Victory Strengthens Sponsorship of Bellator MMA

Victory Motorcycles has taken a page out of Harley-Davidson‘s marketing playbook, signing a new sponsorship agreement with Bellator MMA, and becoming the mixed martial arts promotion’s official motorcycle brand. The partnership is similar to Harley-Davidson’s arrangement with Bellator’s chief competitor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The two brands started their relationship last August with some cross promotion including branding the walkway to the cage as “Victory Lane.” Beginning with the premiere of Bellator’s tenth season on Feb. 28 on Spike, Victory will have an expanded role, with its logo prominently featured on the cage mat canvas.

Victory will also present an in-show feature before the main event called “Keys to Victory”, highlighting what strategies the competitors need to defeat their opponents.

“The Bellator – Victory alliance is a perfect fit and we are happy to strategically evolve the partnership into the Bellator cage and onto the Spike broadcast,” says Bjorn Rebney, Bellator chairman and chief executive officer. “Both brands are continually pushing the envelope of greatness and we could not be more excited for another huge year with Bellator and Victory.”

The new sponsorship agreement adds a new aspect to Victory’s continuing efforts to carve a chunk out of Harley-Davidson’s market dominance. Harley-Davidson has had a long and successful relationship with UFC, helping promote the company to MMA’s demographic of males ages 18-34. As with the Harley-Victory dynamic, UFC is by far the larger, more well-known brand while Bellator is the relatively newer upstart.

“As the Victory brand continues to grow each year, we love finding partners that share the passion and challenger attitude of our riders and brand,” says Brian Kirkendall, marketing director for Victory. “Bellator provides the perfect platform to reach this audience.  From Bellator’s national platform and strategic dominance in the digital arena, numerous touch points exist for us to be highly creative in reaching our core consumer and beyond.”

[Source: Bellator MMA]

By Dennis Chung