Harley Touts Customization Program With Crowdsourced "cages" Commercial

Harley-Davidson
is making waves in both the biker and advertising community with a
new marketing concept pioneered by the ad agency Victor and
Spoils.
Victor and Spoils is a new age ad agency founded on the idea of
crowdsourcing - soliciting ideas from a large group of people and
picking the best. Harley-Davidson partnered with the company to
create a new ad campaign that would highlight the company's HD1
customization program, which lets riders build a highly-specific
bike online.
The result was "No Cages," a new commercial pulled from the many
submissions that Victor and Spoils received. The spot features a
small town where everyone moves about in cages - a lady walking her
dog is surrounded by a steel cage, complete with clanging noises,
as is the bus driving down the street. At the end of the ad, a
rider comes blazing by on a Harley - the only person in the spot
not in a cage.
The concept came out of the motorcycle community's slang term of
"cages" for cars. Essentially, it takes that thought process and
applies it to other bikes - why be restricted by the manufacturer's
paint scheme and specifications when you can customize to your
heart's content?
It remains to be seen whether the HD1 program catches on with
riders, but the commercial appears to be a hit within the
advertising community, with many praising the concept and design.