Well, everyone knows what I think about Brammo's communication department, but for what it is worth, I think you are right. Brammo's entire communication (marketing, PR, advertising, etc.) is not really focused. They shoot themselves in the foot with very basic things over and over again. It doesn't seem that they have a solid and cohesive strategic plan to address all the issues you raised (plus the issues people keep raising in many different websites). The most amazing is that they seem to have a great customer service department, but the marketing and customer service seem completely disconnected.
They keep alienating potential clients and people who could be making their lives easier (or even helping promote the bikes) by sending out conflicting messages and they are not really positioning themselves to avoid problems. Actually, I think they are doing the very opposite.
To compare the Empulse R to any Ducati at this point is asking reasonable ICE riders to laugh and move on. The pricing put them in a tough spot that could have been avoided with solid communication. If they had clearly positioned themselves based on their strengths and not their failure, they wouldn't have to be explaining themselves and hearing so many people complain. They created too much expectation in the wrong way and keep doing so even after they failed to deliver on that expectation.
If they sell the Empulse for what it actually is, a good-looking, top-notch, electric motorcycle that can perform almost as well as concept elmotos that cost more than double its price, and compare its performance to "fun to ride" entry-level ICE's like the Ninja 250R, they would have met and surpassed most expectations. Nobody would complain or dismiss it. People who are interested would praise it and people who are not would take it for what it is and not go out of their way to point out all the flaws, especially in comparison to a Ducati.
Framing a brand or product is both an art and a science and can't be taken lightly. Brammo needs to take control of the communication process not by hiding information until the last minute, but by providing a very constant and cohesive stream of information. Honestly, as I said before, I believe many people in this forum are doing that much better than the professional communicators at Brammo. I have seen protomech, Empulsebuyer, and Brammofan literally "schooling" people about the actual purpose of the Empulse in other sites. That purpose should be clear in every piece of communication, especially Craig's interviews. People who are confused by the bike and see no good explanation coming from the published articles will tend to make their own assumptions and that's usually detrimental in any business.
Summarizing, as I said before, Brammo needs a specialist in risk communication and strategic planning in charge of the whole marketing effort. I know they are relatively a small company and those specialist are not cheap, but that's a priority once you go global. I hope they can get one sooner rather than later (or ask Polaris for help). And I also hope the overall quality of the Empulse will help them survive the first bumps, but there is a lot that we need to see from the reviews. If the magazine reviewers go in thinking it's going to be a Ducati or a Triumph, I expect to see a lot more of the kind of reviews those guys from Hell For Leather did on the Zero
http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=1270.0.
