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 15, 2020 | In Motorsports, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
At RTR sports marketing, we spend most of our time focusing on Motorsport sponsorship opportunities: why is that? Because we have a passion for all things racing, but more importantly because motorsport sponsorship has always proven to be one of the most effective choices in relation to returning on investment within the sports marketing arena.
Motorsport is indeed one of the most developed sports sectors in terms of marketing and sponsorship opportunities. It was back in the sixties that MotoGP and F1 teams started to change their liveries from their respective national colours to the recognisable colour schemes of some pioneering international brands. These brands spot the opportunity to speak to their target audience by leveraging through their passion.
Motorsport sponsorship has always been one of the companies’ favourites and it is safe to say that motorsports are second to none for the quality of the services and the attitude towards sponsors. Sixty years of experience taught teams exactly what’s needed and how to capitalise all the marketing opportunities linked to the events in favour of their partners. The momentous, era-defining partnerships like Martini, Shell, Rothmans, Camel and Repsol stand as a testimony to this.
This is why we still remember some of the most iconic examples of racing sponsorship -the golden John Players Special Lotus, or Ayrton’s Marlboro themed McLaren– that still bring benefits to the companies. The partnerships were the perfect match and the execution was spot on.
If in the past the teams were perfectly organized to serve their backers and to help them in achieving their objectives this is even truer nowadays. The communication department of a Team resembles the structure of a communication agency with a team of people with the skills to help the client in different areas. From strategy to graphics, to merchandising sourcing, to field personnel. So rest assured that a good Sports Marketing Agency, paired with the team communication department, can cover all your needs. The right structure is instrumental in activating a cross-platform partnership.
Only a few sporting events really bring the world together: the football World Cup, the Olympics, F1 and MotoGP. The real difference between those Events is in the frequency. The Olympics and the World Cup are held every four years while the top classes of racing touch base in 12/20 Nations and 5 continents every year.
This is a big aspect to consider because it allows multinational companies willing to engage clients from all over the world to do it with just one campaign. In few words motorsports sponsorship can offer a company a truly itinerant promotional platform to be used for its needs.
The frequency provides the chance to constantly engage the target audience in their territory and it simplifies the logistics. The regularity of these sports series and the show they provide, unify the communication on a yearly basis…moreover, it highly reduces the risks for the sponsors. If any challenge arises during the season, in the following one you will have the opportunity to tweak the partnership strategy and adapt it to your needs.
Sadly this is not the case in football, where missing the final part of the tournament means waiting 4 more years to have a new opportunity and implementing an emergency plan since you cannot count on the visibility and storytelling related to that event. Do you remember the recent elimination of the Italian football team from the Russian World Cup? I cannot imagine the damages the sponsors suffered for all the missing months of coverage.
Motorsports truly embody some of the most important values for any company: performance, speed, reliability, high-tech, passion, internationality, and in recent years even sustainability with the introduction of two all-electric Championships (Formula E and MotoE) that are opening the way to the future of modern mobility.
The audience linked to these championships is huge; just think that MotoGP reached last year more than 400 Million people and, while F1 is doing very well, it is FormulaE that shows the strongest growth trend of them all, follow the link to read what Forbes says about it https://www.forbes.com/sites/setheverett/2018/07/30/formula-e-ratings-impressive-as-fourth-season-concludes/#3496f04c753f (Discover more about Formula E Sponsorship Agency)
Thanks to the international visibility they provide, their value system, the excitement they bring and the fascination of state-of-the-art machinery, motorsport sponsorship increases sales, conquer new clients and improve any brand’s positioning. You will be astonished to see what ROI a well devised and implemented sponsorship in Motorsport can achieve.
It is not by chance that some of the most prestigious companies in the world are involved in racing sponsorship projects. Companies are looking for efficiency and sponsorship is a marketing tool that can guarantee great results. It has the capability to convey a positive feeling towards the target, it doesn’t interrupt what they have chosen to watch and it is linked to their passion.
If you would like to inquire about motorsport sponsorship opportunities that may be suited to your needs, do not hesitate to contact us. It’s worth a chat, isn’t it?
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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