The Challenge
RoadTrooper went through a number of transformations over the years as a result of the brand's growth. However its spirit remained unchanged.
Initially the RoadTrooper identity had entailed the story of motorcycle travels. Travel as a way of living, thinking and discovering the world around. At the time of its release it was one of the very first websites of it’s kind, attracted sponsorship offers from many of the major companies in the motorcycle industry and kickstarted a wave of similar websites.
On the marketing side it was decided to grow and promote RoadTooper with no other investment than time and the clients skill set in travel journalism, photography and video making. The advertising spending was set to zero and uniquely the website then and now allows no ad placement within the site other than its own products.
Our Solution
We delivered the brand identity, which featured the stylised Wind Rose compass as an ancient symbol of travel and navigation. Drawing of a compass itself was executed in a tribal tattoo style, which linked it to motorcycle culture.
Two colour palettes were recommended. The main palette featured orange, blue and black colours similar to the 1970 Gulf Porsche used in the movie Le Mans that starred in Steve McQueen. Orange for sun and fire, blue for water and air and black for earth.
The second palette was limited to 2 colours only such as off-white and red. This palette was recommended for use exclusively in apparel design in order to reduce cost of screen printing.
We designed and built three generations of the RoadTrooper website. What initially started as a travel blog with typical daily posts, had quickly expanded into motorcycle magazine with fully featured articles, gear, .gpx route downloadables and motorcycle reviews. As the time passed RoadTrooper added two more streams of the online activities: YouTube Channel and Merchandise store.
RoadTrooper YouTube Channel was the very first original travel vlog (video blog) ever created on YouTube. With the camera attached to the motorbike, RoadTrooper founder Denis Smyth was the very first one to record the most scenic roads along the Route Des Grandes Alpes, French and Spanish Pyrenees, Ireland and The Isle of Man. Denis gained many hardcore followers and inspired many other motorcyclists to follow his example. Countless motorcycle YouTube channels that followed RoadTrooper’s lead can be seen today.
Skills Used
Illustration, Product Design, UX Design, Web Development, Art Direction, Marketing Strategy and Branding
The Result
After the great success of becoming well known across Europe and beyond, RoadTrooper continued its further growth retaining its brand and business strategy without change.
At some point the RoadTrooper team refocused on travel designs for its online store available on RebBubble. The store has grown continuously over the years offering hundreds of unique designs with well over a thousand items available to buy.
RoadTrooper as a brand has proven that success of a business can be achieved without any investment into its advertising. Well thought through business plan, adaptability, skills, time and devotion of a team - that is all that any brand needs to be successful.
