who would you sponsor?

Ok, after some discussion at some meetings I’ve been at in Germany and the UK recently, I thought I’d pose this question to the STW massive.

If you had a company (lets say a clothing one for instance) you were looking to promote which riders would you sponsor if money was no object.

top 5 british based and top 5 international riders should hopefully get you thinking.

Please remember you’re looking at promoting the brand, not just results.

and if you’ve got any comments, as to why, that’d be interesting.

Ok, after some discussion at some meetings I’ve been at in Germany and the UK recently, I thought I’d pose this question to the SDH massive

Wrong forum site

Is this your homework from the meeting?

Ones that do stuff other than riding to get your stuff into different markets, no idea who mind. Nice people who chat to fans.

i never watch race results really so dunno really

ok ok bruneep, I’ve had a hard week. Forgive me for not amending my post, its done now 🙂

I’m just interested to see what you guys think. Or indeed does seeing people in the brands influence you at all.

Do you think advertising, or product reviews are more or less effective.

We’ve just had a lot of debate in the office recently about how some companies spend their marketing budgets and we thought rather than argue about it, it would be interesting to see what some more people think.

flidis – Member
…does seeing people in the brands influence you at all.

Only if they bought it themselves.

What does the brand represent? There is no point sponsoring Peat if the brand is trying to be youthful (sorry SP). I saw today that Grant Fielder (a DJ rider) is sponsored by Jag. That just seems a bit wrong.

I disagree. Steve peat could be sponsored by anyone and it would sell well. He is renowned as being a massive character, a top bloke and killer on anything with wheels. You need people with different styles. You need the laid back racer type, the person who busts a gut everyday training to be number one, etc etc. Every single person you sponsor needs to bring something different to the table.

You need people with different styles. You need the laid back racer type, the person who busts a gut everyday training to be number one, etc etc. Every single person you sponsor needs to bring something different to the table.

that is reasonable ,but it depend on how you communicate with the sponsor, you should let them feel they can get more from the race!

See I’d think about sponsoring the every day Joe that takes events seriously. I think people (generally) would think more about what their peers are wearing than what the cream of the elite are up to.

Merida sponsor one of the junior members of our club, as well as supplying one of the top Swedish teams with their bikes. To be honest the fact they invest in the juniors makes me more positive towards them than seeing elite races won on their bikes.

I take no notice of racing at all.

Its the sponsorship of riders like the Coastal Crew I’m more likely to take notice of – riders doing stuff that seems less serious, more about riding cool stuff and playing with your mates on bikes.

+1 daveyboywonder

It depends a lot on the type of clothes but:
Uk AThertons, hart, macgaskell
World Gwinn, zinc, someone from Germany/Switzerland, someone from France (ragot or pugin or Nicole) the bike patrols of a few bike parks.

UK:

Fairclough
Hart
Rachel Atherton
Macaskill
Peat

World:

Gwin
Minnar
D Bereclough
Sam Hill
Cam Maccall

Youth lad’s market (dj/freeride in the woods) or camera friendly female market (XC racing or DH/freeride).

What about putting together a strong youth or female “team” for either racing, or for freeride film-making?

thanks guys, please keep the idea coming, its interesting to see what different people think. I kept the question a bit vague, because it was a debate in our office about what types of marketing different people respond to. So the question is aimed at you personally, so the brand etc doesn’t really matter. Its more about what types of riders YOU respond to seeing using products.

Hi fella

Glad you asked this because I’m currently looking for people to advertise at/sponsor this place http://www.marshtracks.co.uk

It’s not proving as easy as I’d expected, so how about I turn the question round how do I get people like you interested?

To answer you though I’d pick riders who are approachable, talented is one thing but you need people who have time for the “fans” …think Nick Craig and you wont go far wrong

Sponsor?

Just chuck it all in TkMax and STW will be all over it like a rash on a teenagers genitals. Either that or engineer a glitch into your website so the basket shows a 0.001% discount and wait for the vultures to circle.

