Sponsor: Need some assistance...

[downtime]

I am very happy to announce I have just obtained a verbal agreement with a major media organization to sponsor my racing efforts for the forseeable future. I am so excited I can't even think straight so I'm going to get some coffee and mellow out to collect my thoughts as to the details of what I need to do next.

What I think I need is a basic contract of services that provides for payment schedules, dates and locations, what we will and what we will not do and what they will and will not do. It needs to be simple clear and concise, yet allow for expansion and reductions, in a manner that is fair and equitable for all.

If anybody out there has some experience with a basic sponsorship contract that can be edited to cover both NHRA and IHRA events in multiple states I would appreciate any insight, any email, any PM with anything helpful.

I am a bracket racer and have had a fair amount of success in that area but this is about promoting products and services for IT companies (primarily), and as such will include track rentals, trade shows, and many smaller tracks across the country as well as a few national events (IHRA).

Any advise is appreciated. As I said... I have a verbal handshake right now with a company and individual who has the authority to make this happen and whom I have known for 15 years so I need to firm this up in a professional manner with a going forward and exit strategy to preserve the professional relationship.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Suzie Q]

Good luck to you! That is great news.

 

[Joker]

Great News Ted. My advice to you would be to talk to Rich Bailey a fellow mater. He seems to me to have a good knowledge of sponsor relations for a non pro car and I know he wouldnt mind helping you if he can. I remember reading a Sponsorship 101 thread that he started that he had put on his website. I will get you the link.

http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/3853-sponsorship-101-a.html

 

[willy]

YeeHaa news, Ted..congratulations.

And that's who I thought of, Justin..Rich would be the guy.

 

[downtime]

10-4 guys. I'll contact him. I have read his articles previously and they are very good. It is the details I am trying to waddle through and I tend to micro manage everything (great for bracket racing but not so good for contracts).

 

[rocketman]

Thanks you guys I appreciate the recomendation. Ted, that info would be covered in the basic proposal that I do. I would recommend reading the sponsorshipo 101 page first and then we'll go from there.

I might be hunting for a sponsor pretty soon myself if the chassis doesn't get done in a reasonable amount of time!

 

[downtime]

Rich,

Thanks for posting. I will re-read your stuff. You have a gift for explaining yourself in a way that other people can understand and I have referred several folks to your website over the past few months.

 

[rocketman]

Oh, so that's where those hits came from. Thanks for the reference.

Tonight was the Showbiz trade show that we were booked into. Rather than leaving them high and dry I was able to bring in another car (I crashed last week). I showed my video and promoted my up coming car show. Good thing too, as our sponsor showed up.

It sucked being there under those circumstances but I'm glad I did. It was better than leaving a big empty booth with just our name up there.

We'll do what ever we can for our sponsor and the sport and that's how you have to look at it. I'm ashamed that it happend but sometimes it doesn't matter what happend but how you react to it.

 

[downtime]

My situation is a bit different... The sponsor is a publishing firm who is going to re-sell sponsorships to large vendors, some on a seasonal basis and some on a per event basis. I don't know of anyone who has approached sponsorship in this manner before as the actual sponsor is acting as an agent and will utilize my multiple industry familiarity to promote products and services through different brands...

For example the car could be blue one week and red the next...

This way I could keep per event costs down to an affordable level (from an event sponsor perspective) and keep the pricing high (for me) while allowing room for markup by the publishing house (very expensive marketplace).

 

[DLB]

Ted - that's great! How awesome man - I am pumped for you.

You gonna get "The Soup Du Jour" to be an associate if you race anywhere close to Kyle (Threxx).

DLB

 

[rocketman]

Ted with vinyl that's what a lot of teams are doing these days. It seems like CSK does that all the time.