Team Suzuki Press Office – December 19.
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Press Officer Federico Tondelli gives an insight into the work involved behind the scenes, along with the highs, lows and special moments of the 2016 MotoGP™ season.
“As the Team’s Press Officer, basically I am responsible for two main tasks; to manage the riders’ (and other team members’) agenda for what concerns the media and marketing activities - and to also provide content to media and fans. The difficulty of the first task depends much on the rider performances: the media’s attention follows a priority order which is directly linked to the race classification, as the better you perform, the more they ask you for. This also influences the second task: Our priority is to give the most visibility to our Team and it is much easier when you win. But quantity is not the only driving factor; as a Factory – and relatively new team in MotoGP™ – we strongly believe in giving quality to our content to be sure that the media get the right message and the fans feel involved in our project.
“Fans are very important to us because we know that there is a lot of affection to the Suzuki brand, also a real personal emotional engagement with the brand, and we really try to pay attention and care to this aspect. Of course, we have another target in our communication activities, which is to give the best support to our Suzuki network in the marketing activities, as well as to give our partners the support they deserve as part of our MotoGP project.
“Concerning my job, things have changed a lot since the first year. Not only has my experience increased, but also the kind of work requested for the Team’s awareness and strong change of strategies. If last year Team SUZUKI ECSTAR was the Cinderella of MotoGP, right after the 2016 winter tests it was clear that our role in the paddock would have changed. Especially with the increased-performance of the GSX-RR and the growing talents of our riders Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales, the attention of the media came right away.
