From Rome (and Signalwriter) #5: In America, Vespa Lives and Rides On…

The latest issue of “Blurb,” the electronic newsletter from PAN Advertising in Rome, was sent out in the middle of the second quarter. There are neat articles from PAN’s Dialogue affiliates in the Aprile-Maggio 2011 number.

PAN’s General Manager, Gianfranco Vallana, sent us all a nice email: “With the second issue we got a significant improvement in the opening (58%) and the number of unique visitors (+22%). About 1,000 marketers in Italy now are becoming aware of Dialogue. We are sure that this is a good first step to market Dialogue in this country.”

Here is what my contribution had to say:

It is not likely that much will change America’s gasoline consumption level (and the free-range lifestyle that goes with it) anytime soon. At least one company is trying, though – another Italian classic brand called…Vespa.

The terrific, iconic motor scooter company, part of Piaggio, opened up a new pitch in 2008, complete with fresh website and advertising. Paolo Timoni, President and CEO, Piaggio Group Americas, said at the time, “It’s the practical side of Vespa ownership, such as the ability for every consumer to save $6,000 per year by reducing their wheel count from eight to six, that this campaign focuses on.”

This push is ongoing – the current website edition stresses VESPANOMICS – THE ROAD TO SAVINGS with plenty of room left over for the snappy models. (A personal favorite would be the GTV 300 model which seems to have enough muscle to overcome my fears about looking dorky.)

It will take a Superman to change enough American minds to make a difference. Sheer numbers are a big problem. There is poor market penetration here. One overviewer, Motor Scooter Shopper, notes:

There are many reasons for the scooter market being the way it is, but for the most part it’s due to the American scooter market being but a small fraction of the overall world scooter market (as opposed to the American automobile market being a large chunk of the world automobile market). In 2007 there were only 1 million registered scooters in the US, compared to over 30 million in Europe alone. How many scooters are being used in Asia is unknown…but it’s safe to assume the total number in Asia far surpasses even the Europe number.

Also, attempting to control accident rates, state and local jurisdictions have begun strengthening motorcycle laws to include the milder-performing scooters. Vespas and other motorini used to …drive under the radar, so to speak: riding one around town was pretty casual. Now there is a growing “hassle factor” involved in owning and operating a motor scooter.

Vespa is working on these challenges and change is coming. Still, appealing to economic sense seems a less likely pathway to success than pushing harder on the neat, cool and fun aspects. Check back with us in a decade to see how Vespa’s brand share is doing here.

Thanks to my excellent PAN colleagues and their audience throughout Italy. For previous “Blurb” posts – in English and Italian – type From Rome in the search box, upper left and press Enter.

From Rome #4: Praying for Another Italian Import.

Herewith, the final post created for PAN in Rome. I re-post it today on Signalwriter because, you  know, we all need more beauty in our lives. The subject matter is much more natural in the Italian version.

Americans are even more aware of another Italian name – or at least a face: Elizabetta Canalis. She is currently George Clooney’s girlfriend* so there’s plenty of envy to cover both sides of the human race, male and female.

Why does this matter to advertising people? Because Ms Canalis is currently starring in ads and videos for fashion designer Roberto Cavalli – her second year in the lead role. Since Italian fashion gets as much marketing attention as Italian cars, the new Roberto Cavalli print campaign, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, has gained celebrity attention worldwide. (If there’s a fashion or gossip blog on the planet that hasn’t already posted about this, it must be in Iran.)

Americans slowly began to learn about this particular cutting-edge campaign from the London Daily Mail, where Italian designer Cavalli said, “For my new underwear collection I chose Elisabetta again, my ideal of a woman…she was perfect in enhancing the spirit of this advertising campaign!”

But we know more about Cavalli since he’s a major presence on a popular US TV program, “America’s Next Top Model,” on the Warner Bros./CBS broadcast network The CW. It is one more demonstration that there are no real borders between marketing, advertising, public relations and entertainment, at least in the consumer marketplace.

The photographs ain’t bad either.

