Let’s start this post with an example. After some research and various meetings, a company eventually decides to invest in sports marketing to engage its target more efficiently. The company management selects a sponsorship in MotoGP and they also rapidly decide the Team of the Motorcycle Racing World Championship they wish to sponsor. The only thing left to do is to contact the Team and finalise the deal. Easy, isn’t it? Access the Internet, google the name of the team and all of a sudden you will find yourself speaking on the phone with the right man in the right place. Honestly, reality is a bit more complex than that.
The role of sponsorship agencies
Each team – and each rider – is different and has distinguishing features. Some teams are breathtaking on the track, but they are not so handy when it comes to providing the operational marketing support required to implement the programme you have selected. Other teams provide high quality services, but they hardly excel on the track.
What about costs then? How can you be sure that the proposal you receive is in line with the market? A sponsorship agency who knows the riders and the rules of the race inside out can help you start off on the right foot. Besides choosing the right team, the annulment of the learning curve is an extremely important factor as it often appears to be a huge obstacle for those who are not habitual guests of the racing tracks and the microcosm that travels from one nation to another every week to bring one of the most exciting world championships into being.
Efficiency and time saved are positively reflected on the return on investment and, at least initially, the company does not incur any cost. Resorting to a sports marketing agency will not cost the company a penny more as the agency is paid by the team in the form of a commercial commission. The company is, of course, free to contact the team directly, but it will miss a major privilege – or luxury – which an agency can grant, i.e. to receive the agency’s most helpful advice (unlike teams, agencies are quite unbiased as they are paid in any case, irrespective of whether the company enters a partnership with one team or another).
Consultancy for enhanced efficiency
The agency becomes a company’s partner and it starts having a cost only when and if the company designates it for the implementation of the on-track programme, a designation the agency needs to start helping you make your projects true.
The agency will also be helpful if you consider that your activities will necessarily be focused on a predefined programme which is broadcast in over 200 countries and cannot be modified to your own needs. Sector operators are masters in successfully dealing with all the obstacles posed and they will implement all agreed initiatives without any evident effort.
Although these are just hints, they should be enough to convince you to address your first phone call to an agency, rather than directly to a team, if you are interested in a MotoGP sponsorship.
All the considerations above also apply if you are willing to sponsor a Formula E and MotoE team or any other motor sport category (F1, Moto2 and/or Moto3). If you are interested you should read more about the Formula E Agency.
If you want to know more, you can alway reach us at info@rtrsports.com
