Ducati Scrambler “Franco & Elvira Story”
As it has in previous years, Ducati will use Intermot as a hosting grounds to unveil a new machine.
Ducati will utilize the show in Cologne, Germany, to launch its 2015 Scrambler – a modern model of the original dual-sport that was created for the American market in 1962.
The original Scrambler, which utilized color schemes that were unconventional at the time, remained strictly in the American market until arriving in Italy in 1968. That year – in the midst of the counterculture movement – Ducati used its own employees for an advertising campaign.
The highlight of this campaign was the iconic shot of employees “Franco and Elvira” aboard a yellow Scrambler. At that time, Franco was a test rider, and Elvira a professional model.
And as the unveiling of the 2015 model nears, Ducati created a mini-webisode series, the “Franco & Elvira Story,” starring stop-motion plasticine characters.
This new marketing campaign, created by three 19-year-old men from Ducati’s home in Bologna, uses Americana to tell the story of how the Scrambler ended up in the present day. The first video is attached above; to see the others, visit Ducati’s Scrambler Vimeo Page.
Following is more information on the animated “Franco & Elvira Story” from an official Ducati press release:
Franco, a man from 2078, is catapulted by a time machine back to the Woodstock festival of August 1969 where he meets and falls in love with both Scrambler Ducati and Elvira. They joyously elope on the bike, yet before the two can even kiss the time machine hurls them forwards to the present day, to 2014.
Franco and Elvira find themselves directly in front of the fabulous “yellow container” – first visited by Ducati employees and then the enthusiasts who flocked to WDW 2014 – from which they exit astride the new Scrambler Ducati.
The three “Franco & Elvira Story” videos include all the key aspects of the inspired marketing campaign Ducati has put together to promote the new Scrambler. Firstly, there is the involvement of employees (just as the original Franco and Elvira were), the first to see the prototype of the new bike.
Then there is the subsequent development of the idea, as seen in the “Land of Joy” area at WDW2014, which hosted the “yellow container” to give Ducatisti an exclusive sneak preview of the Scrambler Ducati. Lastly, there is Franco’s mustache – a “must-have” at the WDW Scrambler Beach Party this past July- which is set to become the light-hearted symbol of the new bike. Franco and Elvira thus bring the Scrambler into the present day and remain, almost fifty years on, the bike’s leading promoters.
Yet the new Scrambler is no replica of its predecessor but, rather, a contemporary reinterpretation of it. This is no vintage motorcycle: it is, instead, truly modern, intended to be just how the legendary bike would be today if Ducati had never stopped building it.
For the time being, then, enthusiasts can enjoy the animated imagery and excellent artistry of this last video, but they won’t have to wait much longer to get a look at the real thing! The Ducati Scrambler, in fact, will be officially presented on September 30 during Intermot 2014 (the international motorcycle fair held in Cologne, Germany), ready for its subsequent arrival at Ducati Stores all over the world early in 2015.
In the meantime, fans can keep up to speed with all the latest Scrambler developments by going to http://www.scramblerducati.com/ or the Scrambler Facebook page and share the content through #scramblerducati or #scrambleryouare.
