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 August 8, 2024 | In Licensing, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
In the competitive world of consumer goods, the licensing in motorsports represent a unique strategy to differentiate your brand and create emotional connections with consumers.
Imagine your products with the iconic logos of a championship, a famous team, or a famous driver.
Pairing your brand with world-class properties not only elevates your market position, but infuses your products with the prestige, innovation, and excitement inherent in these motorsport brands.
In this paper we will explore the many benefits of a licensing agreement in motorsport, including market expansion, new customer acquisition, brand association, product perception, and storytelling potential.
If you are a brand seeking licensing opportunities or a marketing professional, read on to find out how these licenses in motorsports can transform your market strategy.
Licensing in motorsports offers a unique opportunity to attract new market segments. By using the logos and image of world-class teams and drivers, your products can capture the attention of fans of these disciplines who may not have previously been interested.
This type of association not only expands your audience, but can also increase the loyalty of existing customers. For example, fans of a specific team or driver are often very loyal and eager to support the brands that sponsor their idols. In addition, motorsport licensing can facilitate access to international markets where motorsport has a strong presence, opening up distribution channels that might otherwise be difficult to penetrate.
This strategy, then, not only amplifies your market presence but also diversifies it, making your brand more resilient to changes in consumer behavior.
Licensing in motorsport can serve as a powerful lever to penetrate global markets.
F1, MotoGP, WEC o Formula E are widely followed globally, with millions of fans in Europe, Asia, America and beyond.
By partnering with recognized brands, your brand can capitalize on this global popularity and establish a presence in international markets.
This type of association facilitates entry into new territories, allowing your brand to benefit from the reputation and trust already established with the sports properties with which it has developed a license.
It can also allow you to overcome cultural and language barriers, as the logos and images of teams and drivers are universally recognized and appreciated.
This strategy not only increases the global visibility of your brand, but can also translate into a significant increase in sales and market share in new target markets, thus amplifying the effectiveness of your international marketing campaigns.
Harnessing the loyalty of motorsport fans is a winning strategy for acquiring new customers.
These fans are known for their passion and dedication to the teams and drivers they follow.
This loyalty often extends to brands sponsoring their idols, creating a unique opportunity for your brand to connect with a dedicated audience.
Offering products branded by famous teams or drivers can immediately attract the attention of these fans, incentivizing them to try your products.
In addition, the presence of your brand in motorsport events and promotional campaigns can further strengthen this connection, increasing the positive perception of your brand among fans.
This strategy not only facilitates the acquisition of new customers, but also helps build a loyal customer base that is willing to support your brand in the long run.
Licensing in motorsports also offers a unique opportunity to expand distribution channels for your products.
Partnering with reputable brands and teams can open new doors in terms of distribution, giving you access to sales networks that might otherwise be difficult to reach.
For example, licensed products can be sold not only in traditional retail outlets, but also at racetracks, in specialized sporting goods stores, and through e-commerce platforms dedicated to motorsport fans. This expansion of distribution channels increases the visibility of your products and facilitates access to a wider audience. In addition, your brand’s presence in these new channels can generate additional marketing opportunities and cross-promotions, further strengthening your market position and accelerating the process of acquiring new customers.
Aligning yourself with world-class motorsport properties can significantly raise your brand profile.
When your brand is associated with world-class teams, drivers or championships, it immediately acquires an aura of prestige and reliability.
This type of association not only improves the perception of your brand among consumers, but can also increase customer trust and loyalty.
World-class properties stand for excellence, innovation, and success; values that can be transferred to your brand through a well-designed licensing strategy.
In addition, this association offers joint marketing opportunities, exclusive events and advertising campaigns that can further amplify your brand’s visibility and appeal.
In a competitive market, these partnerships can make all the difference, positioning your brand as an industry leader and setting it apart from the competition.
Associating your brand with motorsport can greatly enhance its perception.
Motorsport is synonymous with speed, innovation and performance, values that can be transferred to your brand through a licensing agreement.
When consumers see your brand associated with top motorsport teams or events, they immediately perceive an increase in the quality and prestige of your products.
This positive perception can translate into increased sales and customer loyalty.
In addition, the visibility gained through motorsport events, media coverage and shared marketing campaigns can further amplify your brand awareness.
In a competitive marketplace, being perceived as a high-quality, innovative brand can make all the difference in attracting new customers and retaining existing ones, thus solidifying your position as an industry leader.
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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