How does motorsport sponsorship work in the UK (for brands)
Discussion
Hi,
I have been researching how motorsports sponsorship works (specifically between brands and race teams/race series). When I google this, all that seems to come up is guidance on how drivers secure sponsorships etc.
I suppose my questions therefore are more specific:
Do teams reach out to potential brands or is it the other way round?
How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
I have been researching how motorsports sponsorship works (specifically between brands and race teams/race series). When I google this, all that seems to come up is guidance on how drivers secure sponsorships etc.
I suppose my questions therefore are more specific:
Do teams reach out to potential brands or is it the other way round?
How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
Depends if you mean sponsorship for cars, drivers or at events really but it's often one of the following:
1.Tax reasons
2.Personal connection, business owner knows drivers or driver has approached local businesses etc. Alternatively, in a higher level of championship, its the drivers company that is the sponsor and helps pay for the drive
3.Business owner likes motorsport and sees a small investment opportunity
Sponsorship brokers may exist at F1 level but the teams usually do it themselves.
Speal to the guy from Intelligent Finance, who sponsor the BGT championship, on the relevant thread, he might have the answers you seek
1.Tax reasons
2.Personal connection, business owner knows drivers or driver has approached local businesses etc. Alternatively, in a higher level of championship, its the drivers company that is the sponsor and helps pay for the drive
3.Business owner likes motorsport and sees a small investment opportunity
Sponsorship brokers may exist at F1 level but the teams usually do it themselves.
Speal to the guy from Intelligent Finance, who sponsor the BGT championship, on the relevant thread, he might have the answers you seek
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 20th August 08:57
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 20th August 08:58
owen1 said:
Do teams reach out to potential brands or is it the other way round?
How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
What is your research for?How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
There are no definite answers to any of your questions as it depends on a huge number of factors. Is the motorsport in question televised? What are the audience numbers? What is the geography of the broadcast?
Assuming F1 as an example.... (I have worked in this a bit).
Brands can approach teams, but it's usually teams to brands. It's a major part of their funding, so they do the legwork by and large.
No sure what you mean 'how are the brands sourced?'. A team will do some work to identify a brand to work with - then make their overtures.
Not always a broker (I assume you mean agency). Very large sponsorship packages are quite often dealt with directly between brand and team. But there are many sports marketing agencies who are focussed on this - but in my experience (in F1) with a couple of global blue chip brands, the deal was done pretty much directly.
Don't forget trackside signage too - it's not all about teams/cars/drivers. The signage contracts are massive.
If it's not F1 - let's say motorsport that is not televised, sponsorship is much more difficult.
NDA said:
There are no definite answers to any of your questions as it depends on a huge number of factors. Is the motorsport in question televised? What are the audience numbers? What is the geography of the broadcast?
Assuming F1 as an example.... (I have worked in this a bit).
Brands can approach teams, but it's usually teams to brands. It's a major part of their funding, so they do the legwork by and large.
No sure what you mean 'how are the brands sourced?'. A team will do some work to identify a brand to work with - then make their overtures.
Not always a broker (I assume you mean agency). Very large sponsorship packages are quite often dealt with directly between brand and team. But there are many sports marketing agencies who are focussed on this - but in my experience (in F1) with a couple of global blue chip brands, the deal was done pretty much directly.
Don't forget trackside signage too - it's not all about teams/cars/drivers. The signage contracts are massive.
If it's not F1 - let's say motorsport that is not televised, sponsorship is much more difficult.
I'm thinking about an online platform that pairs teams/sponsors for mainly purely national series such as the BTCC, GT Cup etc. so yes televised, and decent audience numbers, but only in the UK. Assuming F1 as an example.... (I have worked in this a bit).
Brands can approach teams, but it's usually teams to brands. It's a major part of their funding, so they do the legwork by and large.
No sure what you mean 'how are the brands sourced?'. A team will do some work to identify a brand to work with - then make their overtures.
Not always a broker (I assume you mean agency). Very large sponsorship packages are quite often dealt with directly between brand and team. But there are many sports marketing agencies who are focussed on this - but in my experience (in F1) with a couple of global blue chip brands, the deal was done pretty much directly.
Don't forget trackside signage too - it's not all about teams/cars/drivers. The signage contracts are massive.
