WDA have been commissioned to create a new Yamaha Ad Campaign to capitalise on the media storm created by their new Yamaha MT09 Tracer. The bike received rave reviews from the World’s assembled press at launch in Málaga Spain, the latest model variant of Europe’s third best selling motorcycle; and a very important model for the brand here in the UK.

In-line with the Dark Side Tour WDA helped deliver last summer, the aim was to give our audience the complete Yamaha experience, which meant getting riders into the saddle and on the gas rather than just looking through the dealership window. This involved putting Tracer ‘TEST BIKE’ liveried machines into the considerable dealer network, and a promotional campaign to create demand for the test ride opportunity.

‘MORE THAN JUST TORQUE’ Yamaha Ad Campaign

Our solution ‘MORE THAN JUST TORQUE’ worked on a number of levels, most obviously in leveraging the topical positive press reviews utilising a series of the best quotes from the UK’s leading specialist press titles. The idea being to invite the audience to ‘ride it for themselves’ and discover that this bike lives up to – and indeed exceeds – the hype.

The slogan gave us the opportunity to remind the audience what the ‘MT’ model acronym stands for (‘Masters of Torque’) something not widely known but which perfectly sums up the unique triple cylinder powered machine. ‘MORE THAN JUST TORQUE’ also enabled us to position the Tracer as a bike which sits slightly above the ‘base’ MT in terms of price point, and one which is aimed at the slightly different Touring market.

In addition to conceiving the core campaign concept, WDA were tasked with creating the official ‘Test Bike’ branding, and with writing, designing and producing a range of promotional materials for the dealership, and various advertising positions – both print digital. Due to time pressures Yamaha required the whole campaign to be turned around in about a week, which we were able to accommodate.

Yamaha’s continued road to sales success

WDA are proud to continue to support Yamaha and are thrilled to be part of the brands ‘come-back’; with latest Motor Cycle Industry Association figures showing Yamaha now occupying second spot in the UK manufacturers top 10 with sales UP 20% on the previous year and market share increased by 13%. As multiple winners ourselves(!) we’d also like to congratulate them on ‘doing the double’ at the recent BDN motorcycle industry awards – A Motorcycle Franchise of the Year award, and NMDA Manufacturer of the Year Award.

Yamaha took motorcycling to ‘The Dark Side’ at last years Motorcycle Live! show, with the launch of multiple brand new models, spearheaded by the MT – a revolutionary new range featuring compact new chassis designs and super high-torque 3-cylinder engines.

More than just heralding a new era in motorcycle design and development, MT was the jumping off point for a whole new market positioning for the Yamaha brand – one which UK Marketing Manager Jeff Turner was keen for as many riders as possible to experience for themselves.

“Having the ‘full Yamaha experience’ was central to the brief” said WDA’s Lee Waterhouse. Yamaha wanted riders not just to see – but smell, hear and feel the new bikes. To experience them at their maximum potential, to ride them for themselves; to really engage with the brand and the new bikes. This was as much about changing perceptions of the Yamaha brand as showcasing the exciting new bikes coming through. ”

Jeff wanted both riders already loyal to the brand, and also riders who may not have considered a Yamaha before – to really get to grips with the new bikes. To do so meant targeting riders who may not have seen the new bikes at the show or visited Yamaha showrooms.

The Dark Side of Japan

Yamaha’s ‘Dark Side of Japan’ concept was devised to position the brand as a new, edgier and more distinct proposition to riders already aware of the brand’s reputation for market leading technology, build quality and reliability but who had started to look at more unconventional, supposedly more ‘exciting’ machines offered by some of the European manufacturers.

Dark Side is a bold and radical move from a brand often considered as conventional, safe and conservative. A positive step away from its status as just one of the Japanese ‘Big Four’; the company now offers all those great benefits associated with being such a large, established manufacturer – whilst now developing and delivering bikes which are arguably the most interesting, exciting, individual machines – from ANY manufacturer.