The brand is important, as is the fundamental quality of the product. The endorsements are useful to make these things more visible. Look at a company like poc, until quite recently they had very few sponsored riders, but as the product was perceived to be good it still sold.

Another interesting case is oneal. They must spend a fair bit on rider sponsorship but you see very few people wearing it cos it doesn’t have the same brand cachet as fox or tld.

Oneal clothing is **** minging. (although Fox are catching up again on that score)

What brand/products are you trying to promote?
def makes a difference to who you’d want out there showcasing it IMO

look at Brayton for eg. an amazingly talented, fast and stylish rider with loads of exposure but at the end of the day he’s a ginger kid in dayglow Oneil kit, WTF were they thinking? do you think anyone honestly saw him and wanted to go out and buy the same kit?

Oneal clothing is **** minging.

Exactly, only a very few idiots are going to buy a s..t product no matter how much money you throw at sponsorship.

hahah, cheers guys… but its not O’Neal we’re talking about.

but just FYI, the Mayhem kit that Brayton runs is a massive seller, the STW readership isn’t really the target market for MX race kit. And he, and any of the riders we sponsor with O’Neal (not O’Neill) can choose what ever kit they want.

They all go for the bright stuff cos it helps them stand out and the photographers love it.

This was never supposed to be a discussion about O’Neal, we were just talking about why some riders are sponsored and why some aren’t etc etc, and I was wondering how your opinion on here would differ to some of the more DH specific people.

If you want to share with me why you think O’Neal is a sh*t product I’d love to know, cos we work closely with the product developers in Europe and America so any feedback is good.

Steve Peat did a video for his development team that covered a lot of interesting and IMO correct ideas about what he was looking for in team riders. Actual speed was quite low down on the list compared to attitude, ability to communicate, general awareness, etc.

Worth hunting down.

This was never supposed to be a discussion about O’Neal, we were just talking about why some riders are sponsored and why some aren’t etc etc, and I was wondering how your opinion on here would differ to some of the more DH specific people.

I know, but I only used that brand as an example of one that appears to spend a lot of money on endorsements but does not seem to get that much return on investment. I spent two months all over the alps this summer and hardly saw anyone wearing the stuff. My gut feeling as to why that is is because the designs are pretty ugly when compared to some of the other clothing manufacturers. Yes some of the other manufacturers make ugly kit but their brand identity in mountain biking is stronger and so they can get away with it now and again.

FWIW I reckon grass roots sponsorship is probably a waste of time and the only riders that are likely to have an effect on sales are those that are highly mediatised, yet still performing at a level to give the kit credibility (whatever the segment the product is aimed at).

My SDH reply…

If I was an owner of a company, I would sponsor a junior rider. Not for promoting my products within the bike industry, but for PR reasons. Even just paying the race entry fees for a year would cost less than a cheap dell computer (ie pocket change). Extra curricular interests are great for business dinners…

If you want to share with me why you think O’Neal is a sh*t product I’d love to know

They all go for the bright stuff cos it helps them stand out and the photographers love it.

would differ to some of the more DH specific people.

You hit the nail on the head, most STW’ers are averagely skilled, and above average waislined, beige, brown, black and gray hide the cripplin mediochrety behind a marketed bleif that they’re there to ride bikes (slowly, arround trail centers) and not engage in downhill pijama fluorescent one-up-man-ship, whilst secretly wishing we were faster.

I do some related work for a sports brand. I think sponsoring big names has limited impact as it can be seen as they use something as they’re paid to. For us, we like to see a sponsored athlete who can communicate both with us and with ‘fans’ – results are important, but far from everything. Some riders can win events but are anonymous. A lot depends on the type of product, the target market etc. In fact I was sponsored back in the early 90’s despite being a bit shit, but I could get the brand some coverage – I was told it at the start.

An adventure rider.

Give him free kit in return for input on development of products.

