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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted December 20, 2015 | In MotoGP
Nick Kouwenberg, Honda Jtech European 250 Motocross Champion, will make the journey west to compete in the 2016 season of the AMA Supercross 250SX West Region championship.
With support from American Honda, the Dutchman will take on the eight West Region rounds before the European motocross season starts in Valkenswaard at the end of March.
The 24-year old, who is already preparing to start his European title defence with Jtech, will face a new challenge on American soil where the stadium riding style is very different to what he will be used to.
Kouwenberg is no stranger to supercross though, after taking the European Supercross Lites title at EICMA this year. As well as embarking on what is widely considered to be a European rider’s dream, Nick will also accrue valuable competitive time aboard the CRF250R.
As part of the AMA Supercross series, the 250SX West Region championship pits 250cc riders against each other in major Western U.S. locations in a series of heats and a last-chance qualifier before the 15-lap feature race at each event.
Nick Kouwenberg
“I have been in America for a week already and I still don’t believe it is really going to happen. Things have been going really fast the past two weeks and I’ve been dreaming about this for so long, just to be racing in California is incredible! I am really thankful to Honda Motor Europe for helping to set this all up for me and they have been so supportive. I’m also really lucky to have Honda America supporting me as well so massive thanks to them and the BWR team. The first few days training I’ve been super safe because I don’t want to risk missing Anaheim 1! I’m just trying to build it step by step. For sure, racing in Supercross is going to help me prepare for defending my EMX250 title. The level here is bigger than anything: staying here for all the races alone, fighting every week with a way more packed field than Europe. It will be easier when I get back home, back with my parents, girlfriend, friends and my team who I took the title with. I’m really, really excited to be here, but it’s going to be way tougher than I, or anybody else, expects I think. I know when I get back home I will respect everything I have way more again.”
Davy Dousselaere – Honda Motor Europe Off-Road Manager
“I am very pleased that the BWR team, along with American Honda, can support our European 250 Champion Nick Kouwenberg in riding in the American 250SX West Region championship. We have seen this year how strong and consistent Nick is as a rider and I am interested to see how he will find racing in American supercross. It will be exciting for sure!”
HONDA HRC PRESS RELEASE
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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