How to: Ask for sponsorship

Lots of people ask how to get sponsorship on a race car. Well, I just got one yesterday, so let me share what I did.

Step one: Write a good email

"Hey NBPT Brewing,

I have a team of miscreants preparing a 24 hours of LeMons (https://www.24hoursoflemons.com/) race car themed after the second Mad Max movie. Our event is the Halloween Hooptiefest Oct 25-26th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It's a great event and gets a surprising amount of media coverage, including action in Car and Driver magazine.

We're trying to be authentic (within reason) with this vehicle, even to the point of converting it to right hand drive as it would have been in Australia. Sadly, we couldn't get a Ford Falcon shipped from kangaroo land, so we got a 1991 Ford Mustang instead. That's close, right? Oh yeah, we also ripped out the engine and installed a six cylinder powerplant from a 1978 Datsun 280Z. Writing this all out makes me think we may be a little off kilter...

OK that's the (too much) background, here's the "why should I not mark this as spam" part. If you're familiar with the movie, Max has two tanks in the back of the car for extra gas. I've attached a picture for reference. I'm hoping you have a couple damaged kegs that are no longer serviceable that I could either buy or borrow for the event to mount in the back of the car. The rattier the better. No, we won't be putting anything in them as that wouldn't meet safety standards. They just need to look badass.

Sounds awesome right?

Anyway, let me know if you have anything like that or even something you think would be a cool addition. If you wanted to treat the kegs as advertising space, feel free. Want to include some beer? We're awfully fond of the Green Head IPA. Want to come to the track and hang out with us during the race? You got it - I'll even pay for a couple infield passes. Want me to leave you alone? Why you gotta be so rude.

Cheers, Dave Estey"

Photo attachment:

Step 2: Wait for a response. In this case about 13 minutes.

"Hey Dave,

Sounds awesome. We can loan you two kegs you just have to promise to return them as we rent them and they cost us per month.

And I'll throw in a case of Green Head so you guys are well lubricated.

Cheers! Chris"

Step 3: Wonder why you never asked before.

Remember, if you don't ask, you don't get.

want more pictures of car.

Car in question: Still in progress of course.

waittaminute... is that RHD!?!!

Related:

I wanted better cooling for the miata, and hood louvers are the way to go...so I emailed Runcool (www.hoodlouvers.com) and said (essentially):

Hi, I am the admin of miata club (on facebook) and we have over 10,000 members. a fair amount of people ask about ways to cool their boosted miatas, and I have never seen anyone say, "hey, get some runcool louvers, they are great." I think it is because they don't know about you.

If you send me a pair, I will install them, and show pics of them, as much as possible, and plug your product for you.

2 weeks later I had free louvers:

Yup. Steering rack from a Ford Granada. Inner tie rods shortened and re-threaded for Mustang outer tie rods. Modified front subframe to hold it all together.

My tip: approach it as a marketing partnership, not simply sponsorship.

Want to get involved in something cool? Let me help make that happen.

My tip: You're applying for a job. Take it that seriously.

And, even if you race a Camero, it's sponsor, not sponser.

SCARR wrote: Related: I wanted better cooling for the miata, and hood louvers are the way to go...so I emailed Runcool (www.hoodlouvers.com) and said (essentially): Hi, I am the admin of miata club (on facebook) and we have over 10,000 members. a fair amount of people ask about ways to cool their boosted miatas, and I have never seen anyone say, "hey, get some runcool louvers, they are great." I think it is because they don't know about you. If you send me a pair, I will install them, and show pics of them, as much as possible, and plug your product for you. 2 weeks later I had free louvers:

Crap! That's a $200 set of louvers. Nice job.

Also, usually much easier for a company to spot you some product that they produce than actual dollar bills.

he doesn't know that you're 17 does he.

Generally in most cases outlining exposure rate to target market, cost per an exposure, benefit versus other marketing techniques and asking works quite well. Then FOLLOW UP.

Dave, I implore you to make sure that someone bringing along a decent DSLR camera for the weekend and takes a good 20-30 photos of the car in the paddock area, and another 40-60 of it in the pits, during driver changes, on hot track throughout the weekend and of the team enjoying some Green Heads after a day on track. On the Monday after the race weekend select the 4-10 best shots, be sure to include ones that show off the use of the kegs and one of the team enjoying a hard earned brew, to email him to them along with a thank you for their support and to let them know that you'll have the kegs back to them shortly and would love to partner with them for other future events that you plan on running.

Oh they'll be getting a nice thank you package. They've also gotten a lot of exposure on social media already.

In reply to captdownshift:

That's an excellent thing to do.

So Dave, who was that Brewery again?!??

Newburyport Brewing. They're all of 5 minutes down the road from me.

breweries tend to be great sponsors, my first sponsor for the rally car was flying dog brewery (when I lived about 4 miles from their brewery in Frederick, MD). Occasionally when they were having special events at the brewery or larger tasting parties or tour groups I'd offer to give rides home or back to the hotel for some of their guest if they lived within 10 miles. That alone is why I believe that they kept up with the sponsorship.

rcutclif wrote: Also, usually much easier for a company to spot you some product that they produce than actual dollar bills.

This. I found that in the Race Sponsoring World, a Company's Product or Service talk and Money walks.