Former Harley-Davidson Exec to “Make Some Noise”
There are well-known consumer-product brand names, and then there is Harley-Davidson.
Communications and branding expert Ken Schmidt helped engineer one of the most amazing corporate turnarounds in history, taking Harley-Davidson from the brink of bankruptcy to a company that must work overtime to meet the demands of its rabidly loyal customer base. Schmidt will share the fascinating story of how Harley-Davidson built an entirely new corporate culture from the kickstand up when he opens the 2007-08 Speaker Series at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
Schmidt will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 25, in the McGarvey Commons of the college’s Reed Union Building. His address, titled “Make Some Noise,” is free and open to the public, and will be followed by questions from the audience.
Schmidt, a corporate-positioning expert and long-time motorcycle enthusiast, joined Harley-Davidson in 1985. As its communications director, he was charged with restoring the company’s tarnished outlaw image and creating demand for its big motorcycles. Both goals were accomplished using a strong branding campaign coupled with innovative outreach to current and prospective customers. Within a few years, Harley-Davidson became one of the most visible and frequently reported-on companies in the world, and sales of its motorcycles took off.
In 1990, Schmidt was promoted to director of Harley-Davidson’s corporate and financial communications, and served as its primary spokesperson to the media and the financial communities. He appeared numerous times on network news programs and was frequently called upon by business media to share his insights on non-traditional communications and customer relations.
“We are thrilled to host a speaker of Ken Schmidt’s caliber and experience,” John Magenau, director of the Sam and Irene Black School of Business, noted. “This is an opportunity for our business students and the business community to hear first-hand the marketing strategies and tactics behind Harley-Davidson’s legendary marketing successes.”
In 1997, Schmidt left Harley-Davidson to take an ownership position with a Chicago-based marketing firm that handles branding issues for major companies, including General Motors, Coca-Cola, IBM, Campbell’s Soup—and Harley-Davidson. He has since semi-retired.
Of his second career in public speaking, Schmidt has said, “I love to startle people by exposing them to proven ideas and concepts they’ve never imagined. Whether I’m talking about how perfectly average people can do extraordinary things—which is now an everyday occurrence at Harley-Davidson—or how to build an entirely new corporate culture, rekindle relationships with customers, or reach out to new ones in completely untraditional ways, I’m teaching people to throw conventional approaches out the window.”
In addition to the Sam and Irene Black School of Business, Ken Schmidt’s appearance is sponsored by the Penn State Behrend Student Activity Fee, the Division of Student Affairs, and the Harriet Behrend Ninow Memorial Lecture Series Fund. For more information about his lecture, please phone the Office of Student Activities at 814-898-6171.