The Vespa S campaign titled “Square Heads” focused most of its exposure on non-traditional “street” media as well as print and online executions. For maximum impact they were produced in larger-than-life decals posted in trendy urban neighbourhoods and also on 40-foot videos projected onto walls in various club districts from a projector mounted on the back of a parked Vespa S.

Hundreds of the six-foot tall decals were placed at eye level as singles and in clusters on wall hordings in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. The 30- second video wall projection loop and online video depicted a “Square Head” inquisitively checking out passers with its headlights before turning away. Rounding out the media were print ads featured in selected national dailies and alt weeklies and similar wild hording posters. Street-teams also handed out “Square Head” branded buttons and T-shirts.

The results were bang on with the ad-resisting trendsetting hipsters. The campaign built major buzz value in all the right places especially with the desired target group. It generated significant coverage from the likes of the Globe and Mail, CBC, Toronto Life and the New York Times, and was also the topic of many arts and advertising blogs.

Total estimated impressions: 1,135,000. And rising. Total Vespa sales for 2008: Up 25%. The campaign was so different in its execution that the president of the Canadian Scooter Corporation stated that it was the most talked about, most blogged about, and most effective campaign to date for the Vespa brand.