Spuds and Harley's Part 3

Spuds & Harley’s Part 3. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Out of the box thinking. It’s as beneficial for the potato industry as it is for something like a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Ken Schmidt, Former Brand Visionary and Communications Strategist with Harley Davidson helped bring that company back from the brink of disaster by stretching the boundaries of conventional marketing.

SCHMIDT: The question that needs to be asked, that every business needs to ask themselves at some point is what are we willing to do today that’s different than we did yesterday for people who will take their business somewhere else tomorrow. We can get anything we want from anybody. The world is moving at warp speed now. You’re buying things online now from businesses you’ve never heard of.

He says that can be very dangerous.

SCHMIDT: We made a quantum decision as we saw the business moving forward and as we began - even though we didn’t have science behind it the more engaged we are with people, the more story telling that’s going on, the more passion that’s going on, the more visible effort we’re making to delight people, the more business is moving forward.

Schmidt says for Harley Davidson it’s about engaging people on a one-to-one level and when it comes to the other guys who also make motorcycles...he says if they go left, he goes right. They try very hard to make themselves something that creates a passion in people.

SCHMIDT: So what are you willing to do today thats different than what you did yesterday for people that will take their business somewhere else tomorrow. It’s not about potatoes and it’s not about product. It’s about us. What are we willing to do.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.