Gtech founder: Find synergy in your sponsorships

Nick Grey is the founder and owner of Gtech, which specialises in cordless household appliances. It started out with vacuum cleaners, but has since expanded into products including hedge trimmers, power tools and hair dryers.

Grey founded the company in 2001, having previously worked as a lab technician at Vax. He is the inventor behind many of its original designs, initially working from his home in Worcestershire. Gtech developed the world's first cordless floor sweeper and has annual revenues of around £50m.

Gtech began a 10-year sponsorship deal with Brentford FC in 2022, just after the club had been promoted to the English Premier League. As part of the deal, Gtech was given naming rights to the club's new stadium. The secret Grey wants to share is all about the experience of sponsoring a football club.

“For a company to put their name on a sports stadium, it can go very, very well, but it can also go very badly,” says Grey.

“The value of the sponsorship is heavily linked to on-field success. If the team plays well, everyone loves the Gtech stadium, if they're getting slaughtered, not so much!”

Grey grew up as a West Brom supporter but is now emotionally, as well as financially invested, in the success of Brentford. “If the team plays well at the Gtech Stadium, there's no better feeling,” he says. “I find it very painful if a club comes and wins 2-0 here, it really hurts me.”

Grey advises that it’s worth looking for a connection between the way the sponsor and the club approach business in order for such deals to work. For example, Grey remains the owner of Gtech and hasn't taken on external investors or given away equity in the business because he likes to be in control. That he says, is similar to Brentford.

“Brentford is run by an owner who does things how he wants to do them and they’ve got big ambitions. We felt a lot of synergy between the two businesses.”