How do you get sponsored?

[Kong Sheng Han]

Just curious. I presume all the cars I see with decals of different brands are sponsored, and they get discounts on products.

Thanks

[SYT_Shadow]

I think most of those people have stickers 'because racecar', not 'because sponsor'

[GabeS]

To get a sponsor, you have to be able to sell to them why it's worth them giving you a discount or free part, if you are a serious racer/show car builder/modifier. you will need a lot of parts, and sponsorships help, if you plan on taking yopur car to every weekly car meet, you could ask a certain dealer for a partial sponsorship explaining to him how he would get exposure.

But honestly its played out, every kid wants a "sponsorship" when in all actuallity they just want a lower price.

Nowadays Brands only discount or sponsor a car if they see real potential in brand exposure. Or if it's a build project they are personally interested in.

It is easier to get partial sponsorships from up and coming company's who want all the online and person to person attention they can get.

I currently have a few sponsors for my fun/drift/street cars because the projects are pretty wild.

But I know a few guys who put the stickers on their car because they are proud to finally have that sick brake kit or exhaust they always wanted, and brands will ship out stickers with their product in the hopes we will use them too haha

[warp10]

I just did this with my M3 we have a working relationship with one of the dealerships in Atlanta that deals with Exotics (Lambo, McLaren, Ect.) they also started out as a used BMW dealer. Basically offered them exposure that they where not getting at reasonable price. You almost have to see it as you are a service for them, and they are paying for your service.

[ilikebmxbikes]

There are a few kinds of sponsorships:

PAID: The company pays you for an endorsement
FREE: Company gives you free products
PARTIAL: Company gives you parts at wholesale or cost

Regardless of which sponsorship you agree on, you need to always see it as a partnership and understand what your partners needs are.

So many people at events come up to me and say " Hey, I have a badass car, I should get XXX to sponsor me and ill put stickers on my car. Can you hook it up?" They think the car = the sponsorship, which isn't entirely wrong, its just only part of the equation and will not get you very far.

You need to understand that companies sponsor cars in exchange for exposure and marketing materials. They give you parts, you give them exposure at events and online as well as regular photo and video content. You also need to act as a brand ambassador for the brands and represent them both in the forums and in person at events.

It honestly is a partnership and not a free lunch. I have literally spent thousands of dollars transporting my car alone and I have generated a lot of continued press of my sponsors and they have been very happy with their endorsement. My car has also surprisingly had a long lifespan as far as a sponsored build.


A few tips:

Before you consider asking for sponsors, you should outline what you goals are with the project. How far do you want to take the build? What events will you attend? will it be in the media? Why is your car unique and why is different than other cars? Who is your audience and how does it relate to the brand you are approaching? Do you have any existing sponsors and are other companies you pitched competing? Will you follow through with your commitments?

As a soft introduction to sponsorship, you can always approach a performance shop and see if they will sponsor your car through giving you wholesale on their catalogue in exchange for being a shop car. That is the easiest and lowest commitment sponsorship. You will get parts at discount, the shop will get your money for labor and a shop car.

Don't consider sponsorship from any companies or brands you would not consider buying. Stick with companies in which you fit their branding.

Don't take every sponsorship available. Some sponsorships can ruin your portfolio and cheapen your car and lower your brand. i.e. If you take sponsorship from low end companies, you will turn off medium and upper level companies because they will not want to be brand associated with your other sponsors. It works the other way as well, if you land a few high end sponsors, more low end will approach you - its up to your discretion on who you choose to incorporate but sometimes it is better to get a few high end sponsors and just take a little time and buy parts from other brands to make a better car instead of a cheaper car.

