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“Vespa Girl” wins gold!

November 10, 2008

vespa-girlBrisbane’s new landmark — “Vespa Girl” — seen riding high above Scooters Scooters in Wickham Street Fortitude Valley has another reason to smile and wave at passers by, having won Gold in the Australian Sign Awards on the 31st of October 2008!

The annual competition is held on a National basis and the Vespa Girl took on contestants from as far away as W.A to take out the ‘Neon bending & lighting effects’ category.

Dealer Principal Joe D’Ercole was thrilled with the award stating that “we really wanted to make a statement, and an impact with the Vespa Girl sign. People are already using the store and sign as a point of reference in the area. We believe we have achieved this, and taking out the award is icing on the cake.”

Scooters Scooters is Vespa’s showcase store in Australia featuring a full line up of the stylish, economical and environmentally friendly Vespa, Piaggio and Gilera range of scooters. [source]

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See here how the moving neon display looks at night… Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Photos, Shop Talk, Vespa Overeas | 1 Comment »

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Vietnam wears a helmet!

July 9, 2008

Vietnam is a motorcycle country. Two wheels (about 90%) greatly outnumber the cars on the road. But as seen in the images on my two previous Vietnam-related posts here, hardly anyone there wore a helmet on the road. Thankfully, that’s a thing of the past.

So how did the country get it’s more than 12 million riders to wear one? Well, it all started with this campaign.

The ads featured in campaign were made by Ogilvy and Mather Vietnam for Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. The campaign utilized actual motorbike accident victims.

On December 15, 2007, wearing a helmet became mandatory (Government Decree Number 32 - Mandatory Helmet Law) to all motorbike riders in Vietnam making it one of the world’s most successful public-health initiatives in years. My recent visit there is proof that indeed, everyone now wears a helmet there and not just in Ho Chi Minh but in the rural areas as well. Our tour guide said not everyone is happy with the new law but all are forced to comply than pay the fine of 200,000 dong or roughly about U$D12.

And since the “coolness” factor ranks high for most Vietnamese riders, some of their helmets (they used to jokingly refer to these protective headgears as “rice cooker”) don’t look like helmets at all! For a rider like me, Vietnam roads was practically an endless showroom of fancy helmets money could buy. There are ones that are shaped like baseball caps, cowboy hats, bowler, sola topee, and knitted beanies. There are colorful visors made of cloth attachable to a plain-looking helmets. At one time, I think I even saw a helmet that looks like the familiar Vietnamese straw hat (Nón lá ). You name it, they have it!

And since I myself fancy unique helmets, I bought some for myself. I even bought one for my daughter which is shaped like a ladybug. That one’s just too cute to pass up. See them here. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Fashion, Rider's Issues, Rides & Travels, Shop Talk | 4 Comments »

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Topic Off-Vespa: Tomorrow’s People

July 7, 2008

Nothing to do with Vespas but I figured I’d do some 80’s Pinoy kids a favor by posting this on the internet.

The ad below brings a lot of memories. Shot in Liverpool, England, I was in high school in the late ’80s when this popular Coke ad was shown locally. I’ve been looking for this in YouTube for a years but no luck. I saw the other international versions but not the one shown here in the Philippines. When I saw most of the comments in those clips, a lot of people are also looking for the same local version. Someone even “threatened” that if the Coca-Cola peeps don’t upload the video soon, he’s gonna switch to Pepsi! hahaha!

Luckily, I got a copy of my requested episodes of QTV’s Ang Pinaka over the weekend (thanks again Vexel9!) including that of the Most Memorable commercial jingles.

When I saw this Coke ad again, I remembered how big a crush I had with Lilet back then. hahaha! I would have been proud kung naging gf ko sya that time. Alam ko sa St. Jo sya nag-high school eh. Kaso mahigpit daw yung nanay kaya di na ako nanligaw. KAPAL! STALKLER! bwahaha! :D

Anyway, here’s the TVC.

Syempre, may kasamang lyrics:

I am the future of the world
I am the hope of my nation
I am tomorrow’s people
I am the new inspiration

And we’ve got a song to sing to you
We’ve got a message to bring to you

Please let there be, for you and for me, a tomorrow (tomorrow)
If we all can agree there’ll be sweet harmony tomorrow (tomorrow)
And we all will be there, Coca-Cola to share
Feeling so real and so true
Promise us tomorrow
And we’ll build a better world for you

Wanna see the versions from other countries? I compiled them here. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Topic Off-Vespa, Videos | 6 Comments »

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All roads lead to Angono for Vespa Jamboree!

April 9, 2008

The Angono Sccooter Boys are at it again. And the event this weekend (April 12 & 13) promises to be BIGGER and BETTER than last year’s Angono Round-Up. For one thing, Vespa riders have the option to camp out and stay overnight!

Here’s the itinerary they posted for the two-day event: Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Local Scene, Rides & Travels, Topic Off-Vespa | 7 Comments »

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Vespa Heads: It’s Hip to be [S]quare!

March 12, 2008

The newest Vespa model called the Vespa S is a retro-inspired scooter with square-ish headlamp and side mirrors is based on the classic look of the famous 50 Special model of 1969. These vintage models are still highly sought after and the scoot’s cult status was confirmed a few years ago when teen band Lunapop sang its praises in their smash hit “50 Special.”

