Many motorcycle riders don’t wear helmets. We were tasked with getting more riders to wear helmets in a way that would resonate with the entire biker community, and enact positive change organically for helmet usage.

Motorcyclists who don’t wear a helmet are 63% more likely to die in a motorcycle crash. The idea of death became the cornerstone of how we could breathe life and hope into the campaign through tragedy. So we made the life or death decision of wearing a helmet simple for Harley Davidson riders: we emphasized the death. We launched the Motorcycle Boneyard, a used parts marketplace where all of the sellers were riders who died because they weren’t wearing a helmet. To make this life saving decision even easier, Harley Davidson provided a free helmet with every purchase.

The Motorcycle Boneyard successfully tied the use of a helmet to something every motorcyclist can relate to; the fear of death. It facilitated the distribution of helmets and a reason to wear one, to make Harley Davidson riders safer on the road. It also successfully made each new rider wearing the helmet an advocate for helmet safety and built a new community that champions helmet safety.