EMA winners: Best Brand Activation

This is part of our coverage on GOLD winners from the Event Marketing Awards 2018. See the full list of winners here. 

GOLD winner: Jack Morton Worldwide
Event: Live Your Legend China Rally
Brand: Harley-Davidson

How do you take one of America’s most iconic brands and make an impact in 21st-century China? This was the task facing Jack Morton Worldwide as it took on a brand-building exercise for Harley-Davidson with a limited budget and zero ad spend.

The agency found Harley-Davidson had minimal penetration with young Chinese consumers and a tired foreign brand image, but it also had a small, dedicated fan base – despite motorcycles being banned in first-tier cities.  

The brand needed to reposition its motorbikes as an alternative to purchasing a luxury car. JMW tapped into the desire amongst Chinese millennials to express themselves as individuals and their thirst for ways to showcase their uniqueness to others.

It created District Legend, a blacked-out container-style pop-up which travelled to six second-tier cities and landed where young consumers hang out – the mall.

JMW used the malls’ location and internal WeChat accounts as well as Harley’s WeChat channel to drive interest. Fashion and lifestyle KOLs also attended the opening day in each city, and local Harley dealerships invited prospects and clients.

Harley Owner Groups in each city were invited to create a rally of Harleys to kick-off the weekends, create a community of riders and, literally, a huge amount of noise.

The events attracted an average of 18,000 visitors per day. Harley’s WeChat subscriptions increased by nearly 100% with 48,000 subscriptions spiked by engagements on-site that included scannable QR codes, and there were motorcycle sales on-site.