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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted February 29, 2016 | In MotoGP, Sport News
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. has agreed a 3-year partnership agreement with Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi‘s “VR46 Riders Academy” to become an Official Partner and also its Official Motorcycle Supplier.
Yamaha will support the Academy‘s program and supply a total of 26 R-Series and YZ series motorcycles to allow the full time Academy riders to train and develop their racing skills at the VR46 MotoRanch and also at the Misano road race circuit. The initiative will give Academy riders their first contact with Yamaha, who will follow their performances as they progress through the early years of their racing careers. Yamaha also plans to support the Academy by contributing to their education process and giving insights into PR, promotional and team expectations as today‘s young riders hopefully evolve to be the Factory riders of the future. With World Championship participation positioned at the top of the racing pyramid, Yamaha Motor is currently in the process of creating a step-up model and system to provide tier-based opportunities for young riders to grow.
The VR46 Riders Academy will also play a part in this system for training and instruction. Its primary role will be boosting the motivation of young riders, and promoting their acquisition of riding experience and skills to help them move up through the tiered step-up structure.
As a first step in 2016, Yamaha will select a limited number of the best young riders competing in the Asia Road Racing Championship‘s – Asia Production 250 class as well as other rider development series to train at the Academy.
Two one-week workshops are planned in 2016. The talented youngsters will have the chance to train alongside the full time VR46 Riders Academy riders in the gym, at the MotoRanch and at the Misano circuit, riding dedicated YZF-R3 and YZ250F machines.
All riders will have the full access to the facilities of the Academy and Valentino Rossi will participate and instruct the selected candidates along with the full-time Academy staff.
LIN JARVIS
MANAGING DIRECTOR, YAMAHA MOTOR RACING
I am extremely happy that we are able to begin this formal partnership with the VR46 Riders Academy. The Academy started as a natural development of Valentino‘s incredible passion for motorcycling and racing when he committed himself to supporting the next generation of riders to develop their talent and skills to become future World Championship racers. Yamaha share the same passion as Valentino and we are engaged around the world with numerous programs to encourage and develop young aspiring riders to follow their dreams and to improve their performances to achieve their full potential. This new program will give a unique opportunity for selected talented riders to train and learn from “the Master” and from the full-time VR46 Riders Academy riders during the 2 one-week dedicated training sessions.
An additional but equally important aspect of the new partnership is for Yamaha to support and engage with the VR46 Riders Academy‘s full time program. Yamaha will contribute with the supply of training bikes as well as getting involved in the education of the riders. Some of these young riders will surely evolve to be the Factory riders of tomorrow. Yamaha will be watching closely as their careers develop and hopefully some of them will become our next generation Factory riders in the future.
VALENTINO ROSSI
MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP RIDER
The partnership between Yamaha and VR46 makes me very happy and incredibly proud. Through the Academy we have been doing very interesting things for young and talented riders and I believe we couldn‘t have found a better partner than Yamaha to provide our guys everything they need to grow up quickly and improve their performances on track. I am particularly happy because this agreement involves two things that I love and have put lots of efforts in; Yamaha and my Riders Academy. I really hope that this partnership will result in some great things.
We have been supporting talented riders and I am confident that together we will achieve exciting results. We are planning many activities involving the Academy and its riders. Yamaha is making many of these initiatives possible and I want to thank them for this chance. I am also looking forward to meeting the riders that will attend the training session throughout 2016. I am sure they‘ll enjoy the time at the Academy and that we’ll have a lot of fun together. Maybe we‘ll find new racing talents!”
Yamaha Movistar PRESS RELEASE
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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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