Hehe! Surprise possible sponsorship! LONG!

[boostjunkie]

So I was surfing thru the Whiteline webpage looking at all the parts that I COULDN'T buy for the new car . . . or so I thought, when I came across this:

http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/fact_s ... ZZT231.PDF

So I emailed Whiteline on a whim:

Hello,

I know this might be a shot in the dark, but it's worth a try. I've been a Subaru owner in the US for about 7 years now. I drove a 90 Legacy LSi, then a 97 Legacy 2.5GT, and finally a 91 Legacy Turbo. Having such experience with the Subaru brand, I came to become quite familiar with Whiteline products, from sway bars, to end links, to strut bars, you name it!

My turbo legacy was totalled in an unfortunate accident that was not my fault, and after grieving the loss, I came to purchase a 2000 Celica GT-S. Unbeknownst to me, I came across your site, casually looking at the Subaru products that I could no longer hope to possess and noticed that you make very comparable parts for the Celica.

This, as you can imagine, sparked my interest.

Seeing as the US domestic market seems to be in love with Hotchkis products for the Celica (which seem to be the most highly regarded brand for suspension components around here) I figure there is a plethora of opportunities to be had by breaking into the market with your suspension products. Whiteline has always been an innovator with suspension tuning, especially in the realm of fine tuning suspension bits (castor/anti-lift kits, adjustable panhards, radius rods, and roll couple adjustment kits, just to name a few).

Again, these innovative products are left un-researched by other suspension manufacturers, for reasons unknown, and leaves a considerable amount of space for a niche market by Whiteline, especially in an age where the US is becoming more and more enthralled by the race-inspired capabilities of today's automobiles. The mere fact that we are getting more and more JDM and EDM performance cars is testament to this fact. Not to mention the breakthrough of USDM sport compacts such as the Dodge Neon SRT-4 and the upcoming Chevy Cavalier turbo.

As we all know, word of mouth works very well as an advertising tool, and I believe that once Whiteline gets established as a competitive suspension tuner in the Toyota crowd in the US market, that it stands to become a potent player in the aftermarket tuner circles, not only for Toyota (and Subaru), but for any other manufacturer that you might come to extract additional suspension performance from.

As of present, my car is bone stock, and I propose that it be the USDM test bed for such an endeavor. I have some limited experience with autocrossing, however, with the 3000+lb Legacys I used to drive, there were always some smaller, lighter cars that would be able to best me on the course (those would mainly be the smaller WRXs and impreza RSs.). The celica, in my opinion, is a very capable car with respect to handling prowress, and I think Whiteline can capitalize on this capability with their line of suspension components that will be proven in an autocross environment.

I thank you for taking the time to read this email, and I hope you consider this request when making decisions to break into a seemingly untouched market with great potential. I invite you to peruse a couple of the local message boards around the area to see just how untapped this market really is:

www.newcelica.org
www.everythingcelica.com

Sincerely,

Jason

And got this response:

G'day Jason,

Thanks for contacting us and we appreciate you using our product.

We'd love to increase our penetration into the North American Celica market and would appreciate some assistance. What is your "handle" on these forums?

I'm glad that you've picked up on our work in the unconventional tuning areas. There just seems to be too much emphasis on big ticket items that simply bolt-on with owners expecting this to deliver the so called silver bullet to kill all understeer and make it behave like a rear wheel drive. I guess you know what I'm talking about. Have you had a look at what we have available, what exact product would you need and what are you offering in return?

Cheers

Jim Gurieff
jimg@whiteline.com.au

Now, what should be my next steps in securing a sponsorship? What should I offer in return?

[THAWA]

very cool. I dont really have much to offer but positive reinforcement

[vrg3]

Wow, awesome.

I wonder what you could offer them... Perhaps volunteer to thoroughly document some installs of their products on your car? Posting that onto the forums could do a lot to urge other Celica owners to purchase the same or similar products.

[legacy92ej22t]

Sweet, Jason! I hope it works out.

[mikec]

I agree with Vikash. Offer reviews of their stuff on the various Celica boards, and maybe a sticker or 2?

[BAC5.2]

Oh man, Finally something I can help with

How? Come on man, I'm a mountain biker and work at a shop. I deal with people asking for sponsorship info all the time.

