As part of delivering on the brief set by the client, both SMG’s UK and MEA offices collaborated to ensure every piece of digital content was produced in both Arabic and English to activley engage target audience.
At the heart of the campaign strategy was SMG’s collaboration not only with Lusail International Circuit but also with key MotoGP stakeholders including, Dorna and Yamaha Monster Racing, to create and share content and leverage their audiences to increase awareness and build hype for the MotoGP race in Qatar.
We identified a gap in the social media market. Unlike in Formula One it was uncommon for MotoGP promoters to film content with the riders. We utilised these strong relationships with different teams, like MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Racing team, to collaborate and film content from inside their garages to showcase the riders’ personalities.
The relationship cultivated between stakeholders and SMG’s social and content team also allowed for the smooth execution of highly engaging digital promotion, such as the ‘
Desert Activation’ where Qatari rally legend Nasser Al Attiyah raced across the Sealine desert dunes in buggies alongside three stars of MotoGP Jorge Martin, Aleix Aspargo and Pedro Acosta. The content was shared across the Lusail International Circuit and the MotoGP social media channels, with the posts collectively receiving thousands of impressions online.
Our team also conceptualised, organised, and executed original and new content strands that helped set the Qatari promoter apart from other MotoGP hosts, including the ‘
The Blind Track Challenge’ – a competition between Marc and Alex Marquez to draw the Lusail circuit with their eyes closed – and ‘
The Arabic Challenge’ – where drivers quickly memorised how their name written in Arabic and tried to replicate it. Both of these ideas and videos were subsequently highlighted by Dorna as content it would like to see from its other promoters.
SMG’s digital team also collaborated with presenter and commentator Michael Hill throughout the race week, creating and sharing social video content of him working across the three days of the event and producing a ‘Day in the Life of a Presenter at the Qatar MotoGP’ segment which was very well received by audiences.
As part of our brief we also produced content that encouraged the Qatari youth to develop their growing interest in motorsports. SMG ideated and oversaw the ‘Junior Reporter Initiative’, where three children were invited to the circuit to act as reporters and help Michael Hill recount the events of each day across the race weekend. They were also invited into the garage to meet MotoGP rider,
Fabio Quartararo, for a Q&A and photo session. 
.jpg)
.png)