If it's not F1 - let's say motorsport that is not televised, sponsorship is much more difficult.
the main challenge i seem to be facing currently is not necessarily getting teams to join the site, but rather getting brands that are interested in motorsports sponsorship/making brands aware of it as I do not have contacts in this area.
by 'doing the legwork', is this just a case of sending a proposal over or what?
I understand about track sponsorship, but when i enquired with the sponsorship team at brands hatch, they told me that its rather the sponsors of whatever series that is coming to the track on a particular weekend that get the trackside signage. Does this mean there is no scope for outlying commerical brands to sponsor a race?
NDA said:
What is your research for?
There are no definite answers to any of your questions as it depends on a huge number of factors. Is the motorsport in question televised? What are the audience numbers? What is the geography of the broadcast?
Assuming F1 as an example.... (I have worked in this a bit).
Brands can approach teams, but it's usually teams to brands. It's a major part of their funding, so they do the legwork by and large.
No sure what you mean 'how are the brands sourced?'. A team will do some work to identify a brand to work with - then make their overtures.
Not always a broker (I assume you mean agency). Very large sponsorship packages are quite often dealt with directly between brand and team. But there are many sports marketing agencies who are focussed on this - but in my experience (in F1) with a couple of global blue chip brands, the deal was done pretty much directly.
Don't forget trackside signage too - it's not all about teams/cars/drivers. The signage contracts are massive.
If it's not F1 - let's say motorsport that is not televised, sponsorship is much more difficult.
The last one I saw came from a top 5 team and a outline document was circulated to the target brands by the F1 team, including ours, with tiers of options from minor sponsor through to title sponsor.There are no definite answers to any of your questions as it depends on a huge number of factors. Is the motorsport in question televised? What are the audience numbers? What is the geography of the broadcast?
Assuming F1 as an example.... (I have worked in this a bit).
Brands can approach teams, but it's usually teams to brands. It's a major part of their funding, so they do the legwork by and large.
No sure what you mean 'how are the brands sourced?'. A team will do some work to identify a brand to work with - then make their overtures.
Not always a broker (I assume you mean agency). Very large sponsorship packages are quite often dealt with directly between brand and team. But there are many sports marketing agencies who are focussed on this - but in my experience (in F1) with a couple of global blue chip brands, the deal was done pretty much directly.
Don't forget trackside signage too - it's not all about teams/cars/drivers. The signage contracts are massive.
If it's not F1 - let's say motorsport that is not televised, sponsorship is much more difficult.
For the price they were asking it was actually quite reasonable but it wasn't aligned to other things we were/are doing so we passed.
owen1 said:
I'm thinking about an online platform that pairs teams/sponsors for mainly purely national series such as the BTCC, GT Cup etc. so yes televised, and decent audience numbers, but only in the UK.
the main challenge i seem to be facing currently is not necessarily getting teams to join the site, but rather getting brands that are interested in motorsports sponsorship/making brands aware of it as I do not have contacts in this area.
by 'doing the legwork', is this just a case of sending a proposal over or what?
I understand about track sponsorship, but when i enquired with the sponsorship team at brands hatch, they told me that its rather the sponsors of whatever series that is coming to the track on a particular weekend that get the trackside signage. Does this mean there is no scope for outlying commerical brands to sponsor a race?
Ok, could be interesting. What it sounds like you’re trying to do then is offer a platform for potential sponsors to identify teams with a good chance of being near the front and gaining good exposure across a variety of championships so you’ll need to be clear on to coverage, potential viewing figures etc. the main challenge i seem to be facing currently is not necessarily getting teams to join the site, but rather getting brands that are interested in motorsports sponsorship/making brands aware of it as I do not have contacts in this area.
by 'doing the legwork', is this just a case of sending a proposal over or what?
I understand about track sponsorship, but when i enquired with the sponsorship team at brands hatch, they told me that its rather the sponsors of whatever series that is coming to the track on a particular weekend that get the trackside signage. Does this mean there is no scope for outlying commerical brands to sponsor a race?
A problem you’re going to have is the “what’s in it for me..” question from potential sponsors, some teams will be able to exclusive track days for the sponsor and guests or race day hospitality, others won’t.
