How Team Culture Influences Sponsorship Acquisition

When looking at which sports property to sponsor, there is one aspect that is overlooked: How team culture influences sponsorship acquisition.

A sports sponsorship is, after all, a relationship between two entities that seek mutual benefits and there is no benefit if there is no cultural fit.

A sentence that we often say when we advise a brand on who to sponsor is "This is a good team to work with", but what does it mean?

It means that the team has a positive attitude, a flexible approach and a strategic way of working with the partners. This makes the overall process much more efficient and the results much more effective.

A sports sponsorship is often a multi-year agreement and, as a brand, you don't want to work long-term with a sports property that is over-protective of their marketing rights, slow in replying to your requests and unwilling to go a bit beyond their contractual obligations to satisfy your needs.

The last couple of years have been very challenging for the sports marketing industry, but some sports properties have been able not only to retain their partners but also to acquire a large number of new sponsors, why? Because those are properties with the right culture.

How can a brand know if the culture of that team is more commercially-minded than the other one? Simple, by relying on experts that have a large network in the ecosystem and know exactly how each team operates.

This is original editorial content from Drive Sports Marketing, an agency specialising in Formula 1 sponsorship, Formula E sponsorship, MotoGP sponsorship, and WEC sponsorship.