Sponsorship - How, What, Where?

[Lippyx]

Was thinking.....

I was at work yesterday, and was scrolling through Horsemart (as you do!) and came across and gorgeous mare for sale (at a reasonable price) and was reading her profile etc, when my boss came over and looked at it (don't worry, I was on lunch!!)
Anyway, he was asking if she was a good type etc and how unusually marked she was (she was a coloured) and I turned round jokingly and said did he want to sponsor me!

This then made me think, if a company sponsors you, what and how does it work? Do they give you an "X" amount of money each year that you use for competitions or what?

Does anyone here have sponsorship?

 

[duckling]

It depends in what you're after - you'd have to be a pretty regular competitor to make the sponsorship worth their while!

I got sponsorship for our uni team in the form of free competition clothing for the whole squad and blouson jackets; this was all we really needed, our competitions were already funded by the university. Our fabulous sponsors (Cavaletti Clothing

) also gave the whole club an online discount, and in return had their company name embroidered onto our blouson jackets for publicity, as well as linked from our website.

 

[teddyt]

Too many people look at sponsorship as a donation. In return for products/money/services a person should give as much back as possible to the sponsorship provider. They should mention the sponsor whenever possible (like duckling), do press releases, etc.
IMO not enough riders (or shows) look at it as a professional relationship. They love the idea of free products or money but dont know how much they should be doing in return. Particularly in the current climate businesses need a return on their sponsorship contribution and a good return will mean they will do it again.

 

[Ashtree]

[ QUOTE ]
Too many people look at sponsorship as a donation. In return for products/money/services a person should give as much back as possible to the sponsorship provider. They should mention the sponsor whenever possible (like duckling), do press releases, etc.
IMO not enough riders (or shows) look at it as a professional relationship. They love the idea of free products or money but dont know how much they should be doing in return. Particularly in the current climate businesses need a return on their sponsorship contribution and a good return will mean they will do it again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I couldn't put it better. It's like charities which expect businesses to keep making donations. All businesses must make commercial decisions - sponsorship is essentially advertising and the business will look at what return they will get for their money. You also need to be very careful if you use a horse lorry in the 3.5 to 7.5 tonne range and have sponsorship as this can then be treated as earnings which means you then have to have an operators licence.

 

[MagicMelon]

I have one main sponsor but also another one in the discussions. My main sponsor has so far sent me their products to try, in return I let them know how I get on and if I can think of any improvements to them etc. I also have their stickers on my trailer and wear their branded jacket at events. I would also mention them whenever I could. They also intend to give me money towards entries once they are a bit more up and running (new company). They sent me another parcel only yesterday full of little things like treats for my horse etc.!

The other potential sponsor is sending me a heap of their products & supplements first to see if I like them (always a good idea!), then they make it a permanent thing (ie. always keeping me stocked up). In return, all they want is testimonials and photos of me using their stuff to put on their website etc.

Another company gave me some one-off freebies and all they want is a photo of me using their stuff, again to put on their website.

Like others have said, you do need to try and offer them something in return. In my case I tried to pitch it that because I've got a background in horsey-product testing that I would be happy to give loads of feedback and any ideas etc. You also need to be out competing very often. I compete every single weekend in BE and BSJA, not to any amazing level though so you don't have to be a pro by any means although of course I'm sure it helps