys squads of motorcycle
mechanics, at his own expense, to Harley meets from Sturgis to Laconia. At a
different end of the spectrum, members of his eponymous Bruce Rossmeyer’s
Cycle and Cigar Club enjoy VIP status at ongoing events. Being a good cor-porate
citizen, he engages in ongoing pro-social activities. Rossmeyer enlists
celebrities and other significant persons for initiatives such as Camp Boggy
Creek, co-founded with Paul Newman to help seriously ill children, as well as
the Boys & Girls Clubs. “Nobody does more for charities than bikers,” he
adds. “And by educating young people about motorcycles, I can’t think of a
better way to build the future for them, and for us.”
www.brucerossmeyer.com
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