Yesterday in the class I teach at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (aka "the d.school") we had a fascinating discussion about how Ducati creates meaning in the marketplace.  The starting point for the discussion is a Harvard Business School case by Giovanni Gavetti which asks the question "to cruise, or not to cruise?"  In other words, should Ducati enter the lucrative market for cruiser motorcycles at the risk of diluting an intensely meaningful brand built up over 60 years?

For me, the best part of running this class is the support I get from the folks at Ducati North America and some local owner’s clubs.  Not only did we have a wide variety of Ducati motorcycles on display for the class, we also had the pleasure of having Ducati North America CEO Michael Lock provide us with his thoughts and insights about the process of creating and celebrating meaning.  If the measure of a good teaching experience is the learning you glean from the process, then for me this session was a bumper crop.

And the roar of those Desmos wasn’t half bad, either! 

Here’s hoping that the new Ducati Hypermotard concept (above) makes it to market.  It’s a stunning, gutsy, and… wow!