Sponsorship

[silviafreak]

Hey for all of you guys who are sponsored how long did it take for you to get sponsored? and how did you do it? are there any things that companies are lookin for in peticular?

[D1 DRIFTER]

um..

not that im sponsored or anything but i think they look for people with SKILLS maybe!? unlike me! not tryin to be an *Censored**Censored**Censored*..

[requiredoption]

keeping in mind that I am not a sponsored driver.....

Company's look for individuals who will represent the brand name well, i.e. people who win, or gather alot of public support, and people who make it out to enough events to showcase a brand to the masses.

Think about it, when you see a guy win an event and he has a kaaz sticker on the side of his car, you think to yourself "oh man, i gotta get me one of those" Thats sponsorship in action

"win on sunday, sell on monday"

[Al]

Im sponsored by a couple of companys' but heres how I did it... I don't care wether I am or not. But it saves me a shitload of money for the the things I love to do which is drifting and road racing.

I went out there to get as much Seat Time. Go to any competition events that you can be in. Be present to big events and show some faces. but the most important is have fun and....

Go out there with no EXPECTATION!!!

Meet as much people as you can. Be friendly to anyone you meet. In the future you can use friends as "REFERENCES" that is willing to bow for you and give some good words to a better and bigger sponsors.

Lucky a couple of people have seen me drive and thought I was good enough.

Im very thankful for everything.

-Al

[Al]

Also I would like to add is....

Its great to be a charismatic person, a good promoter for the drifting scene. It helps to go out there and expect nothing but great things.

-Al

[ma71supraturbo]

Do not go into it looking for a "sponsorship" but rather as entering a "partnership." Companies do not want to give handouts, they want a return on their investment -- so what can you do to help them sell more units?

[Craftsman]

Well, you gotta think about it also from the sponser's perspective. They want exposure of their company. Exposure doesn't mean just winning a race. If you wreck your car and get tons of exposure time and announcements publicly for that stuff, advertisers love that too...

You're selling your image, body and your car to the company. You are their source of advertising. When your car gets into a photo booth for a magazine, the company that helped you out gets exposure.

Companies like advertising. It's marketing. Sponsering drivers and cars is the same thing as making a jingle that you can't forget. The more you hear it, the more you subconsciously think about it. Stuff like that...

Another thing, why do you think companies like Anheisuer Busch and Marlboro sponser cars? They sponser them because they can cover their clients (you) with their company logo and get crazy maximum exposure. Racing is the only sport where a company can cover their client from head to toe with their logos. Look at Baseball, the only exposure they get is adds inside the stadium, name of shows, etc...

It's all political. So those of you nay-sayers, have fun in life... Continue to STFUAD (shut the fudge up and drive). Pay for your own stuff. I'll get OPM (Other People's Money) to pay for my stuff if I ever get good enough.

Matt.

[swifty949]

here's an article i wrote about at IGN.com

http://cars.ign.com/articles/511/511318p1.html

[Brian]

this is starting to remind me of skateboarding sponsorhsip a few years back.

haha pretty soon kids are gonna make "sponsor me videos" to send to HKS, Tanabe, Trust, etc.
hahah

[LOVMUFN]

They look for people with a nice car to hang their stuff on and want you to have the skills too... but that is not allways as important as a nice car to hang stuff on, go watch any competetion and you will see a DEFINATE differance in skills between some of the drivers and a few, some that are all sponsored up, should not really even be there. I am not trying to start fights and I am NOT saying all sponsored drivers are weak, but there is quite a few. They sometimes care about your demeanor too. It also varies from company to company.

To be honest I am dead tired of writing proposals then getting my chain yanked by them saying yeah looks like you might be what we are looking for, a few weeks go by then they tell me they aren't looking. My car doesn't look all that great though so I can't expect much. Aaaahahahahaaaaaoooohhhcrap I wish I had a little more cash.

[case]

I recently contacted Rotora about sponsorship, and the main thing that got them to even say that they would give me a partial sponsorship is because I told them I was competing in Formula D next year. How much you'll be out there showing off their stickers/gear is the biggest factor, in my opinion. Also, you have to show them that you're a contender, someone that won't go about being unnoticed. I think the best thing to do is actually wait until the sponsors come to you, that's where you'll make the biggest benifit.

[craiglieberman]

I wrote a book on this...

I've written a book (more of a manual, really) outlining the pros, cons and methods I've used to build show cars. Much of it applies to race (grip or drift) marketing programs (read: sponsorships) and you can view it for free on my website.

www.moviecarz.com

Click on the "How To Get Sponsored" link half way down the page, register an email address and you'll have access to the whole thing.

I hope it helps...its' helped me more than you know and it was written after years of experience in building show cars and helping pro import drag racers get sponsored.

FYI: I've counseled many top pro drag teams, including Kubo, Bautista, Ben Ma, Len Montserrat and others, so I hope you'll agree I'm at least somewhat qualified to pen useful thoughts.

I've also been on the manufacturer's side reviewing sponsorship proposals, so I've seen how that process works, too.

Anyway, hopefully you'll get something out of it...

[hatebbobbarker]

none of the companies i want sponsorship from are in the US. BOO

[Craftsman]

Wow. Thanks Craig... Sorry for all the negative crap I've been saying about you...

Anyways, thanks for being helpful here...

Matt.

[craiglieberman]

Getting sponsorship from japanese companies

...always been tricky.

You have to understand how the US versions of those companies work: Greddy buys from Trust, which is their Japanese parent, but the US company has to stand on its own.

Their budgets are smaller and most decidely separate, plus, they build their own project cars, as does APEX and HKS, so they rarely sponsor anybody. However, with a good proposal, they will give product discounts and this is outlined in my book.

I too wanted Japanese sponsors for my Skyline and had some success because of its' impending movie role...but to finish the project, I actually accepted a sponsorship from APC (it was more monetary than product, obviously), but I took heat from purists who argued that APC made nothing for a Skyline, to which I argued 'Dupont makes nothing for Jeff Gordon's Nascar.'

The point is, a sponsor is a sponsor and you have to promote them in return for payment (or product or even discounts), so it's a complicated process and not easy.

Talk to talented drivers like Alex, Ryan and others who I'm sure can provide value to sponsors, but are having their own fair share of challenges getting them....its very hard.