Motorcycle Marketing - what's changed in 50 years?

A couple of previous posts have mentioned my mate and fellow Coromandel village resident Paul, who is a complete Norton enthusiast, owning a Commando race bike, a pristine Commando road bike which he bought new in the early 70's and a classic 1950's ES2 single.  He's currently in England with his wife visiting family and presumably filling suitcases with bike bits when his infinitely better half isn't watching him like a hawk.

Paul has just visited The Sammy Miller Museum which is a truly world class motorcycle museum.  I suppose that he could have bought me one of the exhibits as an act of true friendship but simply getting a postcard from him was still a lovely gesture.  Rather surprised that it didn't feature a Norton just to rub it in but he was clearly feeling generous as it featured a Triumph!  Here 'tis....

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!  1955 Tiger 110

The photo on the postcard is the front cover of Motor Cycle magazine from March 1955.  Note the idyllic setting although ummmm...blue skies in the UK might be pushing the boundaries of honest advertising! The Triumph marketing strategy at face value seems fairly blunt.  "Triumph - the best motorcycle in the World".  No facts quoted to back that up but since when have facts had any bearing on advertising right up to the present time?  They're hardly going to say "Best bike in the world and as an added useful feature, it pees so much oil everywhere that your boots will never leak and everything aft of the engine will never go rusty", are they?

But here's where the Triumph marketing department sneaks in a bit of almost subliminal marketing.  Note the implied message, "Buy a Triumph and you'll instantly be turned into a serious chick magnet".  The woman in the foreground simply can't keep her paws off the rider.  Even the pillion passenger in the background can't keep her hands to herself but it could be argued that since the rider seems to be riding on a bumpy grass verge rather than the road, she may be hanging on for dear life. 

The lack of appropriate protective clothing in the advert merely serves to heighten the fact that the rider is a rebel like Dean and Brando, instantly shoving him much higher up the attractiveness quotient scale.  Although the following photo has been posted previously, it does serve to reinforce the implied assertion that Triumph riders with inappropriate riding gear (even those with an appalling fashion sense) are hugely attractive to the opposite sex.  The photo was taken in 1969 at the Isle of Man TT and the bike is a 1955 Tiger 100 (a good year obviously, for Triumph marketers). Fear of further ridicule prevents the identity of the rider from being disclosed.  The pillion was a lovely Scottish lass holidaying in the I.O.M who may have left her spectacles back in Scotland.

Destined never to be chosen as best-dressed man of the year, sigh......

Finally, just to prove to female readers that they too will become magnets to the opposite sex following the purchase of a Triumph, absolute proof is in the photo below.

Paramount Pictures publicity photo

Ann-Margaret was an unknown, unattractive actress before this photo was released.  Stick her on a Triumph in conservatively styled OSH-approved riding gear and bingo, hormones all over the world start sloshing about and Triumph sales skyrocket - I rest my case.

If you should think that this post conjours up the phrase "tongue in cheek", just go and talk to Triumph riders of either sex to get to the truth of the matter.  Better still, buy a Triumph and find out for yourself!