STR hires Total Sports Asia

By Andrew Cutler
July 11 2007

With four F1 GPs currently held in Asia - Bahrain, China, Japan & Malaysia - and more planed, or at least rumored, comming, Scuderia Toro Rosso has decided to try and tap into this growing market. Towards this end they have signed with Total Sports Asia, a marketing company, to begin the search for sponsorship backing in the region.

"At a time when the world of sports sponsorship is increasingly drawing interest from Asian brands, understanding their cultural issues, market needs and the business processes of the region are paramount in being able to bring together established and emerging Asian brands with the emerging team at Toro Rosso," TSA CEO Marcus Luer explained the repoters from Crash.net.

"We have spent many years building up our network and our experience, and now boast a team that not only understands the market, but that also operates in local language's and has a track record of success in the area of sports marketing. In a team like Toro Rosso, we see many synergies, an F1 team which is bringing together key experience with innovative ideas and a challenging approach amidst tough competition."

STR team principal Franz Tost welcomes this new partnership."It's clear that any commercial strategy in sport must now consider strongly the influence and strength of the Asian and Middle Eastern markets and their respective brands.   As a challenger team, we require specialists in all areas of our operation, and sponsorship and commercial partners are no exception. In Total Sports Asia, we feel we have identified a partner with specialist experience in a key sector for our business."