Stay grateful and go above and beyond your commitments. You will likely make another car and relationships you make, both with sponsors and media, will transition to your next build.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I think most of those people have stickers 'because racecar', not 'because sponsor'

of course #becauseracecar

i have a friend who just snatches stickers from every big meet and then has his son just slap them on everywhere before track day LOL.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by warp10

I just did this with my M3 we have a working relationship with one of the dealerships in Atlanta that deals with Exotics (Lambo, McLaren, Ect.) they also started out as a used BMW dealer. Basically offered them exposure that they where not getting at reasonable price. You almost have to see it as you are a service for them, and they are paying for your service.

black looks better (sig) - but getting paid trumps. LOL

[z3papa]

What Ilikebmxbikes said. It's not just the car, or the driver or the exposure you may bring to the table, all of which adds up. You have a partnership. My last race team had a number of generous partial sponsors which included discounts on parts and use of a sponsors' team's race equipment (scales etc.), and other vendors all of which added up to quite a bit of savings. Meant providing them with advertising materials (video, photos) and hopefully positive results for the product they provided.

[ThunderMoose]

I just make stickers of products I have purchased on my wife's silhouette. I run Hoosier stickers in case I finish first or second in NASA TT so that I can win tires. Other than that becauseracecar

[warp10]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

black looks better (sig) - but getting paid trumps. LOL

agree! and yes $ talks.

[Patrón]

Win races

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by warp10

agree! and yes $ talks.

do you have more pics or a build thread of your car?

[warp10]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

do you have more pics or a build thread of your car?

no build thread but sig has all modifications. Here are some pics taken the other day.

[Kong Sheng Han]

Well.. I feel like an ignorant asshole for making assumptions. Thanks for all the responses. It'd be nice to get paid or receive discounts on products from sponsorship, but I won't be pursuing it. Like I said, I was just curious.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

Well.. I feel like an ignorant asshole for making assumptions.

Believe you me, you are not the first one to think so. I was going to start typing out something, but then remembered I actually DID type out something long time ago in reference to another thread just like this.

I'm going to do the cardinal sin and quote myself:

Originally Posted by The HACK

Let me ease your mind a little.

How often does your car get seen by the sponsoring company's customers, and in what medium is it seen in? Answer those two questions first.

In the mean time, here's a general run down of your chances of being sponsored.

If your car is going to be on a TV show on a regular basis, then you can probably get some money in addition to parts. Depending on how expensive the parts are. For example. If your first name is Jay, and last name ends with "Eno" and starts with "L" with nothing in between, and you have a very VERY popular on-line blog? You probably have never paid for a single car part and most likely, gets PAID to put parts on your car.

If your car is going to be on a 4 page feature in a national magazine, like Car & Driver or MotorTrend? You can probably get some free parts. Maybe not a new engine or a supercharger with tune, but stuff like sway bars, shifters, coil overs...etc probably isn't out of the realm of possibility. And you can probably get other parts like the aforementioned supercharger at cost. MAYBE if you're a nationally know writer/editor you can get the supercharger for free too. But don't expect to be paid to put stuff on your car.

If your car is going to be in the sidebar on a marquee specific rag like Bimmer or Roundel, and no other magazine? You can probably get parts at cost or employee pricing. Which is roughly 50%-65% retail for most parts. But you must run the company decals prominently.

If your car is going to be going to a couple of car shows a month? Jobber price or WD price would likely be the best you can do, in addition to running company decals.

Which isn't to say that you can't work more magic with combinations of things, like going to be prominently displayed at the front at some of the biggest marquee specific gatherings multiple times a year, attending some other big shows on your own dime, in addition to letting the "sponsor" company use your car at some of their shows, plus working with a couple of magazine editors on getting a couple of key features, plus a regular POPULAR online blog (maybe not Jay Leno's Garage but at least a few million hits a months) then maybe you'll be able to score some parts.

I used to have a car like that, and let me just tell you the amount of work just to get some free parts, it was like doing a full time job. I had to "blog" about every part put on the car on a very popular blog, give very positive feedback regardless of my actual thought on the product used, let the monkeys at quite a few company take it to multiple events a year with a few day's notice, and even having to pay for multiple parts out of pocket. And toward the end the car was not drivable, not because of mechanical issues, but it was so damn "showy" with all the logos and artwork displayed prominently that every time I fire it up and drive it I get at least a dozen morons trying to race me on the street.

