Putting Royal Enfield passion into words

In plain English, people buy motorcycles because they are passionate about them. Certainly there is immense passion for Royal Enfield motorcycles, especially in India. Naturally, the manufacturer seeks to serve that passion, whether in India or around the world, so as to sell more motorcycles. Surprisingly, it's hard to find a simple statement of this mission on the official web sites of the factory or importers.

This only comes to mind because I recently encountered a statement of the "Vision" of Harley-Davidson on a fan website. The fan site dredged up this hideous example of corporate blithering from deep in the company's web site. Harley might have preferred it remain buried:

"Harley-Davidson, Inc. is an action-oriented, international company, a leader in its commitment to continuously improve our mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders (customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, governments and society). Harley-Davidson believes the key to success is to balance stakeholders’ interests through the empowerment of all employees to focus on value-added activities."

There you go! And you thought they just built great motorcycles that moved you physically and emotionally. Do Harley riders realize they are "stakeholders"?

Harley and Royal Enfield both rely on web site videos to capture the passion people have for their products. But you can't commit a video to memory, or paint it on a roadside sign. I recognize that there is a difference between a mission statement and a mere motto. But I still think the fewer words, the better.

As for the babble-speak Harley corporate "Vision," no one was really meant to read that, or remember it, or believe it. Corporations are in business to make money, the more money the better. The way to do that is to serve the wants and needs of customers, not to "balance stakeholder relationships."

For motorcycle companies like Royal Enfield and Harley-Davidson, the customers are thirsty for a rich brew of excitement, nostalgia, reputation and quality.

How do you put that into words? For Royal Enfield, how about something like this:

"Royal Enfield makes the motorcycles that moved you yesterday to move you even better today."