Maybe when teams sign up, they declare what they can offer and the sponsors can choose accordingly. Some may just want their name in the car (cough tax) and be done with it, others may want to feel part of the team, especially if they’re principal sponsor and want track passes for 50 people etc etc
You will also need teams to declare other sponsors, and position of logos etc on the car when they sign up. Pepsi for example, arent going to sponsor a car already emblazoned with Coca Cola logos!! And no one really wants the right corner of the rear bumper for their logo as it gets seen least at most UK tracks that go clockwise. Maybe have some silhouettes of cars as a guide available for sponsors to see how their logo might look in different places etc etc
I’d expand it to any series though, a small local company might be interested in giving “Amateur Dave” racing a Formula Ford at Castle Combe £500 a season for their name on his car and Dave will be delighted…
You’ll always have more teams signing up than sponsors though, that’s life.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 20th August 18:22
owen1 said:
I understand about track sponsorship, but when i enquired with the sponsorship team at brands hatch, they told me that its rather the sponsors of whatever series that is coming to the track on a particular weekend that get the trackside signage. Does this mean there is no scope for outlying commerical brands to sponsor a race?
Some tracks - like Brands Hatch - need to offer signage as part of a package, other tracks don't. Depends! I have seen non-team sponsors being able to buy trackside signage.The 'flash reports' log any TV coverage of the signage of more than 2 seconds from the live-feed. The global audience (when I was doing it) was 600m (Vs 300m for the Premier League) - so there is a calculation to give a CPM (cost per thousand).
We sponsor a couple of individuals who are racing at different levels. We’re a lubricant blender and the deal is we supply products for them to use in the cars / bikes and our logo is applied to the vehicle. We also pull some articles through LinkedIn and sometimes take other customers to an events.
Low level stuff, but it works for us.
In one case we were asked if we’d be interested in helping by a customer who has a daughter that races. She’s now becoming a brand ambassador for us, which helps lift the profile of both parties.
Low level stuff, but it works for us.
In one case we were asked if we’d be interested in helping by a customer who has a daughter that races. She’s now becoming a brand ambassador for us, which helps lift the profile of both parties.
pablo said:
I’d expand it to any series though, a small local company might be interested in giving “Amateur Dave” racing a Formula Ford at Castle Combe £500 a season for their name on his car and Dave will be delighted…
You’ll always have more teams signing up than sponsors though, that’s life.
how would you suggest getting sponsors onto the site? you mention 'what's in it for me' and I agree, but regardless of this i'm not sure how to get companies even looking at potential opportunitiesYou’ll always have more teams signing up than sponsors though, that’s life.
Edited by pablo on Sunday 20th August 18:22
Aside from classic marketing strategies to advertise my platform, I dont know how I can make the site popular, not least getting brands to want to invest into a motorsport team
sanguinary said:
We sponsor a couple of individuals who are racing at different levels. We’re a lubricant blender and the deal is we supply products for them to use in the cars / bikes and our logo is applied to the vehicle. We also pull some articles through LinkedIn and sometimes take other customers to an events.
Low level stuff, but it works for us.
In one case we were asked if we’d be interested in helping by a customer who has a daughter that races. She’s now becoming a brand ambassador for us, which helps lift the profile of both parties.
was there any sort of monetary figure involved in these examples? Low level stuff, but it works for us.
In one case we were asked if we’d be interested in helping by a customer who has a daughter that races. She’s now becoming a brand ambassador for us, which helps lift the profile of both parties.
owen1 said:
regardless of this i'm not sure how to get companies even looking at potential opportunities
Aside from classic marketing strategies to advertise my platform, I dont know how I can make the site popular, not least getting brands to want to invest into a motorsport team
I've read your original post and your subsequent responses. There's been some good advice so far, but I'm struggling to actually understand what you are trying to achieve?Aside from classic marketing strategies to advertise my platform, I dont know how I can make the site popular, not least getting brands to want to invest into a motorsport team
If you are trying to set up a business that pairs teams/drivers with potential sponsors, then there are professionals that do this for a living. You seem to have very little experience of this field and motorsport in general. So what exactly, are you trying to achieve?
If you do get to the stage of actually needing to contact someone, or reply to a query, then you will have to revise your grammar and punctuation if you are to be taken seriously.
I'm not trying to be a smart arse, but again, I'm struggling to actually understand what you are trying to achieve?
owen1 said:
was there any sort of monetary figure involved in these examples?
From our side not much to be honest. For the driver’s side, probably £1000 or so of savings on motor lubricant products. I do know what a couple of our competitors pay for the BTCC. I’m not going to post the figures, but it gets eye watering very quickly.