And before you ask your next question, I had a full DECK of before and after pictures, mock-ups, a business plan, a modification plan, articles, show schedules, a whole "sales" kit put together to approach every manufacturer, and each deck is customized for each individual manufacturer. And on top of that I had a full on 15 minute PowerPoint presentation too. All professionally done. And 15% is about my batting average in getting some sort of sponsorship. According to my buddies in the industry that's actually a freakishly good average. In addition to all that, I had to spend time on a very regular basis talking to each of the existing sponsors in maintaining a long term relationship.

It is hard work. Trust me on this.

What I failed to mention at the time when that post was written, was that I was the Marketing Director of an automotive aftermarket company. You know, the guy that all these sponsorship requests go to. And to tell you the truth, out of all the thousands and thousands of sponsorship request I'd get, the only ones that will EVER get a partial sponsor (i.e. WD pricing) are people that I already know (and press). Every other proposal basically goes straight to trash if it doesn't have a fellow SEMA member letterhead. In an average day, I'd get maybe 20-25 pieces of mail, and out of that at least 10-15 solicitations for sponsorship.

So you want to be sponsored for parts? Start by working in the automotive aftermarket industry. Then work your way up to manager or senior manager level. Then develop relationships. TONS of relationships. Make sure you go to every SEMA show, shake everyone's hand, and get to know everyone on a FIRST NAME basis. Take them out to dinner on one of the none-banquet nights. Host a company party, take names, make friends.

Then you might get lucky with a few of the parts for your car written off.

The other way, is to bring millions of disposable income, become world famous race car driver, and leverage the relationships you build through your pro/semi-pro team for parts.

There are no other way that I know of.

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Believe you me, you are not the first one to think so. I was going to start typing out something, but then remembered I actually DID type out something long time ago in reference to another thread just like this.

I'm going to do the cardinal sin and quote myself:

What I failed to mention at the time when that post was written, was that I was the Marketing Director of an automotive aftermarket company. You know, the guy that all these sponsorship requests go to. And to tell you the truth, out of all the thousands and thousands of sponsorship request I'd get, the only ones that will EVER get a partial sponsor (i.e. WD pricing) are people that I already know (and press). Every other proposal basically goes straight to trash if it doesn't have a fellow SEMA member letterhead. In an average day, I'd get maybe 20-25 pieces of mail, and out of that at least 10-15 solicitations for sponsorship.

So you want to be sponsored for parts? Start by working in the automotive aftermarket industry. Then work your way up to manager or senior manager level. Then develop relationships. TONS of relationships. Make sure you go to every SEMA show, shake everyone's hand, and get to know everyone on a FIRST NAME basis. Take them out to dinner on one of the none-banquet nights. Host a company party, take names, make friends.

Then you might get lucky with a few of the parts for your car written off.

The other way, is to bring millions of disposable income, become world famous race car driver, and leverage the relationships you build through your pro/semi-pro team for parts.

There are no other way that I know of.

I do not think you need to go to every sema or even be in sema at all to get sponsored.

It starts with the idea and media planning. I haven't shown my builds at sema and do not plan on it unless if a sponsor wanted to transport the car for display. I have been to sema and while it is fun, it is just like every large show and easy to just blend into lot.

We live in a digital age and there are a lot of ways to generate value for your sponsors. Exposure is obvious but creative and understand your partners goals. One of my main focues is simply interacting with the user base. Peer-to-peer marketing is extremely valuable these days for companies. Most consumers these days are more receptive to 'customer reviews' and what people say on the forums vs what companies advertise. Answering questions about products informally and posting information and photos goes a long way. People also love seeing real life photos of products - there is even a genre of YouTube videos based solely around unboxing products.