*Are Clooney and Canalis together in a Fiat ad? Perhaps here. Photo of: Elizabetta Canalis © Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for Roberto Cavalli – all rights reserved.

From Rome #3: “FIAT Arrives – the Second Time Around…”

In the previous post, PAN had translated the FIAT post I’d submitted into Italian for its clients and prospects. Here is the original…more or less.

One classy Italian that’s coming back to America is the new Fiat 500. The tiny comeback is premiering as part of Fiat’s new alliance with Chrysler Corporation.

The last time Fiat sold cars in the US under its own brand name, Ronald Reagan was President, Terms of Endearment won the Oscar for the Best Picture and Michael Jackson took home a Grammy for “Beat It.” That was 1984.

(Twenty years earlier in ‘64, when I was…younger…a friend and I drove his microscopic Fiat 500 to Seattle, Washington, from Atlanta, Georgia. It was an excruciating round trip for someone my size: 4400 miles or 7000 kilometers. I look forward to discovering if the new 500 is more appealing.)

So in just a few weeks, the first Fiat 500s will roll into the carmaker’s new US showrooms. There’s already one in Austin, TX. The new car is supposed to be priced at US$15,500 for the basic model. For those who enjoy life’s little luxuries, there’s a model with all the premium bits for US$25,500.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, also the CEO of Chrysler, believes that the time is just right to relaunch the Fiat marque. He says in Ad Age magazine, “We want Fiat to be a global brand, and the 500 is the perfect vehicle with which to re-open the conversation with Americans.”

Fiat is going to have to prove that its new car is not just fun to drive – the brand’s got to overcome American resistance to small cars. (BMW’s Mini Cooper brand has lots of cool but not a large market share.) There’s also the reliability challenge – quality became a major problem with the old Fiat models back in the early 1980s.

The ad industry’s waiting to see what the new US ad agency for Fiat, Impatto, is going to do. Run by Italian-American Michael D’Antonio, it’s a boutique shop that’s been selected to handle creative duties and event strategy for the new car launch. The Michigan-based agency has created the car’s slogan for America, “Life is best when driven.” (See above.)

According to MSNBC, Impatto and Fiat will use both traditional marketing channels and “alternative methods” for the introduction, including event-based “graffiti walls” being set up in key US markets; and social media. The alternatives sound like the same kinds of tactics used by BMW Mini and its first ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

PS: Want to see the new FIAT in southeast Texas? Initially, Northside FIAT of Houston will get the first cars. The dealership will start off sharing space with Spring Chrysler Jeep Dodge at 21027 Interstate 45 North, exit 70A.

From Rome #1: It’s a Post, It’s a Blurb – and There Will Be Italian...

The next few Signalwriter posts come from content specially created for PAN Advertising in Rome. Gianfranco Vallana, Managing Director of the long-time Dialogue International affiliate, wrote:

In PAN we are sending e-mail news about the agency work to clients and prospects. They have good opening rates, but to be honest we need to raise the interest and the impact.

We don’t want to offer boring news, and we don’t want to compete with professional editors, but we noted that Italian specialized press usually don’t publish a lot of news from abroad. So we think we could get the attention of our targets sending a short list of news, opinion or curiosities about marketing and communications in other countries, written by our Dialogue friends.

As one of our major objectives is to highlight Dialogue and internationality in our positioning platform…bingo!

And the kindliest note of all, sent to me as a Chairman Emeritus of the organization:

We suddenly realized that we’d like to have also you on board. We cannot forget USA and Texas!

I submitted several items which Gianfranco and his team combined with many others from Dialogue members throughout Europe and the US, under the title Blurb. Pan is using this word (which doesn’t exist in the Italian language) to draw attention to news that’s interesting to its clients and prospects, from the world of communication beyond Italy’s borders.

Dear readers: there’s more to come. Watch for my posts (in Italian and English). They’re re-posted here on Signalwriter courtesy of Vallana; long-time colleague Giorgio Bonifazi Razzanti, PAN’s Creative Director, and the rest of team in Rome. May all your emails have superb open rates!