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MotoGP: Movistar Yamaha unveils 2017 Line-up in Madrid
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 18, 2017 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing, Motorsports
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 18, 2017 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing, Motorsports
MotoGP: Movistar Yamaha unveils 2017 Line-up in Madrid
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2017
Today the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team gave racing fans from all over the world a first glimpse of its team colours for the new season during the official team launch at Telefónica‘s headquarters in Madrid, to kick-start their 2017 campaign.
The Italy-based team travelled to Madrid in the last week of its ’winter break‘ before heading overseas for the first official IRTA MotoGP pre-season test of 2017 in Sepang. During this on-track outing, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales will help Yamaha‘s engineers fine-tune the development work of the YZR-M1 that was carried through during the “off-season”. The Valencia test already showed great promise for this formidable team; all members are eager to reclaim the MotoGP World Championship crown.
Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi impressed chasing the premier class trophy in the last three years, securing the Vice-Champion Title every season. He is determined to compete once more at the front this year and his fans from all over the world will be cheering him on as he pursues his quest to make his title win tally a nice round ten.
Last year Rossi meant business right from the start of the season and in Argentina he climbed the rostrum for the first time. Though struck by external circumstances on occasion, ’The Doctor‘ never lessened his attack and went on to secure nine further podium finishes, with wins in Jerez and Catalunya, remaining a key protagonist in the 2016 challenge until the overseas leg at the end of the year. His and his teammate‘s consistent drive brought Yamaha its seventh FIM MotoGP Team Title.
Young Spanish talent Maverick Viñales is a fresh face in the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team. He joins the Factory crew after gaining two years of experience in the premier class. His 2016 season highlights included a superb win at Silverstone and three third places, in France, Japan and Australia, allowing him to finish fourth in the final standing. He followed up his strong end of the season with a stunning debut on the YZR-M1 at the Valencia test, topping the time sheets both days, establishing that his switch to Yamaha was the right decision.
It‘s not only the new rider line-up that‘s cause for celebration, Yamaha Factory Racing and Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica‘s collaboration also deserves recognition. The two companies signed a five-year partnership agreement in the premier class of road racing in 2014, underlined with Movistar becoming the team‘s title sponsor. In the past three years Yamaha and Telefónica‘s shared values and passion for innovation laid the groundwork for success, resulting in a Triple Crown in 2015 and the Team‘s Title in 2016.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2017 Team
Presenting the 2017 team were MotoGP‘s Dylan Gray and Izaskun Ruiz, who welcomed to the stage Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales for a Q&A session. They were later joined by General Manager of Motorsports Division & YMC MotoGP Group Leader, Kouichi Tsuji, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, Lin Jarvis, and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Team Director, Massimo Meregalli, who went into detail on the technical development of the bike as well as the new rider line-up and its promising prospects.
Luis Miguel Gilperez, President of Telefónica España, was also put in the spotlight and further explained Movistar‘s strategy and its dedication to MotoGP before it was time to reveal the bike.
The ceremony saw the 2017 Yamaha YZR-M1 revealed in its new colours with a refreshed livery.
Besides the new Movistar logo, the Blue Core logo (Yamaha‘s new generation engine development designed to extract maximum performance and fuel economy) is added as a new design element on the bike, while the deepened Yamaha blue gives the bike a chic finish.
Further revelations include the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team logo. Its new design is a testament of how much value the team assigns to the Telefónica and Yamaha collaboration and puts the Movistar‘s ’M‘ in a more prominent role. This sentiment is also reflected in the YZR-M1‘s 2017 livery, which features the new Movistar-logo on either side of the fairing and the front of the bike ( MotoGP 2017 Teams and Riders)
Emanuele Venturoli
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
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Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
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Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
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We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
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We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
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Group Commercial Director
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