By Riccardo Tafà| Posted May 13, 2018 | In Sport Sponsorship
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted May 13, 2018 | In Sport Sponsorship
We have stressed several times that sponsorship can be very flexible. In fact, there exist a lot of different types of sponsorship. There is not a sponsorship project like the other, and there is no standard sponsorship package.
On the contrary, a good sponsorship molds itself perfectly on the company’s objectives, mission, strategy, and budget, and a sponsorship in kind is proof of this.
A sponsorship in kind is just a sponsorship with the same marketing rights as any other sponsorship, but in which the price is not paid in money but partially or totally in kind. Is it very common? Yes, it is.
Sometimes sports teams and organizations running large operations need products or services and can offer to a potential partner (capable of supplying those products or services) another way to pay for their sponsorship. Anybody with a commercial background knows well the concept of barter: it’s a practice through which companies exchange goods or services instead of money, offsetting them. How can this practice be linked to the sponsorship world? And with which specific advantages?
Let’s say that you are a football team that is building a new stadium, a tennis club that needs a new central court, or a F1 team whose new headquarters is finally planned and approved.
Indeed, you face a big challenge, because building new structures without affecting the current and following sport seasons is very difficult (you have a certain amount of time, and you have to make sure to be on time; the championship is not going to wait for you). Moreover, you have to make sure to have the right resources, but you also have the big chance to run a marketing and commercial operation linked to your new facility.
Because you can approach the construction and building materials sector that could be interested in using your new stadium as a showcase for their capabilities.
Products need to be described and recounted, and what is better than placing your goods in interesting buildings or structures in which sports activities are held or sports-related matters happened? Structures in which people would like to go (even your potential clients) to watch passion-fueled events?
Just think about bringing a potential client to see how a F1 car is built, meeting the team in the process, while walking on your floors, or showing them your window frames, or lights, or any other fixture… And then compare it with bringing the same clients to see just a block of offices…
The same concept applies to football, tennis, basketball, and any other discipline you can think about… Yeah, even golf. Sure, it is played outside, but you could take care of the clubhouse.
Any and each of these structures have hospitality facilities that can be used for your potential and existing partner, so within a single meeting it would be possible to show (just to give you an example) how the famous architect XY used your products to reach the new standard in stadiums while leveraging the passion of the guest for the sport you are linked with in order to create a better relationship that will lead to a more constructive commercial relationship in the future.
The industries related to the construction sector can look at you with different eyes, not only as a potential supplier (fighting among others to win the pitch). They can look at you with the eyes of a potential partner with whom to create a win-win cooperation.
Both parties can have a huge benefit if you think that the aim of the owner of the building is to have the best-finished product at the cheapest price and that the objective of the material’s producer is to have its finest products placed in the building and to use it in its marketing and communication effort… A common objective that can be reached by both if they partner and exchange products for marketing services, totally or partially.
Discover What is a Sponsorship Activation or If you would like to know more about barter in sport, contact us using infotrsports.com , and in the meantime visit
Experience the power and put your brand in front of millions with motorsport sponsorship. Whether it's Formula 1, MotoGP, NASCAR, IndyCar, or WEC, RTR Sports give your brand the opportunity to appear on television at the most prestigious race tracks in the world.
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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 motorsport sponsorship 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. Motorsport 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.
Motorsport 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 motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, 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 motorsport 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 motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, 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 motorsport 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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