I’m thinking of various types of sponsorship here, so this is more than one question.

On the one hand, there’s direct sponsorship by manufacturers.
So, if you’re thinking of buying a down hill bike and Steve Peat wins the World Championship on a Santa Cruz, would you be more likely to buy a Santa Cruz your self ?

Then there’s bike related sponsorship.
If you enjoyed riding the Marin Rough Ride or Kona Mash Up, would you be more inclined to buy a Marin or Kona ?
Would you buy Torq bars because they’ve got a fast race team ?

Finally, there’s non-biking specific sponsors.
Would you buy Original Source shampoo in preference to any other brand because they sponsor the OS Mountain Mayhem ?
Would you buy a Mercedes van because they sponsor Bristol Bike Fest ?

None of the above

None of the above

Influenced by reviews. Or in the case of shampoo, whatevers on offer in Sainsburys!

No, no and no. However, if a firm put money into building a trail centre or something else to give back to the fraternity (brother) then I would consider buying from them, more so if they’re a small company. All the things you listed are competitive events and I don’t really do those anymore.

To me, as a sponsor, it’s more about saying “look what these lads what we sponsor did on our stuff”.
It validates the product.

Probably a bit of both though.

Occasionally. Sometimes I buy Marshall’s Pasta because it doesn’t cost much more and it keeps a bike team going.

But in terms of equipment? No. Sram have a massive sponsorship programme and I’d never put any of their kit near my bike besides the forks. Ditto Crank brothers. I buy what is best, not what is pushed the most.

Sometimes the two work hand in hand however- for example, I run Pro Vanderham bars on my bike. Pro sponsors Vanderham then he develops a product that is better than anything else.

Being given free stuff at events has influenced my buying decisions: forgoodness shakes, zero salt tablets for example.

I’d never have bothered trying them if I hadn’t been given a freebie, and now get both quite regularly.

None of the above though, sorry.

Interesting point that they are all competitive events, Rickos, I hadn’t thought of that.
Formula One sponsorship is big business, but how many Formula One fans race a car them selves. It’s all about image and association.

I’m struggling to think of a non-competitive sponsorship tie up.
Hasn’t one of the Welsh trail centres got posters for an electricity supplier on the routes ?
Would this influence your choice of electricity supplier ?

Sometimes the two work hand in hand however- for example, I run Pro Vanderham bars on my bike. Pro sponsors Vanderham then he develops a product that is better than anything else.

Interesting.

Ah but sponsorship also raises awareness of brands/products, as hinted by damion. You’d never buy the product if you didn’t know it existed. So it can influence in that way, by making a product part of the buying decision (rather than influencing that decision directly).

Yeah, the new Energy section on Whites is sponsored by nPower, but they’re massive so don’t need my pennies. Like I say, more likely to buy from a small outfit making a proper effort.

Altura trail at Whinlatter? That is effective advertisement IMO

Brand awareness, but to who? If you’re doing the Kona Mash-Up, for example, then it’s likely you already know of Kona.

As with damion, I’ve bought stuff later that was originally a freebie. I’d have never done so without trying it out first though, so that works.

Yes to be honest, when companies sponsor events, i try and support that brand. Not so much for an individual Ie the steve peat example, but if its borderline then it may swing the decision.

Brant- it is obviously not as clear cut as that, but it’s his numbers and so on that make them good.

Usually works the other way round with me. I’ll avoid products endorsed by celebs, cos I can’t stand all that commercialism crap.

I’ll buy what I need, and can afford. I’ll buy what I perceive to be the best product in terms of value for money, and sometimes a product’s reputation marks it out as worth buying. Heinz baked beans for example.

A mate of mine once bought a Renault Clio because he fancied ‘Nicole’ off the TV adverts. The knob. Did he ever get to cosy up with Nicole? Did he flip. He just ended up with a crap car. Idiot…

Sponsorship is not aimed at smart people.

For a start it’s usually thought up by marketing teams.

I think a lot of it is more to do with brand awareness, brand association and whether we like that association or not. We are all influenced to some degree by the images and placement of products.

From a personal point of view, I would hope that buying decisions were based on much more than whether an advertising campaign appealed. For instance, I like what Red Bull does and the areas it supports/sponsors but I have only ever drunk Red Bull once. Equally, I have seen myself really wanting an Intense frame and Palmer snowboard largely based on Shaun Palmer’s achievements. On the other hand there are certain advertising/marketing/awareness campaigns which are so irritating that I would purposely look for an alternative. I will only go to a MacDonalds for instance if there really is no alternative other than go hungry.

It really can work both ways.

😆 at Elfin, Brant’s point about validation of products/work is how I look at it, next year we’ve got two DH guys on with Diverse, an XC/ Enduro team and I’m also doing servicing for a DH team that helps disadvantaged children to get into downhill.
The first two are product validation and the last is because it’s a good cause.
If I had the cash I would have tendered for Gethin too, workshop with purpose built trail centre on the doorstep, would be nice!

when I was about 18 I used a particular brand of shampoo in the hope that this massive surge in sales would encourage the continuation of an ad with a lovely lady in it

didn’t work so I dumped the brand and later went bald as a protest measure

Hasn’t one of the Welsh trail centres got posters for an electricity supplier on the routes ?
Would this influence your choice of electricity supplier ?