In a press release, Piaggio formally announced the debut of the 2008 Vespa S, a retro-forward 150cc for the North American market. To create a buzz for the new model, the Toronto-based Vespa Canada launched the Vespa-head campaign — life-sized humanoid cutouts with the Vespa S handlebar for its head. These ‘dudes’ sports a retro-cool getups like Chuck Taylor and other ‘in-again’ brands to play on the notion that it’s hip to be square.

The company plans to display the odd humal-like images on buildings around Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. There are four different Vespa-heads in total; they’ll appear either as singles like this one:

vespa-heads.jpg

or in a group of intimidating posse such as this:

vespa-heads-gang.jpg

Read more about the Vespa-head campaign… Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Art Vespa, Vespa Overeas, Vespa Tidbits | 3 Comments »

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Art Vespa for your pocket!

November 30, 2007

As a souvenir/token for Vespa Attack 3 (and as a way to advertise the site among other Vespa riders :mrgreen: ), I’m handing out a Vespa-themed pocket calendar for everyone. Here’s how it looks like:

pocket-calendar-vespa.jpg

For a backgrounder about the artwork, you may read more about it in this post.

I had 1000 pieces of this calendar and I’ll distribute it in the 3-day event. If you’re going to VA3, just approach me if ever I miss handing you one.

Vespa Attack 3 starts later tonight and ends on December 2.

Save-the-date!

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J0HNRANA

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


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Posted in Advertisements, Art Vespa | 1 Comment »

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Newsflash: Ben Sherman Sale!

November 16, 2007

Just saw this posted in the Vespa Club of the Philipines forum and thought local mods and scooterists out there might be interested.

bensherman-sale-nov07.jpg

Thanks to Quadrophenic for the heads up. :)

For more about the Ben Sherman store here in Manila, read my post here. I still haven’t visited Shangri-La Mall for the sale though. Here’s the exact store location and their contact numbers.

Sugod!

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J0HNRANA

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

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P.S. Anybody here knows how to remove that **&%$#! flower divider on my sidebar? :x

Posted in Advertisements, Fashion, Local Scene, Newsflash!, Shop Talk | 2 Comments »

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Art Vespa: Mock Vespanomic Ads with Heroes stars!

November 14, 2007

I admit, I’m a “Heroes” fanboy. I finished the entire Season One in a iPod video marathon. Now I’m hooked with Season 2 with it’s 4th episode (The Kindness of Strangers) being the best ever for me!

Anyway, I’ve seen this picture of Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) sitting on a Vespa before. But after seeing picture another Heroes cast member on a scooter, an idea struck me to make some mock Vespa print ads. For the ad copy, I used a line from this actual Vespa advertisment seen on the road. To make the ad series more relevant, the slant of the ads tackled issues taken up in Vespanomics, like traffic and rising gas prices.

Of course, I did try to input subtle humor into the ads, but I guess only peeps who watch the show would really get it. I used the closest comicbook-like font I could find for the tagline at the bottom of the layout to make it more familiar to fans of the series. Here’s the first one…

heroes-vespa-ad-claire-bennet.jpg

I don’t think you’d ever guess the next one featured in this mock Vespa/Vespanomics ad series. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Art Vespa, Celebrities, Characters | 4 Comments »

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Vespa gets a Gap ‘Crazy Stripes’ makeover!

November 8, 2007

To better appreciate this new designer Vespa, allow me to show you what this Gap ‘Crazy Stripes’ is all about:

Now, how would a Vespa look like if it dons those same colorful stripes? Well, it has been recently unveiled. If you’ve yet to see it, then look here! Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Fashion, Videos | No Comments »

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Two Vespa Spottings on local TV in one night!

September 25, 2007

Since my side of the family is not exactly small, the whole brood gathers at least once a month to celebrate someone’s birthday. It’s usually held on a Saturday, and for the past three or four birthday dinners we’ve had, we never failed to get a glimpse of a show called “Celebrity Duets” on GMA. Hmmm… if catching the show happened on several occasions already, it couldn’t be dismissed as a mere coincidence anymore. Someone in the family is obviously following every episode religiously; but I’m not one to reveal who it is. :roll:

Anyway, there was a segment last Saturday where Tessa Prieto-Valdez (she’s one of the contenders) had a duet with the legendary Mike Hanopol singing, what else, but the anthem of all jeproks (Tagalog street slang for ‘tough’) called “Laki sa Layaw.” As a prop to this live performance, Tessa posed beside a white Vespa ET right up there on the stage at the start of the song. What’s the connection, right? I guess it’s jeproks to have a Vespa… hahaha

I went to youtube to see if I could grab a broadcast recording of the show but only found this home video of the said performance taken by a studio audience. It was uploaded by a certain hkpirate/DV which I could only assume as Dennis Valdez, Tessa’s better half (Note: If you’re following the show, you may be interested to read his blog and read about rumors about what the other contestants are doing to get text votes).

Watch their performance:

The vocals weren’t clearly audible because of the quality but the band sounded great… and Mike Hanopol still rocks!

During the break, I saw this commercial — with pretty newcomer Maja Salvador — where I spotted another Vespa. The ad is for a product called Lewis & Pearl cologne and I think the ad was shot in Downtown Manila. If you haven’t seen it, take a look at it here. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Advertisements, Celebrities, Local Scene, Music, Television, Vespa Spottings, Videos | 9 Comments »

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