Edited by sanguinary on Tuesday 22 August 09:07
I'd personally say forget it, the sort of thing you're talking about has been tried before and it's a much more complicated prospect than it seems from the outside.
The only way to get a sponsor that brings an impactful amount of budget is through a lot of hard work and, for any quality brand, a long term building of trust that the team they are sponsoring will meet their expectations and give them value for money with regards to performance of the car, quality of the team's presentation/hospitality and even the personalities of the senior team members and drivers as their ambassadors.
You can't really do all that nuance justice with a faceless web service, and in my experience any sponsor that goes in with a bidding mindset (that a web service will inevitably promote) doesn't put up enough dosh to do it properly. They often then end up with teams racing to the bottom (no pun intended) with who will give the most coverage/seats in hospo for the least amount of money. Consequently quality suffers as the team/driver then doesn't have enough money to run the cars and/or hospo properly, the sponsor gets pissed off, bounces to the next cheapest team a couple of times then often leaves the series for good.
If you're interested in that area of the sport I would suggest doing a bit of digging and find some of the agencies and individuals who look after marketing and PR for some of the better teams and find out what you need to do to be able to help or get involved
The only way to get a sponsor that brings an impactful amount of budget is through a lot of hard work and, for any quality brand, a long term building of trust that the team they are sponsoring will meet their expectations and give them value for money with regards to performance of the car, quality of the team's presentation/hospitality and even the personalities of the senior team members and drivers as their ambassadors.
You can't really do all that nuance justice with a faceless web service, and in my experience any sponsor that goes in with a bidding mindset (that a web service will inevitably promote) doesn't put up enough dosh to do it properly. They often then end up with teams racing to the bottom (no pun intended) with who will give the most coverage/seats in hospo for the least amount of money. Consequently quality suffers as the team/driver then doesn't have enough money to run the cars and/or hospo properly, the sponsor gets pissed off, bounces to the next cheapest team a couple of times then often leaves the series for good.
If you're interested in that area of the sport I would suggest doing a bit of digging and find some of the agencies and individuals who look after marketing and PR for some of the better teams and find out what you need to do to be able to help or get involved
sanguinary said:
owen1 said:
was there any sort of monetary figure involved in these examples?
From our side not much to be honest. For the driver’s side, probably £1000 or so of savings on motor lubricant products. I do know what a couple of our competitors pay for the BTCC. I’m not going to post the figures, but it gets eye watering very quickly.
As Mr Wookie says above, the actual money sponsors come either directly from the teams or from the drivers themselves, who put in old-fashioned time and effort to build relationships, often over a number of years.
owen1 said:
Hi,
I have been researching how motorsports sponsorship works (specifically between brands and race teams/race series). When I google this, all that seems to come up is guidance on how drivers secure sponsorships etc.
I suppose my questions therefore are more specific:
Do teams reach out to potential brands or is it the other way round?
How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
Getting someone to pay for your racing whilst giving a company the opportunity to gain some value back in return does sound good. Furthermore there is likely a good team and good sponsor combination who would fit each other really well and yet don’t know either exist. If they were brought together then it does seem like there is some opportunity there for sure. I have been researching how motorsports sponsorship works (specifically between brands and race teams/race series). When I google this, all that seems to come up is guidance on how drivers secure sponsorships etc.
I suppose my questions therefore are more specific:
Do teams reach out to potential brands or is it the other way round?
How are these brands sourced usually?
Is it usually through a sponsorship broker?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
I’ve had a couple of people discuss sponsorship on the podcast - ex F1 sponsorship director, Perry McCarthy (the original stig) etc - and their perspectives are really “obvious” but only when you here them.
I’ll link to the shows below but for the sponsor their has to be value - in their definition - and for the driver there has to be some value given. The challenge I’ve discovered is working out what that is - and like people have said here, suppliers and bartering are really popular for this reason.
Interestingly, appreciate most of the discussion here is about using motorsports for advertising, on the assumption that motorsports only has that as something to add, but it might be worth you considering other ways value can be exchanged.
For example, product sampling, hospitality and/or live experiences. Also talks - such as motivational talks, or technical talks - and I personally have offered some consulting services, that people normally pay for, for “free” in as part of a sponsorship package for my own racing in the past (business data analytics for example)
One thing worth considering, that I have heard a few times when talking to others about why they dont have sponsors, but which might not be actually factual, is that, at a club level, whilst people do appreciate the money, this is also their hobby. The worry with sponsorship is that it becomes another job, a lot of hard work and distracts from the reason you are out racing in the first place. Not sure what others think of that?
