Can you sell a nostalgic brand using a high-tech phone?
Polaris Industries thinks so. It is using an iPhone app to lead its introduction of the new Indian Motorcycles, a brand name that conjures classic cruisers with swooping fenders. The original company began in 1901, and its most memorable machines arrived before Elvis had his first hit.
The app, Indian Rides, is part of a teaser campaign to whet the appetites of potential buyers by revealing the details of the bike one by one over time.
The first thing the app unveiled was the sound of the new engine. A virtual throttle and the iPhone’s motion sensors let you twist the phone to achieve a faux rev, which goes from the po-ta-toe, po-ta-toe, po-ta-toe idle characteristic of a big narrow-angle V-twin to the kind of throaty roar that annoys the neighbors.
That engine, the Thunder Stroke 111, is named for its 111-cubic-inch displacement (the company declined to reveal horsepower). It has design cues from classic Indians, like parallel push-rod tubes and down-firing exhausts, all dressed in chrome covers. The design is modernized with drive-by-wire electronics, so there is no throttle cable.
The company, which also makes Victory motorcycles, has declined to say what component will next be highlighted by the app. “There will be a bit of a pause while people digest the engine,” said Gary Gray, product director for the Polaris motorcycle division. “We don’t want to show too much too soon.”
But the app isn’t all novelty and sales pitch. The company borrowed lessons from Polaris’s snowmobile app, whose users said they wanted an app with utility. “It’s not just a fun widget. It’s something that enhances your experience when you are out on the ride,” said Kim Weckert, director of interactive customer experience at Polaris.
To that end, the app has a map with tabs that you click to show where to find food, gas, lodging and the 14 Indian dealers in the United States. There is also a tab for weather and the My Routes feature, which lets you track and save where you ride. You can then send the route information to other riders by e-mail or through links on Facebook or Twitter. Unless you are taking a short ride, you’ll need to have a power source for the phone — as with all GPS mapping apps, Indian Rides empties the battery quickly.
The Indian brand might seem an odd candidate for high-tech marketing. The bulk of riders weren’t even born when the original factory cranked out its vaunted Chiefs and Scouts. The company last dominated the market in the early 1900s, but it continued to produce eye-catching bikes with its trademark ostentatious fenders until it filed for bankruptcy in 1953.
It didn’t begin production again until 1999, when the brand began its move through a number of hands before it was bought by Polaris in 2011.
Although reaching potential Indian buyers through the iPhone may seem counterintuitive, David Nour, a consultant whose clients include the Motorcycle Industry Council and several bike brands, said it might work. Instead of just butting heads with its main competitor, Harley-Davidson, he said, the company might reach a new audience with a new channel for advertising.
“They are trying to grow the size of the market,” he said. “The industry desperately needs to net new riders.”
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