Harley-Davidson's Gadget

Sean Scott just gave me a heads up on a project he worked on for Uber brand Harley-Davidson.  The widget streams  in video live from the famous Sturgis Rally among other kinds of content.  It's a brilliant move as essentially what Harley-Davidson does is provide a glimpse into a parallel universe of  Harley owners—the culture, community and mystique that goes along with the brand.    Also, the option to watch live content or view pre-recorded stuff is pretty nice.  Not to mention that anyone who thinks the Harley brand is cool and likes to ride will throw this up on their site or blog.  It's content distribution—that's for sure.  Brands need to get serious in this space—content distribution/dissemination is smart because it can go where the traffic and conversation is.  And guess what?  It's usually not your corporate site—especially if you've opted to go with the "flash orgasm/glorified brochureware" approach which offers no reason for a user to visit more than once.  I'm also a big fan of the video actually covering an event vs. it being the contrived "viral effort".  Harley owners who can't be there get to feel like they are still a part of it and those who aspire to own a Harley can ogle at the brand and lifestyle.

And what ironic timing.  I'm not a Harley owner (I ride a Kawasaki W650, see below) and though not in Sturgis—I am out on the bike all day today riding from Chicago to Galena—a gorgeous part of Illinois, which that believe it or not has lots of hills.  So to all my fellow riders out there—enjoy the Harley widget, and ride on.