It’s would me. If they have developed a way to generate electricity from the power of gnar I’m all for it. This could be the next new renewable energy source. If they put a plant on the Surrey hills we might bealbe to power all of London from the pure sickness that oozes from them there hills.

and sometimes a product’s reputation marks it out as worth buying. Heinz baked beans for example.

See, you’ve been influenced by their image and advertising. Why? Because Branston baked beans are much nicer! 😉

To be honest, I only drink Nastro Peroni becasue they used to sponsor Valentino Rossi. I tried it, I liked it…. 🙂

No it’s not funny; I had to sit in that car sometimes. It was embarrassing. 😳

I’ve actually missed the point of this thread, and instead gone off on a tangent of celebrity endorsement and advertising.

Actually, there are a few products I’d buy because of event sponsorship; Early Rider bikes for example because they are on of the sponsors of the BigBikeBash, and kindly donated several little bikes to give away as prizes. Superb. In fact all the BBB sponsors are wonderful people with wonderful products. 😀

Bike stuff; dunno if the sponsorship ‘works’ in terms of getting me to notice the brands and that, but certainly stuff like Easton bars, Shimano bits, stuff like that I’d buy.

What people do on a product to validate it counts for something, I agree there. We sponsor good blokes who ride hard as I think brands should support riders who work hard and have a similar outlook, if they can afford to.

I couldn’t give a monkeys if a pro puts their name to a product tho, i buy stuff it it does the job, actual brand name and pro endorsement don’t register.

if a car brand sponsors a race, well that’s just marketing by numbers, there’s rarely any real understanding of a market / scene there. it’s just demographics and averages and logo exposure per buck.
the exception would be bike brands sponsoring bike events, ie helping keep that side of the scene going as race orgainisers need funding to keep it all going and few of them end up rich! singular sponsoring kielder, the kona mash-up, etc.

loco, supporting good causes like that counts for a lot, good work..

Some of it, yes; all of it, no. If a company wants to get involved in a worthy project and help get it off the ground then I’ll give them a second thought when it comes to a purchasing decision. This is particularly the case when all other things are equal.

I think it also depends on whether it is clear opportunism or whether there is a good fit between the culture and orientation behind the business, and the thing being sponsored. Mutual advantage is not necessarily a bad thing and sponsorship is useful in a sport like ours.

I find it interesting that most people are saying they are not influenced, yet sponsorship is such a big part of mountain biking.
Either the marketing people have got it wrong and are wasting their time, or they are so subtle that nobody realises that they have fallen for it. 😉

Regarding Red Bull, Torq and the like.
Their products are so cheap it’s easy to try equivalents from every manufacturer to compare, then stick with the one you like.
The odd freeby here and there doesn’t make any difference to my long term spend.

Sponsorship can backfire as well.
After feeling like I got conned out of £35 by Kona for entering the Mash Up, when they knew the timing system was unreliable, I’d say yes, it has influenced my decision as to whether I would want to spend £1000+ on one of their bikes.

We are all influenced by sponsorship to a greater or lesser degree. It’s part of the human condition. You might like to think that you are not being influenced, but somewhere, deep inside, a little seed is sown and it will develop.

After all, the brand managers wouldn’t pump so much £££ into sponsorship and brand awareness if there wasn’t a return of ££££££. It all boils down to making money. If there wasn’t money to be made it wouldn’t be done.

Of course sponsorship / awareness isn’t necessarily positive. There maybe certain brands that you cannot abide – for no rational reason – and yet when you see them plastered all over the next event you go to watch your eyes roll in despair.

For me the interesting brand at the moment is RedBull – associated with so many top level extreme sports I sometimes have to remind myself what it is they actually are / do.

Either the marketing people have got it wrong

yes, but they are also well-funded departments in most companies that have them, so money gets spent as it’s set aside. if you can’t measure the result you shouldn’t do it they say, but they carry on doing it anyway.

we spend little on sponsorship as we’re a small brand and i don’t think serious racing is high on most rider’s priority lists, but it doesn’t stop me wanting to help support a dedicated rider who wants to ride somewhere i find inspiring. does that sell bikes for us? probably not. it gives us a nice story and images for a catalogue, it gives a rider great experiences and if i’m honest, i get to see things through thier eyes as i can’t take enough time off work to travel round the world riding and i find their expereinces motivate me to do more. i hope it motivates others to do more too.

a kind of ‘do as you’d like to be done by if you were a skint but fast bike-bum or a naturally hard-as-nails rider needing £ to ride a big race’ take on sponsorship.

I’d say yes, it has influenced my decision as to whether I would want to spend £1000+ on one of their bikes.

Rightly or wrongly, the fact that they are sold in Halfords would be a bigger no no for me. I don’t think they’ll lose any sleep over it somehow.

or they are so subtle that nobody realises that they have fallen for it.

You’ve never met anyone in marketing have you?

