Motorcycle Ads

Quite a few years ago AMSOIL synthetic motor oils had reformulated two of its viscosities for motorcycles and indicated thus on the back of the label. When the front of the label proclaimed Motorcycle Oil, consumers snapped up the product like hotcakes. A great product will almost sell itself, but all the elements had yet to come together, though we were moving in the right direction.

When three years ago we introduced the Motorcycle Oil White Paper, things began to fall into place. We also introduced a new line of premium motorcycle oil and air filters, bumped the advertising up a notch and gave our Dealer network the ammunition they were craving in order to do battle on the front lines.

The ads here are three which I especially liked from this period.

1. You Ride. We Take Care of the Rest.

What I Like: Two things I especially like. First, the headline contains a strong promise that AMSOIL delivers on. The copy supports this and admonishes readers to take action: Find out for yourselves... Second, I also enjoyed conceiving the image at the heart of the ad. I was in my garage working on my car and saw the unpretentious layout with rag, ratchet set, products and tools. The next step was finding a location, which I accomplished with the assistance of award winning photographer Jeff Frey of Jeff Frey Photography.

2. Ride Hard, Run Cool

What I Like: I love the photo, courtesy Ron Nelson of Hot Bike Magazine (at the time) who sent me approximately 300 slides to sift through. Over light table with my lupe I was fully engaged, seeking the perfect image. This one just smacks of cool. Not sure who came up with the headline, or if I might have, but once I put it down it was set in stone. Headline, copy, image all work together to tell the story. The ad was popular enough to become a poster.

3. The Most Advanced Motorcycle Oil...

What I Like: I just really like a good photo of bikers out on the open road. Colleen Swartz of Digital Magic BigShots provided me a range of selections and this one seemed really fun because of the little kid on the back of the bike on the left. Turns out this was Colleen's son, who thus appeared in a number of national publications, which must have been especially fun for them.