Vespa / Piaggio USA Sites: a Cut Above the Rest?
Written by Nuri Djavit
Cool Hunting just wrote a piece about the new Vespa site we recently launched which has, in turn, inspired more posts about both Vespa and Piaggio. Even though many of the motorcycle firms have recently relaunched sites, the general perception is that most are still doing a poor job of exploiting the vast array of interactive marketing opportunities and worse, not representing their brands well online. Their websites seem like after thoughts and do little to speak their audiences (beyond existing, loyal customers). Most brands have something to offer everyone, from high powered super bikes to capable commuters and, therefore, they should be doing what they can to tackle some of the key questions people have when purchasing their first bike – or perhaps returning to biking after a long break – namely the following:
- Safety: how safe is riding a bike and how safe can I make it?
- Training: where can i go to get basic through to advanced training?
- Licensing: how do I get my license and is it difficult?
- Parking: where can I park (and what can I get away with)?
- Security: what can I do to secure my bike?
- Community: where and how do I hook up with other people in my area who ride the same/similar machines, share ideas and get tips/advice?
We’ve begun the process with the Why, Where, How section on both sites as well as the Community Rides tools and this is just scratching the surface. There’s still more that can be done to build brand loyalty and community action. As a lifelong motorcycle rider myself, I believe it’s a very viable, fun and safe method of transportation and mostly this can be achieved through simple education and training. By far, I think the opportunity for many motorcycle brands is to promote the high level of design and engineering their bikes display and capping it off, the innate sexiness they exude and the attachment riders soon develop with their machines.
I would agree with Wes Stiller in Hell For Leather that very few have done anything to reflect the pride of ownership people have or will have upon making the right purchase. Hopefully, the work we’ve done for Vespa and Piaggio has gone some way to do that. We rather think it has.
