Who rides a Vespa?

Been wanting to blog about this “Road to Lisbon” Adidas ad for quite some time now. The spot — shown in 2004 with a 2-minute running time — features numerous Vespas, Lambrettas and other EuroScoots. The concept depicts the football greats as they leave their respective home countries for the European Soccer Championship. The treatment is an epic-like journey, where the players and football fans ride their scooters and grew in droves as they headed to Portugal’s capital city. The commercial was shot various European cities (Paris, Madrid, Seville and Lisbon), cost €4.5 million, and took six months to complete. Here are more info about the ad from adidas-group.com:

“Road to Lisbon” was Adidas’ global football advertising campaign especially produced for the UEFA EURO 2004™, embodying Adidas’ everlasting passion and commitment to football. In the spot, 13 of the world’s best football players (in alphabetical order: Xabi Alonso, Michael Ballack, David Beckham, Ashley Cole, Alessandro Del Piero, Oliver Kahn, Frank Lampard, Roy Makaay, Raul [Gonzalez Blanco], Vicente Rodriguez Guillen, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira, Zinedine Zidane) are caught on camera as they travel on customized scooters from their respective home countries to Lisbon for the UEFA EURO 2004™ championships. As David Beckham said: “It’s about the whole of Europe coming together. Not just the players, also the fans.”

Watch the ad here:

The commercial has been described as a cross between the 1979 cult movie, Quadrophenia; and the 1969 crime caper, The Italian Job. The music score for the video is set to the tune called ‘It’s Caper Time’ from The Italian Job soundtrack by Quincy Jones.

Now, let’s profile David Beckham as a Vespa rider.

rider: David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE
also known as: David Beckham, Dave, Becks, Golden Balls
ride: a vintage Vespa
homebase: Hertfordshire (London) and Madrid (Spain)
job: English Football superstar; hubby to Posh Spice (Victoria)

(THIS & other hi-res ad photos may be downloaded at the Adidas Press Room)

more about the rider: In the Adidas ad, Beck wore a helmet and a parka just like a authentic ’60s Mod. It was reported that Dave was so fond of his personalized Vespa that when filming was finished, he had it shipped to his Hertfordshire home. His scooter has a ‘BECKHAM’ sticker on top of the legshield covered by a front rack that holds a pair of wing mirrors and lights. It’s also badged with an RAF emblem (Royal Air Force) and a St. George’s cross and boasts of a pair of chrome cowls. Download the Vespa wallpaper below to see the scoot’s details.

David Beckham| Road to Lisbon Wallpaper
download: 1024 x 768 | 800 x 600

By the way, there is also a downloadable ‘Road to Lisbon’ screensaver available which features ten of 13 foolball/soccer bigwigs (led by Beckham) with their personalized scooters. You can click here to DIRECTLY download and save.

Bend it like Beckham,

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J0HNRANA

john[dot]rana[at]gmail[dot]com