How Gresini Racing took MotoGP to the Cinema
MotoGP

How Gresini Racing took MotoGP to the Cinema

by Oliver Card
6 min read

The Race's Oliver Card caught up with Gresini Racing communication director Cristian Massa on the team's award-winning campaign which won 'Best Social Media Activation' at The Race Media Awards 2025

It's a blustery Friday morning at Silverstone and in honour of the British round of the 2025 MotoGP season, Gresini Racing's social media account has just shared a photo of rider Alex Marquez rendered in a swaggering Liam Gallagher-esque posture, decked out in an olive green parka jacket and signature sneer.

This tongue-in-cheek visual is part of Gresini's year-long series of social posts reimagining iconic music album covers to feature their riders. The Gresini Records campaign kicked off with new signing Fermin Aldeguer recreating the artwork for Nirvana's 1991 Nevermind, in which a naked baby boy is swimming underwater with a US dollar bill on a fishhook just out of his reach.

Cristian Massa, communication director at Gresini Racing, explains that despite the 20-year-old rookie having never heard of Nirvana let alone seen the cover (he's more of a Bad Bunny fan), Aldeguer obliged with the request. He and his photographer threw themselves into his pool at home in Spain, recreated the pose (modesty protected), this time swapping the dollar for a lemon, a nod to his birthplace in Murcia.

"Fausto [Gresini, the eponymous team founder, who died in 2021] and Nadia [Padovani, CEO of Gresini Racing] always had the idea to work hard, play hard, enjoy the process and be a bit different."

Gresini Records is a follow up to 2024's award-winning Facciamo un Cinema campaign, winner of 'Best Social Media Activation' at The Race Media Awards 2025. The team's playful approach has become a signature style of the Ducati-powered satellite outfit which, at the end of 2023, found itself at the centre of one of the most seismic rider moves in MotoGP history when six-time world champion Marc Marquez left a long-term partnership with Honda to join his brother Alex Marquez.

"It was the biggest move in the last 20 years, at least. Even though I am the director of communication, they only told me the deal was done about three or four days before we announced it on Thursday before the race in Indonesia [in October]. When they told me the contract was signed, rather than being shocked, it was the opportunity of a lifetime."

It was over dinner with Nadia and the team in Indonesia that discussions of how to launch the two riders led to the 'Facciamo Un Cinema' concept, as a discussion around potential destinations led to a lightbulb moment.

"The cinema is a place that brings different people together and everyone can relate to, so I started to prepare ideas around various movies. Initially the concept was to just start with a few movies and see how it goes, but everything came together so naturally."

The campaign featured the Marquez brothers recreating parody movie posters to tell the story of the season and their place within MotoGP. The film choices weren't always the most obvious as Gresini were keen to subvert expectations and explore cult favourites as well as familiar Hollywood movies, weaving reworked quotes into the social copy. Parodies of Being John Malkovich, The Shining and The King's Speech started to capture the audience's imagination.

"The idea was to stop after three, but because of Marc's involvement, the audience really enjoyed it. After the second visual came out, people were already proposing new movies for us so it was fun to see that level of fan engagement from the start."

With good momentum early on, one of the keys to its success was getting brothers Marc and Alex enthusiastic about participating. Apart from Cristian and his designer, no one knew what was coming out each week, including the riders. When recreating a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street where the protagonist attempts to open the scissor door of his Lamborghini Countach with his foot, Cristian found himself instructing a bemused Marc Marquez to lie on the ground in full racing leathers, extending his leg skyward to recreate Leonardo Di Caprio's pose.

"He looked at me like, 'What the f**k's going on?' but [Marc] did it. Everyone was laughing, including Marc who in the end said, 'You will have to explain this to me at some point'. The riders never asked what it was for, but they never said no."

Despite the bemusement, Alex and Marc Marquez clearly trusted the team's strategy. Being part owners of communications company Vertical no doubt plays a role in the riders appreciating the true value of engaging social content. Despite their differing personalities, the unique nature of their relationship as brothers fostered a harmonious environment that allowed for the creativity to flow.

"It helps that the ambience of the team is about having fun and if you can laugh, let's laugh. You just have to find the right moment ahead of the weekend. Generally, if it's a Thursday, it's the one day the riders don't wear their leathers, so if you ask on this day, they'll say no...which is understandable!"

Cristian and the team are under no illusions that after a year with one of the most recognisable and successful riders in MotoGP, the spike in numbers across 2024 will be an exception to the norm, but that doesn't stop the creative mission.

With Marc moving to the Ducati factory team at the end of 2024, rookie Aldeguer took his place alongside Alex for 2025. It was always going to be a different challenge with a less familiar personality, but the approach is still the same. Movies have been swapped for music, but Cristian is still able to draw from Aldeguer's taste to bring the young rider to the world, including the rider's suggestion for Bad Bunny’s 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

"Social is about embracing more markets, more targets, more ages. He's 20 years younger, so I can learn from him sometimes!"

Social media presents a range of measurable metrics, but beyond the likes, replies and shares, for Gresini a successful campaign can be measured in its sentiment.

"You need the numbers to see if a campaign is working or not, but my real target is to put Gresini in a position where people see us as what we are: a team that enjoys what it does, to work with joy when you can and not have to fake a smile. If I see positive comments, then we know it's working and this is what I need to feel to create new ideas."

Since The Race Media Awards were launched in 2022 to celebrate outstanding achievements in motorsport communications, marketing and PR, a number of entries from the world of MotoGP have been shortlisted, but Gresini Racing is the first entry from motorcycle racing to take home the top prize.

"It was not a surprise that it was us who were the first in MotoGP to win. I'm lucky to be in a team that has given me total freedom to do my work, whereas other people in my position might have 10 bosses who each have an opinion which can make things difficult.

"But what surprised me most was beating some of the F1 teams. When they told me the four nominees I was like, 'Wow', especially considering the different budgets. I'm happy with what I have, but with more budget you can go so much further."

The Race Media Awards were set up to celebrate creativity over commerce and Gresini's success is emblematic of this ethos. The burden of a lucrative budget and layers of a larger organisation can stifle creativity that are required to engage and attract an audience. Gresini Racing's agility in their creative process combined with the seizing of a unique opportunity clearly created a perfect storm that led to such a successful campaign that overachieved.

The judges thought Facciamo Un Cinema was a fresh, stylish, interesting and beautifully executed campaign and, among the nominations, stood out in terms of its creative depth, resonating with a wider non-motorsport community.

'Authenticity' is an often trite and misused expression around social content creation. Despite cinema's role as a place for fantastical escapism, the success of Gresini Racing's Facciamo un Cinema series is rooted in a truly authentic human sentiment; reflecting a unique connection between two brothers, connecting with fans in a visual language they can relate to on their terms, and fulfilling its commitment to Fausto Gresini's mission to ​​enjoy the process and be a bit different along the way.

The Race Media Awards 2026 are now open for entries - find out more at https://theracemediaawards.com

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