partnership developed between Regione Emilia Romagna (Emilia Romagna Regional Administration) and Ducati Motor
to organise the World Ducati Weekend (Misano Adriatico, June 2000)

sponsor:  REGIONE EMILIA ROMAGNA
sponsored event:  WORLD DUCATI WEEKEND 2000 – DUCATI MOTOR S.p.A.
creative concepts  RTR – sports marketing
finance consultant: TRADEMARK ITALIA - marketing for tourism

January 2001
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPONSORSHIP PROJECT

SPONSOR: Regione Emilia Romagna (Emilia Romagna Regional Administration)
SPONSORED EVENT:  World Ducati Weekend – Ducati Motor S.p.A.
PERIOD:  Year 2000
ENTRIES TO THE EVENT: 23,000
SPONSORSHIP BUDGET: ITL 294,200,000
INDUCED TOURIST ACTIVITY GENERATED BY THE ENTRIES: ITL 13,800,000,000
INVESTMENT/ INDUCED ECONOMIC ACTIVITY GENERATED RATIO: 1 : 46.9

The sponsored event: the World Ducati Weekend 2000 - Ducati Motor S.p.A. organises, with two-yearly frequency, the World Ducati Week-end (WDW). This is a world-wide meeting of Ducati enthusiasts, aimed at involving Ducati owners and strengthening their sense of belonging to this community. The WDW 2000 was held from 9 to 11 June and was based at the racing circuit of Misano Adriatico.
The event programme included: concerts, tours along the Riviera, tasting of local products, stunt man displays, Formula 1 – Superbike challenge, visits to the Ducati factory and museum, test rides on the track, Ducati University, defensive riding courses, meetings with Ducati Corse riders, spare parts and accessories market, technical seminars etc.

The effectiveness of WDW sponsorship for the tourism-commercial objectives of Regione Emilia Romagna – The tourism industry of the Emilia Romagna Region is undergoing a phase of maturity linked to products that have difficulty in renewing themselves and in finding new markets. The effort that professionals in the sector are making is to identify interesting and innovative tourism proposals for sectors of clientele that have never considered the Emilia Romagna Region, and in particular the Riviera, as a place to spend a holiday. 
With this premise, the “motorbike enthusiast”, and in particular the “Ducati enthusiast”, target was identified. This type of customer, in fact, from a marketing analysis standpoint, showed considerable potential in terms of tourism demand.
Here in detail is the profile of the target that stood out in the research:

1.  they are great travellers and, particularly the “Ducati enthusiasts", are not interested in staying in a campsite because generally a tent cannot be transported by motorbike;
   
   
2. hey are people with a high-medium income (deduced by the fact that Ducati bikes cost noticeably more than the competition in the same category) and therefore have excellent spending potential;
   
   
3.  if satisfied with the hospitality, they return to places they have visited by bike other times with family and friends;
   
   
4.  they look for places that offer the possibility of having a social life (discothèques, shops, restaurants, bars);
   
5. they like art very much and wish to visit art and culture areas, following itineraries and tours;
   
6. they come from all parts of the world and become exceptional promoters of places they have visited;
   
   
7. non cadono in situazioni "pericolose", perché possedere una Ducati non è un modo di vivere (come Harley Davidson) ma un modo di essere.
   

they do not fall into “dangerous” situations because to own a Ducati is not a way of life (like Harley Davidson), but a way of being.
Once the potential of the target customer was identified, Regione Emilia Romagna and RTR selected the platform that allowed them to develop an efficient marketing and communication programme directed at the “motorbike tourist” market segment.
In this sense, the WDW 2000 was the perfect event for Regione Emilia Romagna to approach the selected target.
An almost obvious selection if the numbers for the WDW 1998 are considered: 10,000 participants, more than 25,000 attending; 3 days of meetings, races, visits and debates. Even from a qualitative point of view, in ’98 excellent overlapping was recorded both towards the typical tourism markets of the ER Region and towards markets of potential interest (Italy 38%, Germany 15%, rest of Europe 36%, USA 3,5%).
Sponsorship of the WDW 2000, in other words, offered RER the possibility to:

• assist, by financial support, in achieving maximum success of this showcase event, which is able to bring a high number of target customers to the Riviera;
• ensure themselves an important role in planning the event and make sure that the programme was effective in terms of the tourism and commercial objective of RER towards the target.
  Here in detail are the goals that Regione Emilia Romagna wanted to achieve through the collaboration:
  
• develop a new "tourism product" able to interest thousands of new customers;
  
• encourage a strongly non-seasonal tourism, able to integrate excellently with the tourist products of the Riviera;
  
• promote the existing bond between Emilia Romagna and engines (if Ferrari is a cult for cars, then without doubt Ducati is for motorbikes);
  
• use this rapidly growing segment to promote the territory’s most hidden areas, such as the places inland, the small villages and historic centres of the larger towns;
  
• use the “pull” of a strong brand with an exceptional impact, such as Ducati, to promote tourism;
  
• experiment with completely innovative forms of distribution and promotion, even through new means and channels;
• promote the tourism product of the Riviera even in countries on the edge of the institutional promotional campaign;
• bring approximately 20,000 people to the Riviera for periods of between one and seven nights;
  
• romote tourism “on two wheels” which can be considered a very trendy means of transport and suitable for moving about more easily than with a car.

