Only fans – rebranding MotoGP

Pentagram’s partner and creative director, Angus Hyland, chat about his agency’s ‘Grand Prix’ winning project at the Transform Awards Europe.

Rebranding a global sports and hospitality brand like MotoGP is the kind of job that reminds you why you became a designer in the first place. That said, it can also feel a bit like a poisoned chalice, as you’re almost certainly guaranteed to upset someone, no matter how good the work is. That doesn’t mean you should just play it safe with a logo refresh and a light polish though.

By the time a new identity like this launches, the work might be signed off and the client and sponsors happy, but the real challenge is only just beginning. And in a world that’s all about winning, it’s winning over the fans that’s the really important part of the job.

It’s important to remember that this isn’t just about simply changing how things look. With any sport, you’re dealing with tradition, emotion and a loyal fanbase that feels a genuine sense of ownership, all of which dramatically raises the stakes. Fans don’t just like or love a brand, they identify with it, and as the saying goes: with great power comes great responsibility.

One of the best things that a client can do in the rebranding process is to fully commit and not lose sight of why they needed it in the first place. And it’s inevitable that when you're changing something that people really care about, some degree of pushback is bound to happen. In fact, if no one says you’ve “ruined everything,” you probably haven’t gone far enough.

Pre-social media, you could quietly ignore a bit of backlash, but not anymore. Now every opinion is shared and amplified, and if you’re not careful you’ve got a click-bait feature on the Daily Mail and a petition to reinstate the old logo on your hands.

This is the point where clients really need to hold their nerve and resist watering things down just to appease the keyboard trolls. Because fast forward a few months, and all the assets will be rolled out, the new merch will be looking amazing and suddenly no one remembers what came before.

As a designer, the buzz you get when seeing your work out in the wild never gets old. And it doesn’t get much better than seeing your identity blown up across a massive screen at a high-octane MotoGP launch event at the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona.

Well, almost. Picking up the Grand Prix award for MotoGP at this year’s Transform Awards is definitely up there with it.