Are you willing to sponsor?
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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted March 26, 2019 | In MotoGP, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Motorsports are synonyms with efficiency and reliability. The same efficiency and reliability, combined with low consumption, that consumers seek in the electric appliances they purchase.
These values are common to all motorsports disciplines. You win if you get to the finish line, and you get to the finish line if you have a reliable motorbike. The level of reliability is the same you expect from the high-quality products you have in your home.
Storytelling on reliability may be the foundation to build upon for an electrical appliance manufacturer who is willing to sponsor the MotoGP. Do not forget that the teams can punch (and consequently use) a limited number of engines to race the competitions of an entire season. Consequently, the engines must operate tirelessly and flawlessly over time, exactly like the motor in your washing machine. High performances, however, must imperatively be supported by uncommon durability, the same durability you expect from the products you have invested in. Moreover, if you consider that such engines are extremely high performing and reach power levels of around 300HP for 1000 cu.cm, it is easy to understand how reliability is a founding value. A value you should leverage for your communications.
Needless to say, reliability is one of the many features that may be associated with motorsports. Another one is reduced consumption, where “reduced” means inconceivably low up to a few years ago. The fuel tank of a motorcycle in the MotoGP category can be filled with 22 liters: in this case too parallelisms with the pursuit of efficiency are easy to make in communications. A quick, reliable and low consuming washer-drier is anybody’s wish! Is it true that dishwashers are so efficient that they consume less water than required for hand wash-up? Isn’t water a finite resource? According to the BBC, the answer seems to be “yes, it is”.
If you consider that the races of the championship are hosted in the most important world markets, you will easily understand that sponsoring the MotoGP will offer you the opportunity to organize promotional initiatives by which you may take your customers from the shops to the racing tracks. This represents a great advantage over your competitors. Value consistency, storytelling and promotional activities will thus become a way to reward your customers with unique experiences. A nice tool in your marketing toolbox.
The washer-dryer (and the whole world of detergents and laundry accessories) is extremely important in the economy of a racing team on the tracks. This was evidenced some years ago by P&G, one of the most talented corporations marketing-wise, when they decided to join the sector with one of their brands, TIDE, and they did so for quite a while. This concept may be applied to almost all sports where the players are required to proudly wear uniforms in perfect conditions.
TV screens and fridges are very popular and under pressure. Efficiency is a hot issue with them too as they are required to be operational at all times and to guarantee low consumption. A MotoGP team hosts on average 250/300 people every race, with peaks that are twice this value in some GP races. Fridges are strategic appliances for the team: a refreshing drink is something you would never deny to anyone. What would happen if the space available was narrow and could only fit a limited number of fridges? The answer is very simple! The time required for the fridges to cool the drinks must be shorter. This shows that the pursuit of high-quality performances is the ultimate target of electrical appliances too. Although they may seem to be miles away from racing, they still offer stories to tell and different angles to impress the fans, showing aspects and nuances which are not for everybody to see.
What would happen if a racer could not follow the trends of the racing times during the test sessions because a screen blows out? Do you think he would feel comfortable, with adrenaline flowing like a river? This is the reason why teams always have the best technical equipment: the purpose is to avoid any such inconvenience.
What about computers? Computers are key devices used to collect and examine data coming from the multitude of sensors installed on the motorcycles. What would happen if the team computers had a bug and could not be used? The race would risk being compromised and this is really inconceivable. Computers are key for the execution of the necessary activities (including for motorcycle engineering, of course) and for the management of all aspects which a special company like a racing team does with their help.
These are just a few examples which could be extended to include induction tops for kitchens, wi-fi routers, tumble driers and hair driers, headsets to listen to music, mixers, and any other item – and there is plenty of them – which belong to the category of consumer electronics and are indispensable to a MotoGP Team.
If you are curious to know more about this topic or if you are looking for a special communication angle for your product, do not hesitate to contact us at: info@rtrsports.com.
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Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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