When it comes to selling sponsorship, the Holy Grail for many rights holders is identifying brands on their way up before anyone else

This is one of the most common challenges we’re asked by rights holders, or their agencies, to solve. This was recently encapsulated by a request from the head of partnership sales at a major international rights holder.

He said: “We don’t want to target the Toyota’s of this world who’ve done loads of deals. We want to find the less well-known ones not yet investing in sponsorship but will have the capacity to do it.”

Identifying prospects in this way before everyone else requires using foresight (what could/will happen) rather than hindsight (deals they’ve already done).

As a CEO of a major research business succinctly put it to me years ago; “our job is to help our clients see around the corner.”

So, here are six example of how we identified brands a number of years before they went on to invest in a significant sponsorship.

Brand: Charlotte Tilbury
Signal type: Merger/Acquisition
Months ahead of time: 45
First significant sponsorship: F1 Academy

In June 2020, caytoo identified that cosmetics brand Charlotte Tilbury had sold a majority stake to Spanish-based fashion and fragrance firm Puig. This gave Charlotte Tilbury access to Puig’s global footprint and operations to expand its worldwide presence and “support them in the next stage of developing the brand. It marks a key milestone in our ambition to develop a strong makeup and skincare business.”

At that point, Charlotte Tilbury had only done one notable sponsorship – a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – so was not on the radar of sports rights holders. It was also 14 months before their first sports-related sponsorship – the Girl Gamer Esports Festival.

So, any rights holder monitoring Charlotte Tilbury since that merger signal would have seen this deal as a trigger to potentially doing their first notable sport sponsorship.

In February 2024, nearly four years after this signal (the purchase by Puig), Charlotte Tilbury signed its first-ever global sports sponsorship. The brand became an Official Partner of the Formula 1 Academy – the female-only single-seater racing championship founded by the Formula One Group to prepare young women drivers to progress to higher levels of competition.

Brand: Skyscanner
Signal type: Senior marketer hire
Months ahead of time: 35
First significant sponsorship: Solheim Cup

In June 2021, we identified travel marketplace Skyscanner had appointed former eBay and Expedia marketing leader Clive Peoples as senior vice president of marketing. He was tasked with leading Skyscanner’s global marketing strategy, driving customer acquisition and retention efforts to expand their worldwide presence and support them in the next stage of developing the brand.

The fact that one of his previous companies, Expedia, had done a lot of sponsorship made the signal even more relevant.

Around three years later, Skyscanner undertook its first notable sponsorships in quick succession (outside of some industry events): the Solheim Cup – the biennial women’s golf tournament between Europe and the USA – as well as Scottish Rugby. The deals were to help the firm increase brand awareness with travellers in some of the fastest-growing segments in sport and sport tourism.

Brand: Airwallex
Signal type: Multiple
Months ahead of time: 35
First sponsorship: McLaren Racing F1

In March 2021, caytoo identified that the payments platform Airwallex had secured $100m in funding to help extend its international footprint and become a global player. The brand had also recently refreshed its company values, accelerated its hiring and talent retention strategies and was looking to fill over 500 open roles.

In addition, we identified that the SVP of Brand, Communications and Partnerships who was hired nearly a year earlier to help Airwallex “build a world-class brand and reputation” was heavily involved in Standard Chartered Bank’s Liverpool FC sponsorship. A signal that sponsorship could well be in the brand’s plans.

In February 2024, nearly three years later, Airwallex signed its first sponsorship deal, choosing a major rights holder for it – McLaren Racing’s Formula 1 Team.

Brand: Huel
Signal type: Senior person hire
Months ahead of time: 34
First sponsorship: Spartan

In February 2021, we identified that sports nutrition brand Huel had appointed social media mogul Steven Bartlett to the board to help “propel meteoric global growth.”

In December 2023, nearly three years after the hire, the brand undertook its first notable sponsorship – the 2024 and 2025 seasons of international obstacle course brand Spartan. Since then, Huel has also gone on to sponsor Soccer Aid, the star-studded celebrity/ex-professional soccer match for global charity UNICEF.

Note that in August 2023, Huel undertook its first-ever sponsorship – with local amateur rugby club Tring. So, any rights holder monitoring brands on their way up such as Huel since that hire signal would have seen this deal as a trigger to potentially doing their first notable sponsorship, which is exactly what happened four months later.

Brand: Airtasker
Signal type: Multiple
Months ahead of time: 33
First sponsorship: Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

In June 2022, caytoo identified that Airtasker, the online services marketplace, had set a goal of growing its revenue 10x in the next five years through a global expansion strategy.

As part of this, the brand had appointed a creative agency to create a new  ad campaign and had invested in a major rebrand as, “it was clear we needed to stand out from the crowd if we were going to win market share.” This move followed the firm raising a £3.5 million investment from Channel 4 Ventures a month earlier.

In February 2025, nearly three years later, Airtasker signed its first sponsorship deal, choosing a major rights holder for it – the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team.

Brand: Atlassian
Signal type: Growth/Performance
Months ahead of time: 31
First significant sponsorship: Williams Racing F1

In July 2022, we identified that Atlassian, a provider of team collaboration software, was going full steam ahead with its plans to increase headcount from the current 8,000 staff to 25,000 by 2026.

This stood out as it came at a time when some of the biggest names in tech – such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Meta – were putting the brakes on hiring as they prepared for tough economic conditions.

In February 2025, 2.5 years later, the brand signed its first sponsorship deal, choosing a major rights holder for it – the Williams Formula 1 Team.

Summary

It’s all about researching developments going on around the world to identify potential triggers or buying signals to potentially get to brands before anyone else and be first out of the gate.

So, if you’ve ever identified the need to discover “hidden gems”, “brands on their way up”, “brands about to break through”, “up and coming brands”, “new kids on the block” or “the next big thing”, then check out our news-based lead generation service.

Use foresight not hindsight.