New York is one of the few places in the world where you can have anything you'd like, just the way you like it, so it was fitting that Harley Davidson chose to introduce its customizable 2008 motorcycles to the European market by flying 100 journalists to the city this week. The manufacturer aimed to give the group a unique experience that reflected (and rivaled) the bikes themselves.
The party kicked off Wednesday night as a set of double doors burst open and the five new models were driven down a smoke-covered carpet made to look like a road. (Planners chose Chelsea’s Helen Mills Theater for its accessible ground-floor location.) Manning the first bike was Bill Davidson, director of motorcycle product development and great-grandson of one of the company’s founders, who spoke about the significance of the new line before the jet-lagged group broke for an hour of food and cocktails.
Every aspect of the event reflected New York, from the ethnic buffet highlighting the cuisine of neighborhoods like Little Italy, Chinatown, and Spanish Harlem to the waiters serving miniaturized American favorites—including cheeseburgers and lobster rolls—from hubcap trays.Today the group set out on a two-day trip to test the new bikes. They planned to start in Central Park and weave through Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Liberty State Park. The cavalcade will spend the evening in Princeton, New Jersey, before driving the final leg to the Harley Davidson factory in York, Pennsylvania, tomorrow morning. “We arranged a lot of great photo ops for the riders and plotted a course so they’d get to experience the bikes on all types of terrain,” said Matthew Glass, C.E.O. of Grand Central Marketing, which produced the event.
This weekend, the whole thing starts all over: The invitees were broken into two groups of 50, and the second half will be flown in on Sunday and given the same treatment.
