{"id":22621,"date":"2025-09-03T18:38:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22621"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:38:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:38:51","slug":"why-would-a-b2b-tech-brand-strike-up-a-sports-sponsorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22621","title":{"rendered":"Why would a B2B tech brand strike up a sports sponsorship?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A couple of years ago, B2B tech brand Neat had a pair of customers in the sports space: The NBA\u2019s LA Clippers and Red Bull Racing, the Formula 1 team that\u2019s home to four-time World Drivers\u2019 Champion Max Verstappen. Now, Neat, which makes video conferencing devices, is much more than one of their tech providers\u2014it\u2019s a sponsor of both teams.<\/p>\n

B2B brands are becoming plentiful in certain sports, especially ones that offer VIP-level experiences to business decision-makers. Unlike consumer-facing brands, Neat didn\u2019t get into the sports game to generate mass awareness and sales, but instead to expose the brand to specific audiences, VP of Marketing Priscilla Barolo said. When execs recognize the brand name, it can make or break a sale, she said, and once the deal is done, sports sponsorships can be integral to maintaining those relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s B2B marketing, but those are still people,\u201d Barolo told Marketing Brew. \u201cBrand exposure is important, and particularly if you can get to those audiences where there\u2019s more decision-makers in key markets like Los Angeles, it\u2019s a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exposed<\/h2>\n

Neat first signed on as the official video device of the Clippers last September, and followed up by announcing the Red Bull Racing partnership in November. The deals were inked about a year after Barolo, who previously worked in communications for Zoom, joined the company.<\/p>\n

Barolo hadn\u2019t been explicitly looking to tie up with basketball or F1 at the time, but the conversations started naturally over the course of doing business with the teams.<\/p>\n

The sponsorships made sense in more ways than one: Red Bull Racing has an international fandom that matches Neat\u2019s global customer base, as well as \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d race experiences, while Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ home arena that shares ownership with the team, offered suite-level naming rights at its new, high-tech arena, representing a \u201cshared ethos around\u2026super advanced technology,\u201d Barolo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew from our experience, if the partnership is organic, if it\u2019s a two-way street, if it\u2019s multifaceted, that\u2019s a lot more rewarding than going, \u2018Okay, that team\u2019s hot right now, slap a logo on them and go,\u2019\u201d Barolo said.<\/p>\n

The sponsorships do involve Neat\u2019s logo, though: It\u2019s on the front of the Red Bull F1 cars and around the team\u2019s garage, as well as throughout Intuit Dome, including on the court, tunnels, and the \u201cNeat Suites.\u201d That all is designed to contribute to in-person and broadcast brand exposure, according to Barolo.<\/p>\n

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During the brand\u2019s first season with the Clippers, Neat was on TV about 1,000 times, and about 55,000 guests visited the Neat Suites, amounting to about $500,000 in equivalent advertising value, according to the company. Halfway through its first season as a Red Bull Racing sponsor, Neat has already seen about $6 million in equivalent ad value, Barolo said.<\/p>\n

Box seats<\/h2>\n

The hospitality element\u2014and any subsequent sales pipeline\u2014can be harder to measure than branding assets, but Barolo said it\u2019s equally important as part of the deals. Neat has a box of its own at Intuit Dome, where Neat\u2019s sales leaders can bring guests, whether that\u2019s potential new companies they\u2019re looking to court, fellow tech partners, or long-term clients. Neat also has access to the F1 Paddock Club through its Red Bull Racing sponsorship, though tickets are more limited than in the Neat Suites, Barolo said.<\/p>\n

Largely, the invites are sent based on the input of Neat\u2019s sales team. \u201cThey\u2019re closest to the clients, and they know where this is going to make a difference and where it\u2019s not,\u201d Barolo said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps since the F1 Paddock Club is so exclusive, Barolo said invites to that experience so far seem to be paying off, with \u201cuniversally positive feedback\u201d from clients and sales stats from the first half of the F1 season pointing in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t always see brand ROI right away, but you can see, \u2018Okay, well, who did we bring there?\u2019 And then, \u2018Has this made any difference in the deals?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re in high seven figures in terms of the [sales] pipeline associated with the hospitality just this past season so far. That\u2019s what I want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Barolo isn\u2019t putting all of her eggs\u2014or her budget\u2014in one basket. The two sports sponsorships represent just about one-fifth of Neat\u2019s overall marketing budget, she told us. While she\u2019s open to adding more sports deals, she said, she declined to share details about any specific teams or leagues she might be interested in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a big believer in not going all in on any given marketing,\u201d Barolo said. \u201cI really think a full-funnel, diverse marketing mix is important.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago, B2B tech brand Neat had a pair of customers in the sports space: The NBA\u2019s LA Clippers and Red Bull Racing, the Formula 1 team that\u2019s home to four-time World Drivers\u2019 Champion Max Verstappen. Now, Neat, which makes video conferencing devices, is much more than one of their tech providers\u2014it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\nWhy would a B2B tech brand strike up a sports sponsorship? | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A couple of years ago, B2B tech brand Neat had a pair of customers in the sports space: The NBA\u2019s LA Clippers and Red Bull Racing, the Formula 1 team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22621\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why would a B2B tech brand strike up a sports sponsorship? 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