Sponsorship is a means of marketing a brand or a company, but it can only be successful if it reaches the correct target audience. For automotive companies, motorsport offers an ideal opportunity to get the message across.
FEDERAL-MOGUL Federal-Mogul began motorsport sponsorship in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when the company’s brands heavily featured in Formula 1. Forty years ago, when vehicles were much simpler to work on, the DIY market was considerable. As a result, Federal-Mogul’s target audience was consumers, as well as garages, so high-level motorsport sponsorship was very relevant. Today’s vehicles are much more complex. As a result, the DIY market has reduced significantly and the large investments required to sponsor Formula 1 no longer provide the same return on investment, according to the company.
Federal-Mogul’s history has been built on motorsport; it offers the ultimate test bed and helps the company to develop its products in the harshest of environments. Ferodo and Champion products are currently being used in top flight motorsport, such as Formula 1 and NASCAR.
If the right target audience can be reached, then the possibilities are endless. WIX FILTERS, as the title sponsor, is pleased to be able to count on the support of FAI in competing in the highly watched British Touring Car Championship. The car is seen at every round by an impressive number of people: based on viewing figures from 2013, the BTCC was televised to a cumulative audience of 557 million viewers, an increase of 8.9% compared to the previous year. In 2013, 111 TV channels broadcast at least one of the BTCC events, reaching 188 countries worldwide – amounting to 1,176 hours of broadcasting. To WIX, as a global brand and to FAI as a fast growing international company, this is important, heavy-weight brand exposure.
WIX Filtration Managing Director, Wayne Stevens said “WIX is a brand that benefits significantly from widespread exposure to this ever-popular race series, with which drivers of ordinary road cars can easily identify. The familiar yellow and black WIX logo will be seen by close to half a billion people globally.”
Social media plays an ever-increasing role in how people view and interact with sport. The Croft round of the BTCC resulted in over 100,000 interactions across all social media platforms in just one day.
HELLA UK, who last year signed a sponsorship agreement with United Autosports BTCC team, sees sponsorship as a way to showcase its brand, products and services both on and off the track. The team’s branded Toyota Avensis cars target the BTCC community, including mechanics and engineers, which gives the company the opportunity to maximise the partnership across social media platforms to drive traffic to HELLA’s dedicated diagnostic website.
Many companies use sponsorship as an extension of an existing relationship they already have in place within the motorsport environment for testing their products. Lubricants supplier, COMMA, for instance, is the primary sponsor for the DAMS team in the GP2 Series thanks to its partnership with Motorsport Vision, whose Chief Executive is former Formula 1 driver Jonathan Palmer.
Jonathan’s son Jolyon drives for the team and won the championship in 2014. He said: “Comma have been very important in my career so far. They first supported me in my first season in single-seaters in FPA in 2007 and continued to do so until my 2nd place in the F2 championship in 2010. Recently motorsport has become a lot more commercial, so it’s great and very important to have a company like Comma behind me.”
TOTAL has had a strategic partnership with Renault for more than 45 years in the Formula 1 arena and has been involved in high level and extreme motor sport for many years. In addition to F1, Total has long established links with, and support of, the Citroen WRC rally, Dakar Rally, Pikes Peak, WTCC and Moto GP and Superbikes. It all comes back to allowing the companies to develop products to the highest level of technological excellence and maintain commitment to continuous innovation.
Best of the rest – Other companies involved with motorsport sponsorship include:
SCHAEFFLER has a long and illustrious pedigree in motorsport and is currently supporting teams involved in two prestigious championships. It’s partnering Audi the DTM championship, with defending champion Mike Rockenfeller once again behind the wheel. The company has also been working with Porsche in the areas of hybrid and powertrain technology as it competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the newly developed 919 Hybrid LMP1 sports car.
LUCAS OIL are involved in high profile events from karts to dragsters and monster trucks. Last year, the company extended its motorsport connections to include June’s Le Mans 24 Hour Race.
FUCHS sponsors a massive variety of riders and drivers including BSB, MotoGP and BTRDA Rallying; British Supersport’s Smiths Triumph Racing Team; Bee Wiser Kawasaki in both BSB and British Superstock; Ciceley Motorsport in British Touring Cars and the British Truck Racing Association Championship.
BTN TURBO recently became the European distributor for AEM Electronics. AEM sponsor events such as May’s Supercar Lites series at Lydden Hill Race Track, for the Autosport World RX series, watched by more than 10,000 spectators.
