Sponsoring Grassroots Racing
February 10th, 2010
This is a question I’ve been asking myself for quite some time now. Why is the idea of sponsoring an event, team or racer such a difficult task for amateur, semi pro and even promising talent?
A talented dirt bike rider who won 70 state titles and at the age of 12 participated in 35 races, with 32 wins, 5 titles on the line and won all of those titles. You might have heard of him, Casey Stoner. Yet with all these wins and potential of being an international success, did Australian business jump on his side and help him along? According to him, not really.
Now back to my original question, why do businesses not related to racing avoid becoming involved and pushing their product? I mean racers are mainly male, heterosexual, young and have a large disposable income to play with, isn’t this the perfect group to spread your product or even masculate it? Why do all amateur races have mainly mechanical related sponsors? Why not clothes labels (I’ve seen Industrie making an effort), even automotive clothes related sponsors can get involved. Fatlace is one example doing it in the USA at the moment, organising their Hella Flush meets to push their products (see video). Make your clothes, your companies style the style wanted and bought by racers, it really seems to work for them.
Lets be honest, racers wouldn’t expect a large amount of money, or an event wouldn’t expect a huge sponsorship deal and it would probably be seen by a lot of people if the team or event is marketed correctly. Social media is something that companies have jumped on to, but they haven’t quite realised the potential in internet forums.
We as a community must also help make it worth while for the current sponsors as well (help those who help us). Buy products from them, recommend them and if you get the chance thank them for supporting a car. This might make them think it’s worth it and maybe they’ll support more cars.
The sport needs to get sponsors directly linked to the industry, this will help provide confidence for new sponsors to enter the market yet I can see why they wouldn’t want to have their company on the side of a car though. It might damage their other, stable side of the business by pushing two different images but lets be honest, the ads for men’s skin care products have always very stubbled and very butch male celebrities pushing the product.
Ultimately I think the biggest restriction to potential sponsors jumping on board in Australia is the lack of exposure racing of all types gets in Australia, but without the extra sponsorship events we can’t push for coverage and teams can’t afford to promote themselves. This is a catch 22 for everyone involved.
It’s time for racers and event organisers to start taking full advantage of the car clubs and enthusiast forums. They are chock full with fantastic photographers, cinematographers and visual artists yet they seem to be under used by everyone!
If you’re organising an event, or currently own a race car try and get an unusual sponsor on board, try a unique way of selling your product (your car or event) and get them to check it out. Help improve the sport by opening it up to other people. You never know what will happen, they might just be interested.
Take a look at VIP pet foods.. a common site during targa tasmania.. thats thinking outside the box! Ooohhh and also the Peer drift team..
Its a very strong point you have there Justin, however i feel that motorsport has been pushed right to the back of the adgenda (from a political standpoint) in recent years. Having an outlet for young people to involve themselves in is important, but its of further importance to everyone concerned to drive safely on the street, in order to embed within Australia’s psyche (particularly in older generations), a positive outlook towards automotive enthusaists, and car culture as a whole. Mainstream media in general is succeeding in proclaiming the very opposite (with its genrally poorly informed, narrow-minded and negative broadcasts).
I don’t thnk there’s any real science to it. Just a simple networking rule. I try to keep everything in the community to ensure maximum passion from all involved. Would your everyday photographer show as much excitement shooting as Felix did taking that shot? Would your average graphic wrapper ensure the vinyl wrap looks as good as Brendan and Motographics did?
There’s sponsors, and then there’s supporters. The latter whilst not providing the same level of financial benefit for the team/driver/owner have much more value because I know they’ll tell so many people about the work they’ve done. That in turn increases the worth of the car when looking for those bank rollers.
As everyone knows, I spent quite a lot of time focussing on the majority of the points in this blog. JDMST has made a massive difference in getting my car out there. Starting from scratch now after completing a build would be a monumental task.
At the end of the day I’m extremely fortunate to have such open kneed sponsors like JDM Concept and Js Racing. I came to them with nothing of material value and they believed in my process and goals. The image you posted is proof that some do believe in what we do. The approach just has to be mapped out clearly. I do have other tricks for getting sponsors on board, perhaps we’ll save that for another night.
