Partnership ideas (sponsors)?

[Bikesalot]

Hi all,

Short question;
Have a championship winning motorbike club racer who plans to defend his title and enter some BSB races in 2018 – he is currently looking for partners to assist him with this, what’s the best way?

Longer version.

I have a client who’s just won a Championship title in Thundersport GB, he plans to defend his title in 2018 and also wants to take the leap into BSB (wildcard) and possible diversify into some endurance races. He is extremely passionate about the sport but does not shout about his success and is all rather quiet and modest. I’ve re aligned his website and social media platforms to give a consistent message across them all. He is currently looking for partners to help fund / supply anything that will help chase his dream. We aren’t talking someone wanting everything for free, he is still up at 4am every morning for a days work to fund his racing at the moment – there’s no hiding it though extra money or discounted anything will help a lot.


What’s some extra avenues we can work on to get him extra exposure, is there anyone out there itching to be seen as a championship partner, has anyone tackled this before?

Cheers,

Edited by Bikesalot on Tuesday 28th November 12:07

[StevieBee]

Motorsports sponsorship has been covered regularly and extensively round these parts and would be worth hunting down some of the previous threads on the subject.

Bottom line is.....it's bloody difficult!

I've dabbled myself in the past (as a broker between team and a client), nothing to shout about but enough to know the basics.

It's important to structure an opportunity beyond a sticker on the bike and overalls. That seldom works in F1! If you are lucky enough to find an interested company, they will be looking at hospitality opportunities, access to potential customers that they may bump into at the races and many other extraneous benefits to the point, often, whereby brand recognition is the least important component.

If you look at BTCC on ITV4, very few of the brands on the cars are known by the wider viewing public. Go to the races, wander round the paddock and you'll see hospitality tents rammed full of distributors, staff, agents, clients, customers...all invited along to cheer on their car and/or indulge in free food and booze.

Don't oversell the rider's potential; not everyone is destined to be the next Haslam or Hamilton.

You may get lucky and find a wealthy benefactor happy to just bung some wedge your way to be associated with the sport...but most of those will already be there.

It's not impossible. But don't underestimate the effort needed.

[Flat-6]

Having also had some exposure to this on both sides (team / sponsor) I will also say that motorsport sponsorship never, ever brings any sort of return on investment.

You need to find a sponsor who is willing to spend and lose money - THAT is the hard bit.

Hence the need to somehow structure an "Experience" for the sponsors that doesn't end up costing your team more than the sponsor put in.

Or the other angle is parts suppliers as sponsors, EG they supply a set of shocks and they get a sticker - BUT you can guarantee that EVERY single team on the grid has also approached the same set of manufacturers, so they will be either not interested, already involved or already know it's a loss-making exercise.

Good luck.