How to Get Sponsored by Enjuku Racing

Most of the brands drift teams pitch are manufacturers. Enjuku Racing isn't. It's a retailer, a sales outlet that sells other companies' parts, and that changes the math on every sponsorship it signs. Andrew Kublin, Enjuku's general manager, walked through that math at my Drift Sponsorship Summit. If you understand how a retailer makes its money, your proposal will read very differently from the dozens that land in his inbox every week.

Know that a retailer sponsors on thin margins

A manufacturer builds the product and keeps the margin no matter who sells it. A retailer doesn't. "It's a little different for us because we're one of a hundred different dealers for brands like HKS or BC Racing or Tein suspension," Kublin said. ▶ Watch Andrew Kublin explain this

That's why a big check is rarely on the table. "To stroke a $10,000 check to a guy running a pro-am series in New Mexico that has 300 drivers or 300 spectators may not be the case," he said. Even free parts cost more than racers assume: "Sometimes people think the higher value item has higher margin. It's generally not the case. If we provide one Wisefab kit to one team, we've got to sell 10 or 15 on the back end just to break even." ▶ See the full answer

Run what Enjuku is known for

Fit comes first. "If obviously they are using a platform that we ourselves use or is in sort of our wheelhouse. We're known for, in the drifting community, Nissan and Infiniti products, so that makes it easy," Kublin said. After that he looks at whether "they're generating some good content" and whether "the program looks good." ▶ Watch the clip

Enjuku also works with a number of smaller regional drift series, and it uses those relationships to check you out. "We'll touch base with the people running that series and say, 'Hey, we got a proposal from this guy. How is he as a person? How is the program?'" ▶ Watch Kublin on vetting

Expect to start with discounted parts

Most of Enjuku's programs begin at the grassroots level. "Most of the time they're needing help on the product or the parts, spare parts, spare suspension arms and axles and things like that," Kublin said. "So usually we'll start out at a lower level. Somebody will reach out to us that seems to have a compelling proposal, and we'll have discounted parts for them and then grow it from there." As a driver moves up into a bigger pro-am series or Pro Spec, "we'll reevaluate it from season to season." ▶ Watch the clip

The drivers who have stayed with Enjuku for years came up exactly that way, and they understood the deal. "They know that there's deliverables that we need to make it make sense: some media, videos, pictures, focusing not only on their car but the products that we sell, the wheels on the car, the seats, the Wisefab." ▶ Watch Kublin on long-term partners

Shoot content that sells the part

A retailer needs material that moves product, and a logo on a quarter panel doesn't do that. "For us as a retailer, anything that can help sell the product is great," Kublin said. "A sticker on the car doesn't get you a whole lot, but if you had good photography or good videography of the install of, say, a suspension component or exhaust component or a seat, we can use that on our social media, we can use it on the website as install photos." His warning: "Thinking a picture of the car with a 4-inch sticker on it does the job is not quite the case." ▶ Watch Kublin on media

There's a second angle most racers miss. Enjuku is a pro dealer or master distributor for some of the brands it carries, and those brands come with more marketing room. "If we are the master distributor of X brand, there may be more incentive for us to try to work with them and push that and market it more." ▶ See the full answer

Email a specific ask, not a DM

Enjuku sees "on average maybe five or 10" proposals a day, ranging from "a DM that just says 'sponsor me' with an emoji versus a full fleshed-out deck." ▶ Watch the session

Skip the DM. "We have 250,000 followers on Instagram, so you can imagine the DMs and tags are coming in all the time. So you may have a great one, but if you DM it, it could get lost," Kublin said. "I would say send an email, and the biggest thing a lot of guys tend to forget is they'll say, 'Hey, I want a sponsorship,' but they don't let us know proactively what actually they're looking for as far as support." Spell out whether you need cash or want to start with discounted parts, then show what you offer in return. And leave out the series demographics: "Not so much the analytics from Formula Drift's deck, because we know how many people watch FD, but how many people watch you, and what content have you produced." ▶ Watch Kublin on approaching Enjuku

Track your results, even as a beginner

What he wants in a deck is your own record. Keep "tabs on the things that you're posting and how they're performing so you can say, 'Hey, we generated these videos, we generated these photos, this is the response we got.'" New drivers aren't excused: "If you're starting out you may not have it, but try your best to document that." Enjuku tracks you too. Bigger-name drivers get their own discount codes, and "that'll definitely weigh into what budget may be allocated to that in the following year." ▶ Watch the session

Be someone they want to work with

Character counts. "They're an extension of your brand. They're not necessarily an employee, but you could say like a contractor, and no one wants to work with someone that they don't like," Kublin said. If Enjuku doesn't know you, "we'll get with a race series they run in and ask the guys running the series how is this person on a personal level before we get involved." ▶ Watch Kublin on character

His closing advice sums up the relationship. "It's not simply like a charity donation. Personally, at Enjuku we like to support the grassroots guys and we want to see them come up in the sport... but it's a two-way street." Deliver pictures and video after every event, he said, "instead of just that once-a-year ask of 'Hey, I need some money or I need some parts.'" ▶ Watch his final advice

Your checklist for Enjuku Racing

• Lead with your platform. A Nissan or Infiniti build is squarely in Enjuku's wheelhouse.
• Send an email, not a DM, and state exactly what support you want: discounted parts, product, or cash.
• Show your own audience and past content results. Leave Formula Drift's demographics out of the deck.
• Offer install photos and video of the parts Enjuku sells, not just car shots with a sticker.
• Expect to start with discounted parts and earn more by delivering season after season.
• Assume your series organizer will be asked about you, and act accordingly.
• Send content after every event, not just when you're asking for next year's deal.