Responses by Sean Smith, executive creative director, Solve.

Background: Indian Motorcycles had been marketing its brand primarily on a product-by-product basis. With help from design firm, Good Fortune Collective, our goal with the “Set The Standard” campaign was to shift to marketing with an overall brand message. One that would resonate on a more emotional level with our target—both seasoned riders familiar with the brand, and young riders being introduced to it for the first time.

Reasoning: We wanted to lean into Indian’s incredible heritage, but in a way that would feel modern and fresh. Our approach was to celebrate the values Indian shares with its audience, delivered with an aesthetic that evokes the craft it puts into its motorcycles.

Challenges: Finding the right aesthetic balance. While Indian is a heritage brand, the company is aggressively innovative, with an eye on the future. The campaign needed to resonate with the sensibilities of its older core audience, while attracting young riders with more progressive tastes.

Favorite details: We created an entirely new look and feel for the brand without changing any of the core elements. We used its existing fonts and color palette to create the new “Set The Standard” tagline lockups, the 1901 mark and a modern approach to its typography.

Visual influences: The motorcycle category itself. A lot of the work is very similar from a visual perspective. We were determined to give Indian a unique aesthetic. Another influence was Indian’s motorcycles, which are simply gorgeous. We wanted the campaign to evoke the passion and craft that goes into them.

Specific demands: Our initial work for the new campaign was all done with existing photography from previous shoots. Our design approach had to be able to accommodate a wide variety of existing shots, with the flexibility to evolve in the future.

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