On Friday, I went to @ZF.live to talk about the week’s big news: “Bitdefender Becomes Romania’s First Sponsor in Formula 1.” I’m revisiting some of the ideas related to sponsorship that I shared or wanted to share during the live session, which are of great interest to entrepreneurs and their marketing departments.
Sponsorship involves two parties: the sponsor and the sponsee. For a successful sponsorship, both parties must understand: the links built in the partnership, the levers that come into play, and the marketing activations benefiting both parties.
The main objectives a sponsoring brand might achieve are:
- Accelerated brand awareness through association with top-of-mind and high-end brands.
- Improved brand image through the transfer of brand equity from Ferrari and Formula 1 to Bitdefender.
- Access to a global business elite – contracts are signed in the paddock, and the audience here is top-tier.
- Enhanced internal company esteem.
- Increased sales through geographical penetration and market share growth – obviously, with sustained effort from sales teams and not overnight.
The sponsorship strategy brings exceptional benefits related to the transfer of brand equity from Ferrari F1 to the sponsoring brand, Bitdefender.
Many people in marketing are female, for whom color is the most important attribute of a car. This is especially true for me, so Formula 1 explained for everyone…
Formula 1 Explained for Everyone: It is a top competition in motorsport. Ten teams participate, each with 2 cars, and 2 drivers per team. The participating brands are: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin, Williams, Alfa Romeo, and Haas. The technical team’s support is very important. The synergy between engine – driver – team – synchronization of the team determines success on the track. The F1 World Championship has between 20 and 22 races starting in March, called Grand Prix. They rotate in different major cities around the world with validated circuits. The American company Liberty Media, which owns Formula 1, intends to close some circuits in Europe (Monaco, for example), moving them to the USA. The length of a circuit varies in kilometers, and during a race, between 50 and 70 laps are completed. The competition takes place over 3 days: Friday – practice, Saturday – qualifying, Sunday – the race. The first day is streamed online at most, while the others are televised and have a global audience.
Ferrari F1 is one of the coveted teams among the 10 participants. The main attributes of the brand are: speed, performance, excellence, technology, and innovation. Of course, as in any sport, fans’ preferences are split between teams, and the criteria for choosing depend on both the driver’s vocation and performance as well as the technology and innovations of the engine. Ferrari also produces the engine for the Haas and Alfa Romeo teams.
Thus, speed and performance will be the main attributes Bitdefender will gain. But these two attributes can be identified in any top sports competition, whether football, tennis, swimming, or rowing. Football even has much greater visibility as it is a team sport enjoyed by the masses. However, what Formula 1 has that other competitions don’t is excellence in technology and innovation. And for Bitdefender, these are relevant. Moreover, excellence and performance in F1 refer both to the driver and the team behind him as well as to the engine technology and innovations, which are tested here and only appear on streets after 7 to 10 years.
For which brands is sponsorship strategy suitable?
For B2B companies for which traditional advertising is not a solution, companies operating in heavy industry, technology, fintech.
For B2C companies in the high-end luxury segment who desire the audience that Formula 1 has.
Today, Bitdefender is the only Romanian brand in F1… but it will always be the first. Why is it important to be the first? Because “first” means, above all, courage and includes the idea of being “the only one” until another Romanian brand follows suit. Courage can be an attribute that Bitdefender’s clients might appreciate, indirectly and non-declaratively. You can only be the only one temporarily. Will UiPath make Bitdefender the first and not the only one?
Advantages of Sponsorship
- Leveraging the brand equity of the sponsored brand.
- Indirectly and to a lesser extent, but still existing, leveraging the brand equity of other sponsor brands (Shell, Richard Mille – a high-end Swiss watch brand making watches for Nadal with values starting at 500k EUR, Amazon Web Services; see the complete list below).
- Increased brand awareness.
- Improved reputation.
- Safety and security.
- Increased marketing effectiveness.
- Reduced costs through joint activations.