For the podcasts go here: https://www.yourdatadriven.com/your-data-driven-po...
Then scroll down to Brian Sims (ep 19) and Perry McCarthy (ep 10) - incidentally Perry’s story to how he starts racing and eventually gets to F1 is very funny.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do with this. Hope this helps you.
To add to the above, at the highest levels ‘sponsorship’ might not involve money as such. My previous employer was approached by a well known but midfield team to provide support services both at the races and at their HQ as were serveral others in our market place. The deal was we would provide these services at a rate that would be loss making, but it would get our brand and ability to deliver in front of budget holders at worldwide Blue Chip businesses. It was declined as whilst we would have had performance measures in place, the team could provide no guarantees of success which would ensure the flow of those budget holders through the door.
Edited by LastPoster on Tuesday 22 August 17:16
Sandpit Steve said:
If you’re trying to be the middleman, you’ll be wanting to get paid based on some nominal dollar value of a barrel of oil and a box of filters exchanged for a few stickers that go on the car. The problem is that deals don’t work like that, and the old-fashioned barter system actually works well in motorsport with no money involved.
As Mr Wookie says above, the actual money sponsors come either directly from the teams or from the drivers themselves, who put in old-fashioned time and effort to build relationships, often over a number of years.
I'm thinking about different ways to charge for this service and I agree that for the supplier agreements, a commission-based model wouldn't necessarily work. What would you say to a subscription-based model that in this case, means suppliers/teams have the tools to get in contact with eachother and put forward suggestions?As Mr Wookie says above, the actual money sponsors come either directly from the teams or from the drivers themselves, who put in old-fashioned time and effort to build relationships, often over a number of years.
When you say that the relationship is built over a number of years, are you saying that it usually takes this amount of time to secure sponsorships then?
owen1 said:
When you say that the relationship is built over a number of years, are you saying that it usually takes this amount of time to secure sponsorships then?
As an aside I have seen an F1 title sponsorship go from zero to agreement in about 12 weeks.The CEO didn't have the budget pre-allocated so he freed it up by firing a (lot) of people and canning a load of other marketing initiatives.
Not naming it here though!
sabid said:
Perry McCarthy (ep 10) - incidentally Perry’s story to how he starts racing and eventually gets to F1 is very funny.
Perry’s book is brilliant, genuinely funny.In my experience (30 years in historics of various types) it’s mostly either drovers sponsoring themselves or a family member through their day job, or a few quid/discounts off tyre/lubricant (not that sort) companies.
Demon tweeks had a pretty good discount scheme if you carried their stickers and got a pic in Motoring News or Autosport - very clever marketing.
owen1 said:
Sandpit Steve said:
If you’re trying to be the middleman, you’ll be wanting to get paid based on some nominal dollar value of a barrel of oil and a box of filters exchanged for a few stickers that go on the car. The problem is that deals don’t work like that, and the old-fashioned barter system actually works well in motorsport with no money involved.
As Mr Wookie says above, the actual money sponsors come either directly from the teams or from the drivers themselves, who put in old-fashioned time and effort to build relationships, often over a number of years.
I'm thinking about different ways to charge for this service and I agree that for the supplier agreements, a commission-based model wouldn't necessarily work. What would you say to a subscription-based model that in this case, means suppliers/teams have the tools to get in contact with eachother and put forward suggestions?As Mr Wookie says above, the actual money sponsors come either directly from the teams or from the drivers themselves, who put in old-fashioned time and effort to build relationships, often over a number of years.
When you say that the relationship is built over a number of years, are you saying that it usually takes this amount of time to secure sponsorships then?
My comment about relationships over a number of years, means not that these deals take years to work out, but that these deals often persist for years, and rely on a lot of the old-fashioned wining and dining to get agreed in the first place. Supplier X often deals with driver Y (because of an existing relationship, because they’re from the same country etc), no matter which team the driver drives for.
As an example, something like half the F2 field is sponsored by their own family business, and outside of a very few top-level works teams in a few top-level championships, drivers are expected to bring their own sponsorship, often the same sponsors they’ve always had.
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff