Minnesota Focus Owners Club

SOLD

i love your car

Wow I wish I could sell my focus really fast and then spend all of my savings so I could buy your car!

thanks guys

Damnit Dave, who am i gonna mooch off now?

how do you get a sponser? and if you do is your spare time over, like they say oh we need you to go across the country and go to a car show

focinite wrote: how do you get a sponser? and if you do is your spare time over, like they say oh we need you to go across the country and go to a car show

sponsorships are 95% of the time who you know. if you know the right people, you can get sponsored.

how would i go about knowing the right people, i am courius aboyut how that sort of thing works. i've always woundered how people got sponsered and their resposibities to the sponser, is it hell or is it fun, can you build the car your way or do you have to build it their way

Generally you know someone that knows someone that can get you the sponsorship. Generally there are show requirements (attend X shows per year) along with display requirements. For example the sponsorships I've had in the past didn't require me to have any decals on my car, just any time it might appear in a publication. Thus at Autovations I had the large ass ZX3Tuning banner on my car.

Generally to get sponsored a company needs to determine their ROI. If they give you these parts, what is in it for them as a business. If you're cruising down the street, nobody is going to give a shit if they see a Focus Central banner on the car. If you're down at SEMA and in a booth with a big ass Focus Central banner, you're getting more exposure for the company. On a magazine cover? Even better! If a company gets nothing for helping you with parts, why would they? They're in it to make money.

There's a few kinds of sponsorships, partial sponsorships and full sponsorships. A full sponsorship is where you receive a part, along with your requirements for sponsorship fulfillment. Sometimes at the end of said period you return the part or have the option to buy. In other cases, you receive credit towards parts from the manufacturer and buy things at a discount.

Alien feel free to fill in anything I've missed. It seems you've had 10x the number of sponsors I've had since all of mine have been minor.

thank you that helps alot, i never realy understood like that..one more ? do they line up the shows or is your part to find and atend the shows, cuz im sure it would take more than good looks to get in to sema( i think its a busines that is needed, its only for shop owners and junk right?)

focinite wrote: thank you that helps alot, i never realy understood like that..one more ? do they line up the shows or is your part to find and atend the shows, cuz im sure it would take more than good looks to get in to sema( i think its a busines that is needed, its only for shop owners and junk right?)

well something like SEMA would be lined up by the sponsor as they show their products. A friend of mine was going to get an air bag setup on his minitruck and they wanted him to attend a certain number of shows with X number of participants and have pictures of them. We did the math and essentially the cost after entering all the shows (averaging $30-$50 to enter) was only $100 under the air bag setup. Then throw in gas, hotels, etc. In his case, it was a cold call to the company and they made him the offer. Sponsors tend to snowball though. If you have 4 sponsors, a potential sponsor already knows other people are expecting an ROI and you're a safer bet for sponsorship. Get on a magazine cover, and watch the parts flow.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. I will say that as you make contacts you find situations that help such as some bigger companies have a seperate SEMA budget for cars...thus if you are a booth car they will surely have exposure. The majority of my sponsorships have been for SEMA specific and to test prototype items or upgrade from older sponsorship parts placements. With some minor exceptions....my sponsors have been with me since I went to NOPI in 2001. Enkei has been my most recent that requires a time frame (usualy a year) for you to use the product and for them to use the car in advertising. I met my sponsorship obligations with all by going to SEMA last year and as Trahma said....some will give you a killer deal on parts, or help with costs of showing the car. Sponsorship is cool and fun but it isnt free at all....SEMA has cost me a lot of cash to prepare for and attend as well as other shows you go to and usualy there is a SEMA rush to get a car done so you freak out and pay more to get things like paint done ASAP. I work full time so doing alot of shows is hard and they all know that. SEMA has been the target show as well as driving the car with very obvious logo's and graphics. I have loved it and hated it more than I can tell you and it will make your hair gray. I honestly do not want to sell the car but things change and I do not want to disapoint any of my sponsors by trying to get to a show half assed or have to bow out the last minute due to lack of cash flow....

I would also like to note....since the car world has blown up so much in the past few years....popularity of a car comes and goes so fast now. I have seen so many great platforms be cool for 1 year and then they are gone. The new/old school hot rod vibe is very big right now as well as more rockets straight out of the factory. Its getting harder to do something that is catchy and new that wont be status quo in 6months (fiber glass stereo's from hell). The market for the new muscle cars is huge as well as luxory cars and SUV, the wheel and tire expo at SEMA alone is massive in size and money being made in that segment...more customs cars you see on RIDES, and Overhaulin for example are in the wheel and tire expo....Foose cleans house on wheels and making custom wheels for the entire aftermarket.....same with Boyd Coddington...parts and wheels. Mopar had the badest ass booth at SEMA last year....you have seen the Extreme Lee and the Hammer from Rides





and Jo Rogans Cuda is in the back ground of this drift rocket


and Mustangs....





Granted...Ford was the title sponsor for SEMA last year and it was where the new Mustang got its debut....but there was as many new GTO's, protype Charger, 300 C's as there were imports and sport compacts...and please do not get me wrong....I am not saying that the import tuner scene is dying...but new toys are out there and people want them and there are a ton of companies out there who have made super fine parts to make sure there new toys haul ass....and I thought u might like some of the pics

Hey, I love the rims on this Focus, any more pics of this one?

it almost sounds like a pain in the rear, i work two jobs so that would most like be impossible for me to get sponsed