MT Tour 2014

WDA assisted Yamaha in creating ‘The Dark Side MT Tour’ – a revolutionary new tour event where riders could ‘Find and experience their Dark Side’ on their ideal MT bike, whilst also enjoying a whole host of other fantastic biking experiences including Dave Coates famous Stunt Show, test rides, an MT extreme wheelie machine, partner exhibitions, demonstrations, and VIP guest appearances.

Central to each event was a fully branded MT Tour Truck which transported an entire fleet of MT machines, covering every model within the range from the ultra-cool new MT-125 through the awesome MT-07 to the simply stunning new MT-09 ST (Street Rally).

Completely FREE to attend the tour covered five major UK cities across the UK during this summer, included biking favourites Box Hill, the National Motorcycle Museum and the Scottish Motorcycle Show.

The Tour represented a considerable investment to our client, so it was critical that the promotional campaign drove significant traffic to each event to ensure a good marketing return both in visitors buy-in to the campaign (with good numbers being picked up by the attending dealers), and also creating enough noise to generate good publicity and press coverage.

Promotions revolved around a digital campaign on Visordown consisting a whole range of different inventory including Geo targeted Home page takeovers (serving to viewers within a 50 mile radius of each event), targeted search lock outs, and sponsored digital content (newsletters and stories). The digital campaign program was designed, implemented and managed by WDA including media negotiation and purchase.

Digital was supported by press with full and half page ad executions placed within every major motorcycle specialist print title. Additionally WDA created in-store dealer promotional materials, as well as branded collateral for the Tour events themselves.

Significant sales increases

This years MT Tour event helped drive significant demand for Yamaha and in particular the MT range, so much so that the tour has now been extended to include this years Motorcycle Live at the NEC in Birmingham in from November 22 to 30. Moreover, the stage is now set for more important Yamaha launches, not least the eagerly anticipated all new R1, which was unveiled at Eicma this week.

Latest figures* now place Yamaha at the very top of the manufacturers charts in terms of sales increase (up 18%); and up into second place in terms of total units sold. *Latest available sales figures at the time this post was published (September 2014 compared to the same period in the previous year). Figures supplied by the Motor Cycle Industry Association.

WDA are pleased to announce the start of a collaboration with Yamaha Motor (UK) following the successful launch of their 2013 motorcycle marketing campaign. Devised and created by WDA, the campaign takes a subtle new direction in-line with Yamaha’s new global strategy to move promotional communications away from product and more towards brand.

Delivered through both on and offline media, and followed through with a range of in-store dealer promotional materials, the ‘Nothing Moves You Like A Yamaha’ campaign is the precursor to a new global brand positioning for Yamaha which was revealed earlier this month.

“2013 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for Yamaha” says WDA’s Lee Waterhouse. “The return of Vale in MotoGP alongside reigning World Champion Lorenzo is sure to boost demand on the shop floor, whilst rumours that there are some very innovative new models on the horizon have created a real buzz amongst dealers and consumers alike. Until then the trade can enjoy selling a fantastic 2013 range including updated models such as the stunning new FJR 1300A and XJ/FZ street bikes, with retail prices held from last year and some great finance packages on offer. However, above all the features, promotions and incentives these bikes are Yamaha’s, and the brand benefits are something we’re very keen to embed in the psyche of the consumer; because if they want a Yamaha first and foremost before any other consideration, then there’s only one place they can go!”

WDA believe the ongoing work for Yamaha represents another great brand building success – and thankfully it’s not just us that thinks so:

“I was really nervous about moving the creative account to WDA as our previous agency were really good to work with but Yamaha needed to come to the market from a different direction. I don’t know what I was worried about. Lee and the team have interpreted, executed and delivered a fabulous piece of work that has surpassed our expectation.  It’s a good indication of great creative work when staff are using WDA images as screen savers!”
Simon Belton – Yamaha Marketing Manager, Motorcycles and Scooters, Marketing & Communications Division

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