Are you willing to sponsor?
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.
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted February 20, 2023 | In Marketing Sportivo, Sponsorizzazioni Sportive, Sports Marketing
Since last year we have been witnessing a relentless approach of Romanian companies to sponsorship in Motorsport.
Specifically, these are technology companies that have thrown themselves heart and soul into the two most prestigious disciplines of 2 and 4 wheels: the MotoGP world championship
and the F1 world championship.
As we shall see, these are high-impact sports marketing operations with presumably considerable budgets, and of which sponsorship, as always in such cases, is the tip of the iceberg.
It began in 2022 CryptoData with the titling of the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix, again CryptoData followed this up with the acquisition of a majority stake in the RNF Yamaha team renamed RNF CryptoDATA so it will handle marketing and commercial activities, leaving track operations to the old ownership…and since appetite comes with eating in 2023 we find CryptoData also engaged with the Alfa Romeo IN F1 team “After acquiring the former MotoGP team RNF Yamaha, which is currently RNF CryptoDATA, we felt we could do even more, to develop the reputation and image of the company and the products we develop, and that is how we ended up in a partnership with Alfa Romeo Sauber, on the one hand as technical partners, on the other as sponsors,” reports a company press release published by www.g4media.ro.
It was announced in September 2022 that Bitdefender, a Romanian cybersecurity company, will work alongside Ferrari for the next few years. “Bitdefender shares with Scuderia Ferrari a legacy of excellence and a proven track record of building innovative, cutting-edge technologies to achieve winning results,” said Florin Talpes, Co-founder and CEO. “When every second counts, only the most advanced cars win races on the track, and only the most advanced technology has the power to effectively prevent, defend and respond to cyber attacks. Partnering with Scuderia Ferrari, the most iconic Formula 1 team, is a natural fit for Bitdefender. We look forward to accelerating our brand awareness as we remain focused on providing our customers around the world with state-of-the-art cybersecurity protection.”
On the occasion of XdayParis, Romania’s very young Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, 37-year-old Sebastian Burduja shares the following tweet with his followers:
Proving that capable and up-to-date people can create a competitive advantage.
And that Romania is accelerating strongly in new technologies is evident when one considers that the defenestration of Nicolae Ceausescu and his failed management of the nation is from relatively near 1989. So one wonders what is going on in Romania, some data we extrapolate from the international Trade administration (www.trade.gov) make us understand.
https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/romania-information-communications-technology-ict
“Romania leads Europe and is sixth in the world in the number of certified IT specialists, with density rates per 1,000 population higher than those in the United States or Russia.
Romania also hosts the new EU Competence Center for Cybersecurity and is home to an impressive number of international technology companies (including Amazon, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, etc.), with 50 of the largest technology companies in Romania having quadrupled their operations and teams in recent years.
Romania also scores high in terms of telecommunication networks and Internet speed.
The Romanian software and IT services market has grown substantially and is likely to become the most important contributor to local GDP in the medium to long term.
The cybersecurity market in Romania is still emerging. Romania has the highest rate of technology workers per capita in Europe in this sector.
Starting in 2021, Bucharest hosted the European Center of Industrial, Technological and Research Expertise on Cybersecurity, a hub for distributing EU and national funding for cybersecurity research projects.
The role of the EU Cyber Centre is to strengthen the EU’s resilience, deterrence and response to cyber attacks, with the goal of maintaining and developing the technological cybersecurity capabilities essential to securing the EU’s Digital Single Market (DSM). The Competence Center will implement parts of the Digital Europe and Horizon Europe programs by awarding grants and executing contracts.
As for cyber education, more than 15 cybersecurity programs have been developed nationwide in the 2019-2020 academic year at more than 11 colleges and universities on topics ranging from cybersecurity of military information systems, cryptography and digital investigations to machine learning and network security.”
We are in a perfect situation for the market of Hi Tech companies that can take advantage of a lot of trained and hopeful young people. The result a host of ambitious start-ups ready to think big. Sponsorship is thus being properly used by those companies in the industry that are already establishing themselves as a tool to increase their status.
Status and perceived reliability of relatively new companies that need to establish themselves in the international market and do not enjoy the same allure as their Silicon valley peers. Nothing better than to associate with sports such as MotoGP and Formula 1 that embody the values needed to make this leap.
It is a real traveling promotional platform that from March will touch the most important world markets…. What better opportunity for companies that wanted to broaden their horizons than to use bidding in high-impact B2B operations?
If you want to know how to best prepare for your entry into the leagues, what you need to purchase and prepare, which team to associate with, and how to optimize communication on all your social and non-social platforms you can turn to us. We have been operating for thirty years in motorsport sponsorships and will know how to accompany you on your journey by setting goals and control mechanisms to maximize your return on ‘investment.
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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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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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