Droga5 Brings Surreal Artistry to Riding a Harley-Davidson

What’s the allure of riding a motorcycle? Is it the powerful engine, the community that comes with riding, or just the ability to save precious time by weaving between cars in rush hour traffic? For Harley-Davidson, the goal is simply to cut through the noise in our digital lives with the growling sound of a Twin Cam engine, carving out an escape from monotony. For many of us, the first thing we see in the morning is an email and the last thing is a tweet, with one of the few disconnects during the day being while driving, though even that is limited to the confines of a commute. (If you aren’t disconnecting during that time, please start.) In its first campaign for the brand, Droga5 capitalizes on that freeing feeling of driving by connecting it to the vehicles with the fewest restraints. While personal liberation certainly isn't a new theme for Harley-Davidson advertising, Droga5 brings a new level of surreal artistry to the theme. "Breathe" gives off some 1984-meets-Radiohead vibes as a detached voice pleads with a rider to return to the digital matrix of complacency. The work also debuts a new and minimalist visual identity for the brand. [kickout id="1"] While "Breathe" focuses on the negative aspects of modern society, building nicely if intensely to the eventual payoff in the final 10 seconds, "Magic Hour" captures the imagination as a disjointed, intense sequence that could have worked just as well as a psychedelic trip scene in a movie. Just read a snippet of the script: “You’re flying, but centered. Lost, but found. Every part of your body is engaged, every part of your mind is activated. Synapses firing, dopamine oozing. It’s chemical. You get off and you feel reborn. A god.” [kickout id="2"] Creating new campaigns that take a legacy brand in new directions is especially challenging, but Droga5 succeeds here by bridging a classic idea of independence with the grim realities of modern life. CREDITS: Agency: Droga5 NY Creative Chairman: David Droga Global Chief Creative Officer: Neil Heymann Co-Chief Creative Officer: Felix Richter Co-Chief Creative Officer: Tim Gordon Executive Creative Director: Casey Rand Executive Creative Director: Kevin Brady Creative Director: Thom Glover Creative Director: Marybeth Ledesma Associate Creative Director: George McQueen Associate Creative Director: Tom McQueen Senior Copywriter: Dan Litzow Art Director: Gemma Slack Copywriter: Jenny Yoon Art Director: Maria Kouninski Chief Design Officer: Jason Severs Group Design Director: Rich Greco Group Design Director: Devin Croda Group Experience Design Director: Craig Wong Senior User Experience Designer: James Garvey Associate Director, Experience Design: Jenny Clark Experience Designer: Owen DiRienz Junior Experience Designer: Xin An Design Director: Anna Fine Senior Designer: Albie Eloy Content Strategy Lead: Louise Dreier Content Strategy Director: Paul Vogel Senior Design Content Writer: Jeremy Zerbe Performance Writer: Rob Mellinger Design Director: Mark Yoon Senior Designer: Kathryn Brylinsky Designer: Allison Lee Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale Director of Film Production: Jesse Brihn Associate Director of Film Production (All Films): Ruben Mercadal Executive Producer, Film (Breathe + Magic Hour): Gulshan Jaffery Senior Producer, Film (Night Trails): Liliana Vega Senior Producer, Film (Magic Hour): Jeremy Fox Producer, Film (Magic Hour): Forrest Holt Producer, Film (Product Films): Kelly Appleton Co-Director of Interactive Production & Integration Lead: Tasha Cronin Producer, Interactive Colin Neff Producer, Interactive: Aaron Matys Associate Producer, Interactive: Michelle Levitch Associate Producer, Interactive: Lauren Williams Director of Print + Fabrication Services: Rob Lugo Director of Art Production: Cliff Lewis Associate Director of Art Production: Bianca Escobar Senior Art Producer: Heather Black Associate Director of Print + Fabrication Services: Riely Clough Executive Producer, Producer, Print: Alyssa Dolman Senior Producer, Print: Rose Mahan Junior Producer, Print: Abe Nowels Music Supervisor: Mike Ladman Senior Business Affairs Manager: Whitney Vose Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer Head of Strategy: New Business: Will Davie Strategy Director: Grant Flannery Senior Strategist: Claudia Vitarelli Head of Communications Strategy: Dean Challis Communications Strategy Director: Kathryn Ruocco Communications Strategist: Clark Cofer Junior Communications Strategist: Soheyla Escher Chief Intelligence Officer: Amy Avery Group Data Strategy Director: Christina Fieni Data Strategy Director: Tradd Salvo Data Strategist: Greg Berard Junior Data Strategist: Shelby Lance Group Account Director: Julia Albu Group Account Director: Mike Tooley Account Director: Cara Roberts Account Supervisor: Chelsea Elliott Account Supervisor: Tim Leathart Account Manager: Hayley Howell Associate Account Manager: Lindsay Squires Senior Project Manager: Hillary Jordan Senior Project Manager: Stephanie Liu Jr. Project Manager: Amanda Cohen Client: Harley Davidson Production Company (Breathe): Smuggler Director: Jaron Albertin DOP: Mattias Königswieser Executive Producers: Allison Kunzman, Patrick Milling Smith Producer: Nick Fewtrell Service Production Company (Breathe): Unit and Sofa, Prague (Night Trails) DOP: Adam Arkapaw Producer: Joey Zadwarny Production Company (Magic Hour): Epoch Films Director: Elena Petitti di Roreto Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan Producer: Ritu Paramesh Production Company (Product Films): Venture Visuals Director: Ryan Espinosa Executive Producer: Thomas Kranzle Editorial (Breathe): Cut and Run NY Editor: Jonnie Scarlett Executive Producer: Ellese Shell Editorial (Magic Hour): Exile Editing Editor: Robert Lopuski Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld Editorial (Night Trails): Work Editorial Editor: Rich Orrick Executive Producer: Erica Thompson Editorial (Product Films): Second Child Editor: Matt Badger Executive Producer: Scott Chin Post Production (Breathe, Night Trails, Magic Hour): The Mill Executive Producer: Andrew Somerville Telecine (Magic Hour + Breathe): Damien Van Der Cruyssen Telecine (Company 3 - Night Trails): Tom Poole Creative Director: Gavin Wellsman Postproduction (Product Films): Second Child Color / VFX: Second Child Music & Sound Design (Breathe): Q Department Creative Director: Drazen Bosnjak Mix (Breathe): Sonic Union Mixer: David Pappa Executive Producer: Vicky Ferraro Mix (Night Trails, Magic Hour): Wave Studios Mixer: Aaron Reynolds Executive Producer: Vicky Ferraro Junior Producer: Eleni Giannopoulos Music & Sound Design (Product Films): Second Child Mix / Sound Design: Jesse Peterson Production Company: Second Child Managing Director: Scott Chinn Senior Retoucher: Natasha Kaser Senior Retoucher: Mike Vorrasi Senior Retoucher: John Clendenen Graphics Studio Manager: Virginia Vargas Producer, Retouching: Michael Mockler Producer, Graphics: Nereida Valles Senior Editor: Matthew Badger Editor: Victor Hermosillo Design Director: Pravin Chottera Assistant Editor: Simone Maurice Assistant Editor: Martin Keating Senior Post Producer: Sara Mills Photography Production Company: Crawford & Co Photographer: Alex De Mora Production Company: Jake Mills Production Photographer: Christian Weber Photographer: Magdalena Wosinska Photographer: Jack Davison

AdFreak

Droga5 Brings Surreal Artistry to Harley-Davidson's Enduring Promise of Escape

It's the agency's first work for the 116-year-old brand

Mitch Reames

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Mitch Reames