- Endorsement by the sponsored brand.
Disadvantages of Sponsorship: Potential effects of negative PR from the sponsored brand (e.g., negative PR surrounding the shareholder of the Force India team and the evolution of team changes and sponsors).
What is more suitable to choose: advertising, sponsorship, or a mix? There is no simple answer as it depends on the category of your brand, your brand platform, your competencies, and your objectives.
Publicitatea este superioara sponsorizarii pentru urmatoarele argumente: control in alegerea mesajului si a modalitatii de transmitere, audienta si livrare targetate, poate sa garanteze reach, usurinta in monitorizare si evaluare.
Advertising is superior to sponsorship for the following reasons: control over the message and delivery method, targeted audience and delivery, can guarantee reach, ease of monitoring and evaluation.
Sponsoring F1 is difficult but not impossible to evaluate.
The average audience in recent seasons of the Grand Prix has increased noticeably from year to year. For example, the TV audience for the Abu Dhabi circuit in 2021 was 108.7 million viewers, +29% compared to the same circuit in 2020. It has grown year after year due to increased competition dynamics, rising interest in F1, especially in countries with drivers (Netherlands, Spain, UK), or due to the addition of new cities on the competition map – USA (where the Austin Grand Prix was joined by those in Miami and Las Vegas, most likely due to Liberty Media’s interests). The TV audience is supplemented by digital audience as Friday’s practice sessions are streamed only online.
Additionally, the sponsoring brand benefits from exposure not only during the event but also before it, live activations during the event, and post-event exposure (meetings with drivers, factory tours, motivational speeches delivered by drivers to the sponsor’s employees). Depending on the negotiated package, the sponsoring brand can benefit from association with the sponsored brand on all its materials: website, email signature, packaging, advertisements, general communication, and fantastic PR.
Exposure packages per year at F1 start from 500k euros for a minor package, continue with 1 million euros for exposure on the car, rise to 3-5 million euros for exposure on the car and team equipment (driver suit, helmet, and team equipment) and can reach maximum budgets between 20-50 million euros per year. The Petronas-Mercedes budget reached 300 million euros over 5 years, recently renewed.
According to zf.ro, Bitdefender’s logo will be displayed on the Ferrari drivers’ helmets as well as on the 2 F1-75 cars driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. The companies will also engage in marketing activities, including private meetings with Ferrari team drivers and technical team members, factory tours, access to the paddock, and other exclusive activities. Additionally, Ferrari will explore and evaluate Bitdefender’s cybersecurity products and services to include them in its operations. In 2021, Bitdefender achieved a turnover of 1.08 billion RON (220.4 million euros), a 25% increase from the previous year.
Bitdefender appears as a sponsor of Scuderia Ferrari F1 alongside technical and non-technical sponsors such as: Shell, Santander, Velas, Snapdragon, Ray-Ban, Amazon Web Services, Richard Mille, Ceva Logistics, Mission Winnow, Estrella Galicia, Palantir, OMR, Puma, RadioBook, VistaJet, Giorgio Armani, Riva, FRECCIAROSSA, Manpower Group, Techno Gym, Iveco, Mahle, Pirelli, SKF, NGK Spark Plugs, Brembo, Bell Helmets, Riedel, Garrett, OHLINS, Sabelt.
Other topics of interest: Types of sponsorships. How to choose sponsorship? Who to sponsor? How to monitor sponsorship? What events can be sponsored depending on the brand platform?
Thank you, Sorin Paslaru, for the invitation to ZF.Live.
Thanks to INOVEO colleagues, former colleagues at Gazeta Sporturilor, especially to expert @Luminita Paul. Thanks to formula1.com. And to you, those who have read this far.
Photo credits to: Bitdefender
Note: This material reflects INOVEO’s opinion on the above topic; it may contain subjective aspects that the author has experienced in their professional journey or subjective aspects gathered during the research for this material.
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