Sportacus to sell naming rights to Rockingham track

Sports marketing agency Sportacus has been appointed to sell the naming rights for new motor-racing venue Rockingham Motor Speedway.

The agency, which is run by former Football Association commercial director Stephen Pearson, has been contacting blue-chip brands and aims to secure a deal by the end of the year.

Since its launch last September, the Northampton venue – which cost &£52m to build and seats 52,000 spectators – has appointed a number of agencies to raise its profile.

Michaelides & Bednash was appointed to handle launch advertising. The venue brokered a cross-media deal with EMAP, and ads ran in the September issues of Elle and FHM as well as on Manchester’s Key 103 and Leeds’ Aire FM. Television ads aired on Eurosport. In May, Rockingham appointed Palmer Hargreaves Mint and MediaCom to handle a second wave of advertising, planned for later this year. The venue has began talks with direct marketing agencies about promoting events.

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