You’re (sam) now the 3rd person who has commented to me with similar points.
Yes, ultimately there are sponsors who care and sponsors who just want their image out there. Both have their upsides, both have their downsides and you can’t have purely outside sponsors, you need industry sponsors to help everything get moving.
Wasn’t trying to say (nor use your car for the effect) that keeping it entirely within the automotive industry is a bad thing. But rather to try and understand why there aren’t more out there.
Cal makes a good point as well, the general perception of the ‘motorhead bogan’ certainly doesn’t help the movement in to the mainstream. But time, continueing good behaviour of race fans and ’street racers’ off the streets will help change that. One hopes.
I knew what the point you were communicating was. Getting these outside sponsors into our sport involves education. Showing them what we do, where we do it, and most importantly to them what if at all, their competitors are doing. People do more to avoid pain than experience pleasure so if they think someone else is gonna beat them to it they’ll be more inclined to support. Do you think Optis or Telstra would have the balls to sponsor a V8 supercar team? No bloody way, nor would those teams approach them because they know Triple 8 is the benchmark. Telstra sponsor events because it’s beneficial to them. They can’t lose or be measured against Vodafone.
The process is no different to selling something. It’s all about features and benefits. Getting them to understand that is tricky, once they do understand it they’ll be commuted to the cause.
And can I just say iphne has the crappiest predictive text ever. Apologies for the garbage spelling in the above posts.
I love how i assumed Justin wrote the article.
Another question:
Just for money, would we consider having non-JDM related companies throw money at us to advertise all over JDMST?
It’s something I’ve been approached with and have refused (so far) as I don’t want our members to have to see, for example, ANZ bank, McDonalds, Weight Watchers etc. advertisements all over the forum.
I think some advertising is OK because it sustains the community. All in moderation though.
Do you get to choose the brands represented? I don’t think anyone here wants to see ads for pharmaceuticals and the like, but I personally wouldn’t have any issues with more mainstream acceptable advertising if again, it helps support the site.
Hmmm, cazsw20 makes a very good point.
These days if your Young and into cars you are just labelled as a ‘HOON’. It’s not right.
I mean we all share one thing in common, the passion for cars and passion to exceed OEM expectation of the cars performance.
Im only 20 so i can’t talk about my years of experience.. but ever since the ‘Fast and Furious’ movie was released it seem car enthusiast have been labelled as street racers.
Hollywood takes away the passion that we have for cars and just shows guns, cops, burnouts, fights, drugs ETC..
The real world is far from this.
The media blows everything outta proportion. Look at both ACA and Today Tonight going on about the ‘crazy Carlo’ guy drifting on public roads.
The labels us with the bloody title ‘hoon’
Im so sick of meeting clients for work or parking in the staff car park and people looking at my car and you know what they are thinking ‘Bloody Hoon’….
Just because of the look of my car. I bet it happens allot. not just to me but most people on car club forums.
Although, lets change things slightly….. If i was 40years old and owned the same car. i wouldn’t be labelled as a hoon.
Possible Sponsors are not just going to look at how well you can drive, but also your age. I guess they dont want to be established with the word ‘hoon’
Every time i read or see on the news about another young driver killing themselves or their mates in a car crash i just know the following week the media will blow the whole situation up again..
Everyone remembers the R34GTR skyline that spilt in half and killed the driver and passengers….It started the ball rolling for anti turbo and V8 cars for young drivers…
Stop looking at what cars people are driving and focus on Driver education and road safety education for young drivers. It will work a hell of allot more effective than limiting what power engine they can drive..
You can’t expect a newly P plater who just got off their L’s to know everything bout the roads and traffic behaviour. Put them into a car with no supervision and watch them push it to the limits.
Getting back on topic, I guess it’s bloody hard to find companies will to support this ’sport’. But imagine if we all got the support of businesses and the public… Track days would become more regular, people would be out enjoying themselves on the track instead of being a dickhead on the roads.
Just my 2cents worth.