Specialized has in recent years put a lot of resources into its global ambassador programme, sharing a varied range of content depicting a broad range of riders in a variety of riding styles. In a surprise move however, we understand that a number of ambassadors have had their contracts terminated.
Ambassadors do more than posing
At this stage we are not clear whether the entire global ambassador program is affected, or whether there may be regional variations. However, sources suggest that the cutting of the budget to the program was a surprise to Specialized staff as well as the ambassadors themselves, with staff having been making preparations to re-sign the athletes.
The official word from Specialized UK is ‘Our social ambassador programme is continuing to change with the needs of the rider, but it definitely isn’t going away.’
The timing of the termination will be particularly difficult for riders who make a living from riding and content creation, as most other brands will already have agreed their budgets and sponsorships for the year.
One UK rider our readers were keen to know the status of is Manon Carpenter. As far as Manon is aware she’s still working with Specialized and the soil searching program, pending renewal of her agreement which runs until the end of 2022. So, hopefully we’ll be able to see her great trail advocacy work continuing!
I cant say Im surprised. I have never really understood how ‘influencers’ or brand ambassadors ever demonstrated value for money from the marketing spend. Im sure they dont cost a lot in the whole scheme of things so probably dont need to generate much of an ROI but even so.
Pretty much correct we are cheap compared to advertising costs and mostly have a prebuilt targeted audience.
I actually enjoy what I do and have proven myself so much I gained increased support. I only work with brands I like I have turned some down before.
Currently I am contracted to a clothing brand and they have asked me to continue in 2023 bonus for me I get to test all the new kit before it goes into production.
I’ve been through the ghosting process before, it’s annoying but all part of the game.
Do I make money from it, yes not much but it helps.
“Influencers” do give advertisers massive bang per buck. Think about it, ST has ~5k subscribers, and that get’s you an advert that a lot of people will just flick past. A post from someone with a medium sized youtube channel get’s you 100k views of a 20 minute video of your product. And 100k isn’t shabby, that’s more than some daytime TV shows get, and the rough cost of those adverts is £100 per second per region so you can see why 10+ minutes of someone riding your bike being shown to people who like bikes, is better value at almost any cost than Stannah Stairlifts get during The Chase.
Ignore the perception that it’s all girls in bikinis in the Maldives, there’s every little niche covered. Colin Furze, Linus Tech, Itchy Boots, all “influencers”. If you can create a channel that people will watch whether it’s DIY tips or round the world cycling, people will pay you to get their products on screen. Either as traditional interstitial adverts, or to have them just using their kit.
I cant say Im surprised. I have never really understood how ‘influencers’ or brand ambassadors ever demonstrated value for money from the marketing spend.
these days with all the social media analytics its actually pretty simple for someone to work out their worth. Its how Kendall Jenner is able to charge close to a million for a instagram post.
these days with all the social media analytics its actually pretty simple for someone to work out their worth. Its how Kendall Jenner is able to charge close to a million for a instagram post.
I get that you can use the stats in the platform to count view, likes comments etc quite easily, its how that converts in to sales that I dont understand. It would be interesting to know if some finance and marketing types have been able to create a relationship between likes and sales or whether benefit is more subjective. Can they show that for every xthousand likes then sales go up by 0.0y% in which case then it would be easy to show the real value of a person. I suspect they cant as it would be very difficult to isolate their benefit
That’s the joy of marketing, you never really know whether you’re making any difference at all 😀
But seriously, this is why specific discount codes are so prolific with influencers, so brands can objectively measure how much money they bring in (in one aspect at least).
But seriously, this is why specific discount codes are so prolific with influencers, so brands can objectively measure how much money they bring in (in one aspect at least).
Yep I have codes and links, one brand sends a monthly report on how many times the link/code is used, of course those with codes are getting a kick back of some sort so it’s in their interest to then push the code more, win win all round.
I did have someone a few months ago at a race tell me that he bought a jersey as he had seen me wearing it plus at the time I had a 50% off code running.
I get that you can use the stats in the platform to count view, likes comments etc quite easily, its how that converts in to sales that I dont understand. It would be interesting to know if some finance and marketing types have been able to create a relationship between likes and sales or whether benefit is more subjective. Can they show that for every xthousand likes then sales go up by 0.0y% in which case then it would be easy to show the real value of a person. I suspect they cant as it would be very difficult to isolate their benefit
Ok so I’m not talking about cycling. But the power of the influencer is huge. They can track in real time the increase in sales and searches for a product after something is shown by an influencer
I’d say specialized are still big on adventure bikes. I get constant adverts for the new Carbon Diverge. I notice Hannah was still showing hers off today
Adam Ondra (climbing mega wad) does very occasional sponsored posts for Instagram. I have often wondered whether he gets money for it as well as a free bike, because I can’t imagine he rides all that much for fear of injury stopping him from climbing.
Can they show that for every xthousand likes then sales go up by 0.0y% in which case then it would be easy to show the real value of a person. I suspect they cant as it would be very difficult to isolate their benefit
I’m not a marketeer but they have the concept of a sales funnel and various metrics throughout (x views >> y likes >> z click throughs >> n purchases) which will help to measure the success of various campaigns. They can establish tangible links between the various numbers and they are not doing this in isolation, they have run & learned from huge amounts of targeted campaigns over the years.
If you get the metrics right, you can see what sorts of campaigns are most successful in driving sales, who best to target, how to target them etc. Marketing is a numbers game but you’ve got to hit the numbers with the right people and social media makes that easier than ever. Using an influencer means as said above, you have a ready made receptive audience – Someone who is already engaged in the activity & who you know likes the sort of content being delivered by the influencer.
Companies with proper marketing budgets aren’t doing this for any other reason than they’ve been shown it works. If they are cutting back it’s probably because it’s not as effective as it was, or there are other channels to use, or they are just cutting overheads and these contracts are easy to terminate.
I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones.
More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments.
I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.
