Disney Adults and Harley Tattoos Are a Branding Masterclass
What two wildly different brands figured out about turning customers into people who genuinely give a shit.
There are people walking around right now with Harley-Davidson permanently tattooed on their bodies. Think about that from a marketing perspective for a second. Someone connected with a brand so strongly that they decided to permanently put its logo on their body. Then look at Disney. People plan entire vacations around it, collect things from it, decorate their homes with it, wear it, introduce their kids to it and return year after year. There is an entire group of adults who proudly identify themselves as Disney Adults. Whether motorcycles or Mickey Mouse are personally your thing really doesn’t matter. What these brands have managed to create is kind of incredible.
Most businesses are trying to get someone to remember their name. Disney and Harley-Davidson have built brands that people have incorporated into their identities. That’s not just customer loyalty. That’s belonging. And while your small business probably isn’t trying to become the next Disney or Harley-Davidson, there is a LOT we can learn from brands that have figured out how to turn customers into genuine fans.
They created something bigger than the thing they sell
Disney and Harley-Davidson could not look more different. One is built around stories, characters, imagination and nostalgia. The other around motorcycles, freedom, individuality and the open road. But underneath all of that, they’re doing something remarkably similar. They’ve created an entire world around their product.
When someone goes to Disney, they’re not simply purchasing admission to a theme park. There’s anticipation leading up to the trip, traditions once they arrive, favorite characters, foods, souvenirs, photos and experiences they return to over and over again. For families who have been going for years, those traditions can become part of their own family history.
Harley has built its own version of that world. The motorcycle might be the product that gets someone in the door, but there’s an entire culture surrounding it. The gear, group rides, rallies, local chapters, customization, shared language and relationships with other riders all extend far beyond the original purchase.
The product is important, obviously. But the product isn’t the whole brand. And that’s where this gets really interesting. At some point, the relationship can shift from “I like this product” to “This feels like me.”
We use brands to say something about ourselves
We all do this to some degree. The clothes we wear, places we eat, music we listen to, cars we drive and businesses we recommend can all communicate something about us. Sometimes it’s intentional. Sometimes it isn’t. The brands we choose can say we’re outdoorsy, artistic, sophisticated, rebellious, nostalgic, environmentally conscious, luxurious, practical, weird or any number of other things.
Harley-Davidson has spent decades associating itself with ideas like freedom, independence and individuality. Someone riding a Harley isn’t simply choosing between two motorcycles based on specifications. There can be an emotional reason that this motorcycle feels like theirs.
Disney has created a very different emotional connection through nostalgia, imagination, tradition and shared memories. For someone who grew up loving Disney and now shares it with their own children, that relationship can span decades.
Neither company accidentally ended up here. They’ve spent years reinforcing what their brand means.
The boring part that actually matters
Here’s the less exciting lesson from all of this: both brands have been incredibly consistent. You could see Mickey Mouse’s silhouette with absolutely no words next to it and know exactly what you’re looking at. Same with the Harley shield. But recognition isn’t just a logo. It’s the colors, language, imagery, experience, traditions and general feeling surrounding the brand.
This is where I see small businesses make branding way harder than it needs to be. We get bored with our own shit WAY before everyone else does. So we change the messaging. Try another font. Make every social post look different. The website sounds one way, Instagram sounds another, and the actual experience of working with the business feels like something else entirely. Meanwhile, your customer has probably seen about 8% of the stuff you’re already sick of looking at.
Recognition comes from repetition. You have to be willing to say the same things, show up in the same way and reinforce the same feeling enough times that people start connecting the dots without you having to explain it. Disney didn’t get tired of Mickey. Harley didn’t decide the whole freedom-and-open-road thing felt a little overdone and completely reposition itself. They kept reinforcing what people already connected with.
They give people ways to participate
This might be my favorite part.
Disney fans don’t just consume Disney. They plan trips, collect things, trade pins, wear merchandise, attend events, share recommendations and pass traditions down through their families.
Harley riders don’t simply purchase motorcycles. They customize them, go on group rides, attend rallies, join local chapters, wear the gear and build relationships with other riders.
The customer gets to participate in the brand instead of simply being marketed to by it. And this is something small businesses can absolutely steal without having Disney money. Maybe there’s an annual event people look forward to. Maybe your packaging is so good people photograph it. Maybe there’s a phrase all your regulars know. Maybe someone gets something special after they’ve been coming to you for five years. Maybe you feature your customers. Maybe there’s something in your physical space that everyone takes a picture in front of. Maybe you create a tradition that starts small and five years from now everyone expects it.
It doesn’t have to be huge or expensive. It just has to feel uniquely yours. Or, even better, ours.
You don’t need millions of fans
This is probably the part that matters most if you’re running a small business. You’re not Disney. You don’t need millions of people to know who you are. If you’re a local business, a few hundred people who genuinely love what you’re doing can be incredibly powerful. They’re the people who bring their friends. The people who tell someone, “You HAVE to go here.” The people who notice when you release something new. The people who have been coming for years and feel a little sense of ownership over the place because somewhere along the way it became their place.
I’d take 100 people who genuinely feel connected to a brand over 10,000 people who vaguely recognize the logo.
But I don’t think you get there by sitting down and deciding you’re going to “build a community.” That’s where it can start feeling manufactured. You get there by actually having a point of view. By being recognizable. By creating an experience people want to repeat. By developing little traditions that feel uniquely yours. By making your customers feel seen. By giving them reasons to interact with each other, not just with you. And by being consistent enough that people understand exactly what they’re choosing to be part of.
That’s what I find so fascinating about brands like Disney and Harley-Davidson. Their customers don’t just know what they sell. They know what the brands mean. And that’s a very different thing.
The goal for a small business isn’t to manufacture some massive fan base or convince everyone to love you. It’s to create something distinct enough that the right people connect with it, remember it and want to come back to it.
So maybe instead of constantly asking, “How do I get more people to see my business?” there’s another question worth asking: What am I giving people to connect with once they find me? Because awareness gets someone through the door.
A brand worth belonging to gives them a reason to stay.
About Root Notes: Thoughts on branding, marketing, strategy, creativity, entrepreneurship, travel, dogs, friendship, love, being weird, and building a life and business that feel like your own. Written by Kara Schuler, founder of Trillium Creative Studio.
Until next time,
Kara
Still figuring it out, but at least taking notes.
