Back in 1903, Harley-Davidson set out on a two-wheeled trip unlike any other. One down many roads, through decades of loud pipes and roaring engines. But in more recent years the perception of Harley had shifted. Fewer people were riding and many viewed the product line-up as one-note. We needed to help build the next generation of riders and mark the arrival of the all-new LiveWire, the first electric bike in H-D history. So to preach our electric future we made it known that although our bikes were changing, our destination remained the same. A destination that’s not a place in the material world, but a state of mind, a jolt of zen - now delivered faster than any Harley ever built.
The LiveWire is all the classic character of Harley-Davidson injected into an all-new electric experience. No clutch to release, no gears to shift, just one twist of the throttle and instant torque takes you 0-60 in 3 seconds. It’s that power that can turn your whole world into a howling blur of joy. Directed by Ringan Ledwidge and shot by acclaimed cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, we showed one city-goer’s cerebral experience journeying through the night on an electric joyride. A moment of ‘motorpsychosis’, of transcendence, where light bends at will to this lightning-fast shortcut to nirvana.
The global TVC preached this pure riding pleasure from Finland to Mumbai to Mexico. The film dramatized the LiveWire as a bolt of high-performance that can sweep up both body and mind. An electric watercolor against the backdrop of the LA skyline. On this trip, it’s just you and your brain. Throttling up and down. Moving so fast that you overtake your past, forget your future and arrive at a place inside where you are free.
We then enlisted the talents of acclaimed photographers Christian Weber and Magdalena Wosinska to capture the aggressive stance, evocative design and cutting-edge tech of the bike - both in the studio and in speed-shattering motion. Light paintings created in-camera were paired with the pure performance silhouette of a bike that’s built to push boundaries. Out in the streets, blurred and visceral shots showed off the agility of the bike and its ability to whip through a city grid with lightning quickness.
The launch of the LiveWire was an ode to the last century and a road map to the next. Because if you’re not going forward, you’re going backward. Luckily, most Harley’s don’t have a reverse gear and all it takes is one turn of this glorious throttle, and you’ll see that Harley-Davidson’s first step toward an electric future is a damn powerful one.