[GabeS]

Originally Posted by The HACK

So you want to be sponsored for parts? Start by working in the automotive aftermarket industry. Then work your way up to manager or senior manager level. Then develop relationships. TONS of relationships. Make sure you go to every SEMA show, shake everyone's hand, and get to know everyone on a FIRST NAME basis. Take them out to dinner on one of the none-banquet nights. Host a company party, take names, make friends.

Then you might get lucky with a few of the parts for your car written off.

The other way, is to bring millions of disposable income, become world famous race car driver, and leverage the relationships you build through your pro/semi-pro team for parts.
There are no other way that I know of.

I am sorry man, but this just sounds super wrong, it's this kind of close minded mentality that screws a lot of potential business oportunities.. this ghetto, mentality of you gotta know someone bs...
Sure maybe being deep in the scene makes it super easy to get sponsorships.

But a smart busniess man sees beyond that and does research and sees potential, even if it's a new person to the scene.
If you were actually trashing applications without looking at them you were the wrong person for that job, should have put someone who actually takes pride in their job to do it.
Sure it may get old getting shitty applications from a bunch of broke kids begging for sponsorship and you start quickly screening them, but the open mentality of if you arent involved in the auto scene, you dont qualify is wrong.

Hundreds of people were "discovered" by smart business men that saw the potential.

I was sponsored without knowing anyone in the industry, why? Because my ideas stood out from the average crowd..

I built something crazy and wrote up a plan of exposure the companies I applied to would get, and I knew my limits, I am not trying to be pro or even semi pro, I just want to get some free or discounted parts and I promised a certain amount of media/race/show appearances.

For my Viper engine S14
- I got Race pedals for more then 50% off.
- Wiring harness custom made for free.
- Suspension products discounted.
- Partial free labor on fabrication, etc....

For my M3
-I got a huge sponsorship by AME wheels.(the opwner of AME Japan is actually coming to Sema and wants to see my car in person).
-Tire sponsorship offers/partial.
-fabrication and body work discounts.
-custom Areo parts

Not to mention the car had barely hit the shop and All I had was a written plan and some sketches, they all offered a full sponsorship if once the car was near ready I re-applied and it was similar to the original design.

i never raced/sold auto parts at all, I just have my cars built wildly.

[Longboarder]

I have a difference perspective.

I started video'ing my airstrip, drag strip and track events. I have nearly 100,000 views on my vidoes. Started with my M3 then I got a 911 Turbo S and did some bolt-ons and it was much faster than it should have been...so I was posterizing cars that by the numbers, should have beat me.

Then I started getting solicitations from companies to put their products on my car and mention their products in my videos. I have received a few of these solicitations however I have declined them all. I would rather pay full price for a product that I believe in, rather than putting whatever just because it's free.

[okusa]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

I would rather pay full price for a product that I believe in, rather than putting whatever just because it's free.

The definition of a stand up guy!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by okusa

The definition of a stand up guy!

Longboarder is the man!

[Longboarder]

Originally Posted by okusa

The definition of a stand up guy!

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Longboarder is the man!

Haha thanks guys but I don't know about that.

I like my cars and just want them to perform at their best and continue to be very reliable since I can't turn a wrench.

I don't think there is anything wrong with getting sponsored but for me this is just a fun hobby that keeps the adrenaline flowing because at my age not much else does.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

I have a difference perspective.

I started video'ing my airstrip, drag strip and track events. I have nearly 100,000 views on my vidoes. Started with my M3 then I got a 911 Turbo S and did some bolt-ons and it was much faster than it should have been...so I was posterizing cars that by the numbers, should have beat me.

Then I started getting solicitations from companies to put their products on my car and mention their products in my videos. I have received a few of these solicitations however I have declined them all. I would rather pay full price for a product that I believe in, rather than putting whatever just because it's free.

The dragstrip one with all the exotics I always see on youtube? Is that GTBoard?