When Harley-Davidson went from a way of life brand to a lifestyle one in the 1990s, it put itself in the perfect position to suffer severely from the 2008 economic meltdown in which its best customers saw layoffs and massive drops in their retirement accounts and home values — while at the same time those offering to loan money for purchase of, say, an $18,000 motorcycle, all but disappeared.

From a 2008 profit of $654 million, Harley saw a $55 million loss a year later, and duly dropped to #98 (from #73 a year earlier) on Interbrand's 2010 Best Global Brands ranking.

Now, a just over a year after threatening to leave its longtime headquarters in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Business Journal reports that Harley has "begun delivering all 14 models in next year's Touring and Sportster lines to dealers in the United States and Europe, which will allow dealers to sell 2012 models throughout the peak summer selling season." But it's not open road for the iconic brand just yet.Continue reading...

Everybody loves a good turnaround story. Crocs is back in the headlines as John McCarvel, President & CEO, just received the Stevie Award for turnaround executive of the year at the recent 9th Annual 2011 American Business Awards.

Honored for his leadership role in the brand’s return to profitable growth as one of the best-performing stocks of 2010 (as he discussed with CNBC), with shares up more than 200% over three years, McCarvel shared credit with his team.Continue reading...

Of all the major luxury car brands out there — Lexus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Acura, Audi and Infiniti  — Ford’s Lincoln sold the fewest in 2010: 85,828. And the number is expected to go down this year to 78,000, Ford execs told dealers at a recent meeting, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But after that, Ford expects numbers to jump in the other direction. The company is putting $1 billion toward rebranding the luxury carmaker and hoping that it can save a marque that was once one of America’s more powerful automotive brands.Continue reading...

The world's second largest food company (annual revenues of about $49 billion) is home to eleven billion-dollar iconic brands: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, and Trident.

But what about Kraft's smaller brands, at risk of being sent to the glue factory because of flagging consumer interest or meager ad budgets?Continue reading...

Remember "Nothing beats a great pair of L’eggs"? The hosiery line is making a comeback, with a new marketing campaign and its first national television ads in more than 14 years and a new tagline: “You’re in luck. You’re in L’eggs.” 

“We want to stay true to our brand positioning and personality — fun and kind of flirty,” Angela Hawkins of Hanesbrands tells the New York Times of the campaign, which is aimed at women 18-34.Continue reading...

When Tron: Legacy was released in December, the product tie-in that drew all the attention was for Ducati. It's a product placement the Italian motorcycle maker told us was unpaid, but highly valuable.

Now, the release of Tron: Legacy on DVD introduces a whole new marketing tie-in. This time for… Commodore 64?! That's right — Disney is  helping promote the relaunch of the Commodore and Amiga brands, with the relaunched computers going on sale the same day (April 5th) as the DVD went on sale.Continue reading...

Here's the first official look at the new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G by Samsung. According to T-Mobile's website, the Android-powered smartphone "pays tribute to its heritage with its stylish good looks and a killer keyboard while redefining messaging and upgrading to 4G speeds."

With its men's and women's autumn/winter 2011 runway shows and New York Fashion Week out of the way, Calvin Klein is turning its attention to reviving one of its older sub-brands. On March 1st, it will relaunch ck one (introduced in 1994 with a unisex fragrance) as a broader lifestyle brand.

It will expand from perfume to include jeans and underwear — which model Lara Stone gives a glimpse of in a teaser spot, above, shot by another icon of the era: photographer Steven Meisel.Continue reading...