At the moment of registration to the WDW, the motorcyclist could decide if he wished to subscribe to a tourism offer based on “two wheels” (linked to the WDW and not):
"8 days offer": for those wishing to stay on the Riviera for both the World Superbike GP and the WDW, held on two consecutive weekends.
" week-end offer": for those wishing to spend a weekend on the Riviera for events and displays or in other periods of the year.
" Ducati Museum offer": includes accommodation on the Riviera or Bologna and entrance to the Ducati Museum
"land of engines offer": combines hospitality together with the places that make Emilia Romagna an ideal location for a holiday on “two wheels”. The tour includes visits to the racing circuits of Imola and Misano, entrance to the Ducati and Ferrari Museums etc.
"itineraries and tours offer": a proposal promoting the itineraries to take by motorbike.  
The benefits of sponsorship by the Regione ER for the organisers and the WDW public – The intervention of Regione Emilia Romagna has made the involvement possible of Promozione Alberghiera di Rimini – the most important cooperative of hoteliers in the Riviera. The presence of this organisation has resulted in the availability of not only one of the largest accommodation facilities in Italy, but also an efficient organisation able to solve any problems Ducati might have with regards to accommodating participants. The accommodation facilities of Promozione Alberghiera di Rimini are also able to offer important additional services to the guest motorcyclists: the safe garaging of the motorbike away from vandals and thieves, the certainty of finding informative material on the tourist resorts in Emilia Romagna, and the availability of staff assigned to the front desk.
Actions and strategies of communication – The sponsorship of the  WDW has enabled Regione Emilia Romagna to use certain Ducati structures both for communication to promote the event, and, more generally, to promote the tourism created for this purpose for the “biketourists”.  
In particular the chain of Ducati Stores was exploited, i.e. the places where the motorcyclist purchases bikes and accessories, carries out repairs, obtains information etc. In this way it was possible to have direct contact with the motorcyclists and “deliver” them a stronger message through Ducati itself.
Here are the means used and the actions taken by Regione Emilia Romagna during the period between October 1999 and the end of 2000:

- 50,000 promotional postcards were made to promote special events and exhibitions, as well as the various offers. Printed in various languages, the postcards also contained information on how to make bookings.
- 4,000 posters and notices were made. The posters were used to promote events and commercial offers. These also had information on how to make bookings.  
- The logo graphics were analysed and its diversified application on all promotional-commercial material made for promotion of the WDW and for the other events.
- Further brochures were produced presenting the packages and offers regarding the whole of Emilia Romagna.
- A special section on the Ducati website was created in which all offers were proposed, together with the possibility of booking accommodation.
- The offers were sent by post to those on Ducati’s mailing list (enthusiasts, customers, etc.).
Actions
- Distribution of brochure folders and postcard using display stands created for the occasion inside the 40 Ducati Stores and dealers throughout the world (Italy, Germany, Great Britain, USA, Oceania, South America, Asia).
-  Actions targeted at web promotion by selected e-mailing of potential customers, club officials,
- Participation in certain international events that involved a large number of motocyclists and enthusiasts (e.g. gazebo outside the paddock area of the SBK 2000 world championship GP).
- Participation in motorcycling trade shows such as the Milan Bicycle and Motorbike Exhibition, the Bologna Motor Show. At these events an area was set up for promoting the offers.
- A Ducati Motor press office was activated together with coordination of PR activities to importers throughout the world.  The "la terra dei motori" (the land of engines) campaign was promoted with press releases, advertising pages and display insertions etc.
- Ducati University: events were organised at the most prestigious university in the world during which the tourism offers were presented and commercial material distributed, as well as the Ducati story, design, technology etc.

Measurement of the results

Summarising:     “hotel” induced activity                                          ITL     7,176,000,000
                         “non-hotel" induced activity                                   ITL     6,624,000,000
                         Total induced activity generated by the WDW          ITL   13,800,000,000
These figures consider an average stay or 3.2 days and also take into account the induced activity generated by family members/accompanying friends (estimated as an average of 0.5 persons per each entry to the WDW).  Data source: Promozione Alberghiera Rimini.
Media coverage of the event: a survey commissioned by Ducati to "Immagine & Sport", a media evaluation company, enabled the television airtime of the World Ducati Week-end and the Regione Emilia Romagna, as the stage of the event, to be measured. The result was  2h 4' and 24" (including special reports, reports within sports programmes, etc.). The press coverage was also substantial, but we have no available data on the splice relative to the WDW alone.
Data source: Immagine & Sport.

Sponsorship budget – the total financing supplied by Regione Emilia Romagna for the World Ducati Weekend 2000 – Ducati Motor S.p.A. was ITL 294,200,000.
Investment /induced economic activity generated ratio – By comparing the investment made by Regione Emilia Romagna with the induced activity generated by the WDW, a cost/benefit ratio of 1 : 46.9 is obtained.
Future of the Regione Emilia Romagna – Ducati Motor partnership – The main feature of the collaboration described lies in the use of a sporting event as a tourism promotion tool. A promotion meant not only in terms of image/notoriety but, above all, in the sense of real opportunity that has been offered to the target to “experiment” with the tourist product that Regione Emilia Romagna has created ad hoc for itself. In the wake of the results obtained with regard to the WDW, certain activities were organised – always aimed at tourism on two wheels – which the Regione and Ducati Motor are implementing together.
In fact, 20 tourist itineraries for motorbikes were identified, following the most characteristic routes in Emilia Romagna (8 of these were launched specifically for the WDW using leaflets such as those enclosed). These routes, written by motorcyclists and so satisfying their particular requirements – are contained in a book to be published in spring 2001.
The promotion of these 20 itineraries is being carried out also through "ducati.com", the Bolognese company’s portal, which interactively displays the routes in the special "tours" section, and offers the navigator-motorcyclist all the references for booking the package on line.
It is precisely this innovative tourist web promotion programme that is the object of the Emilia Romagna – Ducati Motor collaboration, also in 2001.