YAMAHA YXZ1000R SPORT SIDE-BY-SIDE LAUNCH

In early 2015, GearShift was tasked with introducing Yamaha’s first “pure-sport” Side-by-Side, the YXZ1000R, through a four-part, staggered release of teaser videos. These were to be rolled out prior to the product launch on September 1, 2015.

The goal was to let sport Side-by-Side enthusiasts know something big was coming without showing the actual product. There was speculation that Polaris, Yamaha’s main competitor, would announce a new high-horsepower Side-by-Side during its dealer meeting in late July. Yamaha wanted its teasers to provide just enough detail to make customers pause before making a decision to purchase the new Polaris.

The first teaser launched during Yamaha’s June dealer meeting to alert dealers that a new sport Side-by-Side was coming. The teaser was then released quietly via social media. It didn’t take long until industry buzz and speculation ran rampant that it would hopefully be the sport Side-by-Side Yamaha customers had desired for years.

The YXZ1000R launch was Yamaha’s most successful new product introduction ever. Yamaha saw a 171% increase in traffic compared to its previous Side-by-Side release and a 222% increase in traffic compared to the highly anticipated R1 sportbike release in November 2014. On the day of the launch, the top 10 active pages on Yamaha’s website were all YXZ1000R model pages. In addition, the launch video GearShift produced received 1.5 million views on Facebook in its first month alone.

Work created by GearShift for Yamaha and Star Motorcycles shown with permission from Yamaha Motor Corporation.