1) If you are just a driver, you'll get nothin. There is no business angle behind giving an average-joe tons of goodies for free.

Offer something they can't get for the same kind of deal. Free/discounted parts in return for you participating in shows, races, anything that will spark an interest.

2) Be willing to take a hit. You won't get free stuff, that's almost a definate. Free stuff goes to the hardcore racer types, you know? It's likely, though, that in exchange for advertising (stickers on the car, handing business cards, going to big events like Mazda Rev-it-up and things like that and shouting the name. Wearing shirts at events, basically, you become a rep). Offer parts knowledge, if you could rattle off Celica part numbers like Vikash can rattle off blub numbers, it'd be very impressive to Whiteline.

3) That's really it. Vikash is absolutely correct. Real-world experience on a non-employee car is invaluable. Good words from a respected forum member is some of the best advertising possible. I've gotten my share of free shit from bike companies, and for the good stuff, I've probably influenced others to buy the stuff.

If it costs Whiteline %50 of the profit on one of their sway bars, but in exchange, you get them 5 people buying the bars, then it was a GREAT investment, and that kind of performance will be rewarded.

I'd say with a reply like that, you've got a great chance at a partial sponsorship.

[boostjunkie]

Interesting. Thanks for the tip, Phil!

I'll most likely be sending out a response sometime tomorrow. It's gettin late and I'm too tired to think in a "salesperson" kinda way.

[evolutionmovement]

I think those are all good suggestions. What about formally becoming a rep? or mentioning it as a future consideration? Offering to document installation with digital photos for write-ups would be great and differences before and after at autoX events would also likely be a good avenue to explore. I think Phil's right that you likely won't get free parts, but what about parts at cost? See what they're willing to offer you, too.

Good work! and well written.

Steve

[BAC5.2]

One of the best ways to approach a company looking to exercize a new venue (like Whiteline on the Hotchkis Celica group) is as a test-sled.

Companies LOVE slathering their parts over things that will cause a big rukus. If you are the only Celica with a Whiteline catalog on it, you'll spin up a bunch of questions, reactions, everything.

This is a PERFECT opportunity for business. Shock to get attention, then drop product lines.

I couldn't tell you the business I get over the summer by doing repairs in the parking lot of the local trails. People are trying to fix something, I do it for them, drop the shop name, and they come in.

All about placement, timing, and approach. If they don't think you'll dick them around, they are going to be very receptive. The letter you wrote was an AWESOME way to introduce the idea.

Photo shoot the car, and send them digital pictures or quality prints so they know what they are starting with. If you show them a somewhat flawless car (I've seen your GT-S and it's in perfect shape), they would love to envision their stuff turning your stock GT-S into a monster for the street and track. Offering realworld experience on both arena's (what normal drivers do) will do worlds for business.

[Brat4by4]

Come up with some sort of business plan. Get an idea where you want to take the car (radical, street racer, auto-x'er) and show them how you plan to get penetration. Also, you need to act as their "vendor" on forums and such. Give those guys "deals" on product so they will be more tempted to snatch it up.

The best way just off the top of my head is to completely tweak the car suspension-wise. Get some relatively large whitleline decals on the car and get an auto-x driver. Find the best auto-x'er driver on the celica forums and have him drive your car at big events. This has worked for a pre-production 2.5RS here... they have full backing (but they had to spend the 5 hours putting the large -but tasteful- decals on the car )

Also do lots of shows. If the car is listed as THE "Whiteline Celica" then they are getting massive coverage and will throw more parts your way hopefully. And eventually coverage in some sort of magazine or even a large newspaper will make them giddy, also.

[LaureltheQueen]

If you're not very receptive to putting stickers on your car, there's always the possibility of throwing magnets on for events like autocross and such. I see people doing that often

[evolutionmovement]

Laurel beat me to it. The good thing about it too is that you can move them around from event to event if you want.

Steve

[NemesisEJ22t]

Thats awesome man, i remember a few years back we had to organize group buys and ship it all from AUS just to get All-Trac parts from them. I wanted to get some of their stuff that would work for FWD Celicas but I never had the money when the GBs went on. Even if its for the newer Celicas, i'm sure that if they saw the interest they may offer more parts for other models, and make everything more accessible to the US buyer. Great job and good luck with the sponsorship.