Sponsorship is different to advertising and it’s very different to ‘being a good product’. Redbull for example, they sponsor everything on earth but the product tastes like sick.
As above, I will generally regard any attempt to associate a personality with a product as suspicious at best.

Good luck to people who can get themselves sponsored though, I appreciate that it can help those guys out a lot.

I think everyone is influenced by sponsorship really, even if its just about product awareness. If a shampoo sponsored a bike event, next time I was in the supermarket buying a shampoo I might give it a try out of curiosity, if it smells nice, cleans my hair and doesn’t all fall out in one dollop when I squeeze some into my hands, then I might buy it again.

As far as santa cruz, I probably believe that their involvement in racing helps develop a better bike, so if I were in the market for a bike they would make my list, it would influence my decision along with other factors.

Rightly or wrongly, the fact that they are sold in Halfords would be a bigger no no for me. I don’t think they’ll lose any sleep over it somehow.

See, that, to me, is just snobbery. What has it got to do with the bikes? Nowt.

“For me the interesting brand at the moment is RedBull – associated with so many top level extreme sports I sometimes have to remind myself what it is they actually are / do. “

er, sell an old drink recipe for a fortune, have so much profit that they don’t know what to do with it, and do things like this? http://kellycordes.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/cerro-torre-david-lama-and-red-bullshit/
that undoes any good exposure from mtb sponsorship for me.. call me sensitive but it’s not on. don’t get involved with sponsorship in areas you don’t understand and if you screw up, ‘fess up and deal with it.

and look up ‘Vermonster vs monster’ too. big marketing depts too often seem to go hand in hand with big legal depts.

Indirectly, yes – that fact that the OP used Steve peat & Santa Cruz as an example means that they have brand recognition with him thanks to the sponsorship and so he is more likely to add Santa Cruz to his list of bikes to consider should he be in the market for a new DH bike.

Just like I’d now be more likely to consider a trek if I was after an XC whippet bike after I learned that this nice young lady rides one
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/12/willow-koerber-joins-trek-world-racing/

Once we have our lists we will then undertake a logical and analytical analysis of the various merits of each bike Vs our own riding requirements and buy the one that’s a nice colour 😉

1) Direct Sponsorship – No, I don’t believe someone racing a product proves anything other than that product, with the help of several professional mechanics and a professional rider, works long enough to win a race. Not very useful for the average rider!

2) The only race i’ve done recently is the Selkirk Merida. I enjoyed it hugely but still struggle to remember what it is Merida do…

3) For some daft reason, I still have some fondness for Grundig and Toyota RAV4s after their involvement in the DH race scene years ago. Not really sure what it is Grundig do, and am unlikely to ever buy a Toyota though.

Conversely, I used to support Juventus when I was a kid, and bought the strip they won the European Cup in, the blue strip with the ‘Sony’ sponsorship. Even today I still own a sony personal stereo, a sony CD player, sony speakers and a sony phone. I think Sony may have won this one…* 😳

*or perhaps its just a stubborn reaction to the ubiquity of the iPhone..

trb, I think that’s the right point. I may feel more goodwill toward a brand who support riders that I like or respect etc, but actual bike / product sales are based on colour / £ / suitability etc.

You could say that as long as we’re familiar with a brand and it’s basic position / range type, any more spend on sponsorship is unecessary as most people take advise or research before buying higher price items, but where would pro riders and a big part of the industry be without sponsorship? In turn, where would cycling in general be without something like the DH World Cup or the Pro Tour?

…the OP…

That’ll be me then.
I only used Steve Peat and Santa Cruz as an example as his was the only name I could think of as having been in the news recently. Even then I had to google it to check I had got the bike right.

Willow Koerber would have been a better example. Again, I would have to look up the make of bike she rides, but the fact that she is 5’2″ and has won XC races on a 29er sticks in my memory, if only because it makes me laugh when I read the same old “You need to be 6’6″ to ride a 29er and they’re no good on single track” posts on here.

Regarding Red Bull, if you look at the ingredients list, it contains exactly the same amount of taurine and caffeine as the supermarket own brand drinks do at 1/4 the price. As far as I can tell, it tastes exactly the same too.

if a shop/brand actually went out into my local woods and helped build/maintain trails then they’d see my custom 🙂

if a company wants to give out little free tasters/testers and i like the product then yes i’m more likely to purchase/use that product in the future than if i had to buy it to test it in the first place.

brands association with sports does nothing for me, i’m one of those people who waits until others have purchased/tried and informed the rest of the world about its problems before i invest in anything. sponsorship of an event means nuffink to my wallet.

Sometimes the two work hand in hand however- for example, I run Pro Vanderham bars on my bike. Pro sponsors Vanderham then he develops a product that is better than anything else.

Vanderham had no direct role in developing that handlebar – its actually a rebadged catalogue bar manufactured by HL Corp (who have their own component brand “Zoom”), same is true of the Atherton bar by Pro 😉

the association is what brings riders to buy these products….

Yes, i bought an orange 224 in 2007. Clearly to me, if orange hadn’t been sponsoring the mojo team or their own riders then I might well not have been aware of the product. Outside DH racing not influenced by sponsorship.