.| UrbanNerd |.

Check out this US News & World Report article, which mentioned me by name:

Motor-scooter company Vespa recently brought in two fans as unpaid bloggers on its website. “Vespa has incredible fans, and we thought the best approach was to let the customers tell their stories online,” says “micropersuasion” strategist Steve Rubel, whose firm, CooperKatz, was hired by Vespa to do online marketing. Real people giving testimony is a cornerstone of evangelism. Instead of salaries, the bloggers get an opportunity to test out new models, plus pick up the occasional seat cover or rain jacket. More important to them, they get a big forum to write about their passion. “My agenda is to get more people scootering and get more people to buy Vespa,” says Neil Barton, 32, whose full-time gig is running a computer network for a publisher.

Strictly speaking, I believe that I said “get more people to buy scooters.” I am all for Vespa, don’t get me wrong, I just think I said scooter instead of Vespa, as that is my over all mission. I want everyone to own a scooter. Of course, Vespa is my personal preference.