Type “MotoGP Sponsor Sticker” into any search engine and you’ll discover the vast world of sticker kits for customizing motorcycles and scooters like the bikes of MotoGP. For motorsport enthusiasts, they’re a sign of belonging to a community; for sponsorship professionals, they’re an extraordinary marketing victory. And sponsors and brands are grateful.

Scooters, stickers and the provinces

I remember my first scooter well: a black Malaguti F10, bought by my father in May 1998. For those of us from the Emilia-Romagna countryside, a first scooter was an object of desire and a symbol of freedom, but above all a canvas for artistic and technical creativity. I wasn’t particularly gifted in engineering — changing an exhaust pipe was about the extent of my abilities — but I was fascinated by the racing world and eager to copy the aesthetic of competition prototypes. Those were the years of Malossi and Abarth stickers, the already-mentioned Arrow and LeoVince exhausts, tyre lettering filled in with white UniPosca markers and ProGrip grips with fluorescent inserts.

Sticker kits for motorcycles and scooters

Almost twenty years later, the world of the Sponsor Sticker — i.e., sticker kits available in specialist shops or online for customizing motorcycles and scooters — is far from dead. In fact, it’s thriving. Just search for “sponsor stickers“, “sponsor sticker motogp” or “racing stickers” and you’ll find a veritable plethora of solutions in every shape, style, size and price. Because even as we get older, the desire to feel a little closer to the riders and heroes of our hearts never fades.

For 15 to 20 euros it’s possible to buy a set of stickers similar to those that appear on MotoGP and Superbike bikes on race day, not to mention Dakar, Touring and more. The smartest manufacturers have even started producing sticker kits divided by brand and team, so you can buy the Honda HRC package — with the unmissable Repsol, Red Bull and SC — the Yamaha package with Monster Energy, Eneos and the triple tuning fork, and so on.

Sponsor stickers and sports marketing

Those of us at RTR Sports who work in sports sponsorship, however, observe the phenomenon with a keener eye for the marketing implications and business repercussions.

On many occasions we have said that one of the reasons that make sport and sports sponsorships an extraordinary communication tool is precisely their ability to speak to the heart of the audience, bypassing the defence mechanisms people build up against advertising. Thanks to sport, companies and consumers form a bond that in many cases becomes unbreakable, to the point where some consumers want — and are willing to pay — to put a brand’s logo on their favourite vehicle, to feel closer to the discipline they love so much.

The proliferation of the sponsor sticker and racing sticker market is a clear reflection of what we have in several contexts defined as the secondary benefits of sponsorship: those advantages for the sponsor company that arise from the sponsorship agreement but are not explicitly set out in the contract signed with the rights holders. The sponsors’ stickers are a clear indicator of the effectiveness of the sponsorship tool, but the result in terms of brand awareness and visibility generated by this phenomenon for the brands involved should not be overlooked. Castrol, Magneti Marelli, Shell, Repsol, Dunlop, Ohlins, Red Bull and Monster thus benefit from significantly increased — albeit involuntary — exposure.

It is a virtuous circle, in which the brand empowers the user — giving them the feeling of being closer to a champion — while the user in turn gives new strength to the brand, returning visibility and credibility within their circle of friends and acquaintances. It’s one of the many facets that make sports sponsorship a truly extraordinary tool for companies of all kinds.

For questions and enquiries about the world of sports sponsorship and MotoGP sponsorship, feel free to contact us at info@rtrsports.com