By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted April 23, 2017 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing, Motorsports
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted April 23, 2017 | In MotoGP, Motor Racing, Motorsports
LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow followed up his podium finish in Argentina with a fine fourth-placed finish at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin on Sunday. The Briton during the GP of the Americas demonstrated his battling qualities once again with a superb ride in the MotoGP class to finish just outside the top three having departed from ninth place on the grid in Texas.
Cal Crutchlow made a great start to the race as he quickly moved through the field into sixth place and assumed fifth when championship leader Maverick Viñales crashed out on lap two. He was then involved in a thrilling battle with Johann Zarco and eventually got the better of the Frenchman on the final lap to claim fourth spot.
Although he acknowledged afterwards that he was disappointed to miss out on a second consecutive podium, Crutchlow is pleased with his start to the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. Fellow Honda rider Marc Marquez claimed his fifth straight victory at the Circuit of The Americas with Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa behind him.
It was a good race, I felt confident throughout and my team did a fantastic job all weekend. Of course, I’m a little disappointed not to get the podium because we were very close, but I took too long to pass Johann Zarco and after that I lost a little bit of time running off the track”.
“But I felt comfortable during the race and physically strong, and I was still able to push towards the end. I would have liked another podium, but a third in Argentina and fourth here in Texas is good from the last two flyaway races. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into the first European round in Jerez.
RTR Sports Marketing is a global motorsport sponsorship agency and consultancy, specialized in Formula 1 and MotoGP, and active across all major international racing series including Formula E, NASCAR, WEC, WRC and Dakar, helping brands build data-driven, high-performance sponsorship programs. Experience the power and put your brand in front of millions with motorsport sponsorship.
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Emanuele Venturoli holds a degree in Public, Political and Institutional Communication from the University of Bologna. He has built his professional career at the intersection of marketing and sport, with hands-on experience in both basketball and motorsport. He is passionate about motorsport, design and literature, and focuses on helping brands create effective and meaningful partnerships in high-performance sporting environments.
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Read MoreIn 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.
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship 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. Motorsport 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.
Motorsport 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 motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, 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 real heart of motorsport 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 motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, 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.
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.
We have been involved in motorsport 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.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
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.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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