The Business of Being a Race Driver for August 02, 2022

The Business of Being a Race Driver  for August 02, 2022

This week The Business of Being a Race Driver brings you some fantastic resources, tips, and advice to assist you in getting the sponsorship you need for your motorsport journey. Here are just a few of the highlights: Enzo Mucci explains how to sell motorsport sponsorship now, the legality of negotiating sponsorship and endorsement deals, breaking sponsorship rules and changing the game, what makes an athlete’s brand memorable and much more.

The Business of Racing

The Business of Being a Race Driver for August 02, 2022
  • Enzo Mucci looks at How to Sell Motorsport Sponsorships Now in the video above. This episode was inspired by this question from Preston – “Hi Enzo, I have been looking for sponsorship for years (on and off) and have never secured a single sponsor. What am I doing wrong?” Here we will focus on one of the most common mistakes that race drivers make when looking for sponsorship. I hope this helps.
  • Sport Dimensions looks at How Does a Sponsorship Work Once You Sign the Contract? from the perspective of a business. Sponsorships used to be quite simple – you went to the sport with the most loyal fan base or largest live audiences and put your logo everywhere you could. As the market evolved and became more sophisticated, those “easy-to-see” elements of sponsorship are no longer enough to drive meaningful value.
  • LawinSport looks at Trade Marks In Sport: Ronaldinho & Henry Case Shows How To Raise ‘Bad Faith Objections.’ The concept of ‘bad faith’ refers to unfair acts or intention surrounding the registration or usage of a trade mark. Case law doesn’t provide a simple definition of what will amount to bad faith, but it does state that the acts or intentions will be deemed as being done in bad faith if they fall short of standard of acceptable commercial behavior. In practice, some circumstances of when bad faith could arise include where:
    • a trade mark is filed with no intention to use it (but only if at the time there existed a dishonest intention of undermining third parties right to use the trade mark);
    • where a repeat trade mark filing is made to circumvent the risk of removal due to non-use; and
    • where there is a lack of commercial logic underlying the application itself (i.e. does the registration of the mark fit the applicant’s conventional business strategy).
  • LawinSport also published The Lifecycle Of An International Athlete – Negotiating Sponsorship & Endorsements Deals which is an essential read that I have mentioned before in The Business of Being a Race Driver. Just remember that this does not replace consulting a lawyer conversant in contract and sports law for your own specific needs. Most athletes in most sports have relatively few years at the top. The average playing career of a Premier League footballer is eight years, and it’s a similar story at the highest level of most other professional sports. For this reason alone, it is important that athletes and their advisers consider how to leverage their elite status and commercialise their name and image rights, through sponsorship and endorsements (and possibly also merchandising). Not only is it an important revenue stream but it may also enable the athlete to maintain their “brand value” long after their playing career has come to an end.
  • Power Sponsorship looks at The Sponsors’ Guide to Breaking Sponsorship Rules and Changing the Game. Winning in sponsorship isn’t about following all the rules. Just like the Kobayashi Maru, sometimes winning is about forgetting the rules – all those things you “should” do, the things you’re expected to do – and changing the game altogether. That’s what this is about: How sponsors can achieve more by changing, ignoring, and otherwise not playing by, the rules.
  • James Naumann looks at How to Create Motorsports Marketing ROI. These six areas are necessary for the success of a motorsports marketing program and in the article he discusses all six.
    • Lead time
    • Involvement
    • Focus
    • Consultation
    • Partnerships
    • Understanding
  • Megan Meyer looks at How to Host a Racing Giveaway on Social Media. There are a few tried-and-true ways to reach more people online through your social media, and a giveaway is one of them. When you’ve got the right combination of good stuff, easy entry, and good timing, you can see big growth in your following in a short period of time. But giveaways can also go the opposite way. When the prizes aren’t that enticing, it’s too hard to enter, or you’re just plain annoying about it online…people can hit that mute or worse unfollow button pretty quick.
  • Motorsport sponsorship consultant Alex Striler is hosting a 2022 Motocross Sponsorship Summit webinar on August 26th. In the webinar you will learn:
    • Why brands sponsor
    • What companies value
    • How to get a new sponsor’s attention
    • How to work with agents and agencies
    • The difference between decks and proposals
    • What sponsors look for in decks, and how to create them
    • What sponsors want in proposals, and how to write them
    • How to create value for a sponsor, even if you’re not winning
    • How to find and meet new sponsors
    • Why you should NEVER offer “exposure” and what to offer instead
The Business of Being a Race Driver  for August 02, 2022
  • Racing Mentor‘s Sponsorship Academy is now open for enrollment. You can find all the details here. “You will learn the step-by-step methods and frameworks needed to create a recognisable brand that makes sponsors come to you. In doing this, you’ll understand that the content you create and your consistency will lead to unexpected opportunities. You’ll leave this programme with tools, knowledge, and confidence that you will carry with you for the rest of your career.”
  • On the Head Start podcast, Kim Skildum-Reid discusses The Sponsorship Seeker’s Mindset. In this episode they cover:
    • Leveraging your audience year-round
    • Framing your audience reach to sponsors
    • Helping sponsors “get” your vision through your sponsorship proposal
    • The importance of understanding the sponsor’s point of view
    • Putting a value on in-kind sponsorship
    • Writing a winning sponsorship proposal that “sells” your deal internally in the sponsor organization
    • Inventory audits: putting together a list of all the benefits you could offer to sponsors
    • Dealing with sponsors as peers
    • Overdelivering for sponsors (and getting recognized for it)
    • Sharing sponsorship reports with sponsors
    • Firing your sponsors when they’re underperforming
    • Why you should stop using gold, silver bronze sponsorship packages
  • Finally, MotorsportDays LIVE is coming back to Silverstone on 4th and 5th of November. The show celebrates the breadth of the UK motorsport scene: from tin tops and historics to single-seaters and everything in between. Experience the opportunity to test cars, network with like-minded professionals and prepare for the 2023 motorsport calendar.
Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.