How to ensure maximum sponsorship ROI for your motorcycle brand
Sponsorship remains a strong tactic for brands in the motorcycle industry to expand their reach, engage with customers and drive sales. This edition of the Motorcycle Marketing blog delves into some key strategies for ensuring maximum ROI for your motorcycle brand with sponsorship.
With members of the Motorcycle Marketing team having expertise from working on prestigious events like the Dakar Rally, MotoGP and the WorldSBK World Championship - where sponsorship plays a pivotal role - there's a wealth of knowledge in our crew on how to make the most of these opportunities for your brand.
We also attend all the major European motorcycle industry events each year such as EICMA, Motorcycle Live, ABR Festival, MOTORbeurs Utrecht, Salon de 2 Roues and MaxlRIDE, which together attract hundreds of thousands of riders in person and a huge media presence. Sponsorship and securing brand visibility at these events requires planning and well-considered execution.
Getting your sponsorships right and maximising ROI
One of the most effective ways to quickly gain huge exposure through live events and get a direct line of communication with your target audience is through sponsorship.
Worthwhile sponsorship in the motorcycle industry entails meaningful partnerships that resonate with the target audience and align with a brand's values. Brands sponsoring events, championships, teams or individual riders should look beyond the initial financial commitment in order to maximize their investment. This could involve collaborative advertising and marketing campaigns, exclusive access for fans, co-created content or co-branded merchandise.
Alexandra Puig Rom is an experienced member of the Motorcycle Marketing team who has worked directly with brands at live events to optimize their sponsorship agreements, for example when collaborating with our founder Thalassa van Beek on the PETRONAS Motorsports account at MotoGP races.
When it comes to maximising sponsorship deals around racing and live events Alexandra states, “Simply placing your company logo on a bike, or a rider’s helmet or leathers provides visibility and awareness to any brand, but there's much more that you can and should do beyond that. First and foremost always add into your sponsorship agreements the option to make content with the riders, team or event that you sponsor. This can be content for social media and also for commercials or campaigns, such as photoshoots with your product.”
The values of those you sponsor should align with your values
Alexandra adds, “Professional riders and teams are familiar faces, everyone knows them or at least your target audience will, so if your brand or product is seen together with them this automatically makes your brand or product a familiar one. This association also happens with values: your chosen rider's values will be transferred to your brand.”
“Ask them to make your product visible, to use it, not only during live competition but also during their free time. It's not only about awareness but also consideration and even conversion. ‘People's subconscious works like this: if this rider uses the product it is good, so I'm going to use it too.’”
She concludes, “Include in your sponsorship agreement some time with the riders and team principles for your brand's events. Having them at product presentations, exhibitions, or even in a Meet & Greet with stakeholders means having more participation, more visitors or simply just making your stakeholders happy.”
Different sponsorship options around live sport and events
When planning how to gain visibility for your brand there are a plethora of sponsorship and partnership options available to you.
If you’re going to sponsor a rider, some initial research should reveal whether the individual or their management team are easy to work with and even whether they actually like the commercial side of the game. Can you play it smart and pick a rising star, a rider who can grab surprise poles, holeshots, podiums or wins?
Maybe you want someone whose riding style is particularly spectacular rather than a consistent winner or maybe you want someone whose personality stands out from the crowd. Jack Miller in MotoGP ticks both those boxes.
Or are you looking for a rider of a specific nationality, in order to gain traction in a defined market? If the U.S. market is key to you, you could pick out a rider such as Garret Gerloff - currently the only American rider on the WorldSBK grid - or Mason Klein, a young Californian who has impressed at the last two editions of the Dakar.
Sponsoring teams and championships
When it comes to working with teams again the opportunities are numerous and know-how is crucial in terms of spotting the right partnerships for your brand. Is a title sponsorship right for you, or are you better off as an official supplier?
Could you strike a deal to sponsor the team in specific championships or key markets? LCR Honda have offered an interesting model in MotoGP for many years, switching up the prominence of their main sponsors depending on the location of their races.
Sponsoring championships rather than teams or individuals can also be advantageous. Working with event organizers such as Dorna, who run MotoGP and WorldSBK, ASO who organize the Dakar, or Infront Moto Racing, who manage the rights of MXGP, may give you the type of global exposure your brand needs and give you access to negotiated racing content. These organisations have dedicated teams to assist their sponsors with activating agreements and achieving maximum reach with their branding.
For manufacturers themselves, their commitment to go racing - and their choices of which riders and team principles to employ - is in itself a huge investment. Their choice of marketing professionals and press officers can also have a big impact on the perception of their brand in racing and the brands that sponsor their teams. Chinese-backed brand Kove have quietly arrived in road racing and have also impressed in recent Dakar performances, though they are yet to make a big splash with European audiences about their racing activities.
Spin-off projects gain further visibility
With the Ténéré Spirit Experience – which Motorcycle Marketing manages the comms of – Yamaha have taken a different approach, allowing them to gain exposure around Rally-Raid racing whilst also taking VIP customers into the heart of the action. This is another step on from sponsorship in terms of gaining exposure with key audience segments.
Yamaha also organize competitions such as the Yamaha R7 Cup and their on-road and off-road bLU cRU series, which help the brand resonate further with customers, create their own action and racing narratives and discover the next generation of racing talent. Red Bull have made a similar investment with the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup over many years and with the various racing series they organize or support.
Smaller brands can start with initial ventures into sponsorship, event organisation and event partnerships in order to create that all important link with both ‘off-line’ and online audiences.
Away from racing it’s also important to understand how the major motorcycle industry events work, which type of customers/riders they attract and how to increase your visibility if you’re sponsoring or exhibiting at those events.
The team at Motorcycle Marketing have the expertise to assist your brand with identifying the right events and championships for your brand to sponsor or to get involved with, depending on your objectives, your target demographic and the products or services you offer.
Measurement and analysis are crucial
Tracking metrics such as social media engagement, website traffic and brand sentiment around sponsorship and racing - or other live events - allows brands to gauge the effectiveness of their efforts and make informed adjustments for future sponsorship initiatives. Companies such as datapowa can help match brands and potential sponsors with sports ‘properties’ in the motorsports industry in order to reach a desired audience and measure the effectiveness of those sponsorships and partnerships over time.
In conclusion, sponsorship in racing and at live events represents an invaluable opportunity for motorcycle brands to elevate their presence, engage with specific rider segments and drive business growth.
If you need help gaining additional visibility for your brand, you can arrange a free consultancy session with the Motorcycle Marketing team to see how we can potentially collaborate and help you achieve your goals.
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