Also make sure they have good media coverage of what they do on their/industry/your brands websites.

sorry guys, this has got way off the target of my question.

Basically I was just looking for a list of names of people you guys thought were the best to sponsor.

in your personal opinions.

I think Cedric Gracia is a great example of a ‘brand embasador’ (sorry couldn’t think of a better term). He is careful about what and how many sponsors he works with and doesn’t walk about like a mobile billboard with dozens of different companies logos up and down every available bit of space on his kit. It would seem like at least some of his sponsors like it this way, judging by how long Oakley have stuck with him. Results certainly aren’t everything.

And FWIW my O’Neal knee pads (the SAS-tec foam ones, I can’t remember the name) are great (protective, comfortable for riding for long periods, stay in place) and I’m sure they will still be protecting my knees long after EPD ones would have needed replaced – pure coincidence it’s the same ones CG is wearing in that pic!

Would STW’ers be infulenced by sponsorship though?

Most seem to wear stuff like Endura, Altura, Polaris, etc, I couldn’t name anyone sponsored by any of those brands? TBH i’m more likely to buy whatever is a) cheep or b) worn by someone I know personaly on the basis they tend to be cheepskates alsoe so buy stuff that lasts/works/is cheep.

i like the stuff what Joe Barnes does through his webisodes style videos (+mojo trail diaries) – you get to see him riding stuff what i actually like to ride (albeit loads better than how i could) so there’s a more genuine association between him and me as opposed to some bollocks-speaking american rad dude dropping some sick 50ft backflips. not saying that i’m fickle but i have never really looked at dare2b stuff before i saw some of their stuff from earlier in the year, but i now dress head to toe in the stuff…

haha, not really, but i might consider looking at the brand for a new microfleece soon.

Most seem to wear stuff like Endura, Altura, Polaris, etc

which is weird considering how often threads pop up on here with how bad the quality is…

p.s. sorry OP not helping get your thread back on track here

“Basically I was just looking for a list of names of people you guys thought were the best to sponsor.”

Me

I’m more influenced by subtle product placement in videos rather than a massive banner or kit advertising a brand. The most recent RedBull/Danny Mac video had me lusting after an Inspired bike, even though the video was clearly a RB bankrolled video.

Again, in Follow Me Gullys blue riding gear peaked my interest much more than anything else (bar the riding obviously) and I consequently bought the same kit.

I think the Athertons are great, similarly Fairclough and Danny Hart but I’d never want a Commencal, Demo 8 or drink Monster energy.

Riders to sponsor? Joe Barns, Ali C (Trials rider), Dan Atherton (be really good to see him stand apart from Gee and Rachel, especially on the Enduro front) and especially Sean Watson

(not O’Neill)

ah.. I see despite all your years in the DH scene you’re a STW type of guy at heart 😉

If you want to share with me why you think O’Neal is a sh*t product I’d love to know, cos we work closely with the product developers in Europe and America so any feedback is good.

Don’t think it’s a shit product at all, just incredibly ugly designs.
if I had to give a criticism of the product the only thing I’d mention is how awful narrow ankles on pants look with anything other than race style SPD shoes, not as bad as ankle bands but still a pretty horrible look but then I’m more inclined to like an image of someone like Palmer powering a de-stickered black stumpjumper out a corner in jeans and a T-shirt over an MX wannabe power ranger any day.

Why won’t you say what the actual product is?

Why won’t you say what the actual product is?

Or at least what segment of the market it is aimed at. Without people knowing this, the whole exercise is a bit useless.

I’m not saying what the product is, because there is no product. We were just having a discussion about who we’d sponsor if we had the power / budget to really do some world brand marketing. So its not really relevant, we were just batting about who if anyone actually influences us, and after the discussion we wondering if there would be a difference in option on here to SDH.

Everyone here in the office rides, but we don’t stick to one genre, and cos we work in the industry we’re also slight clouded by our actual knowledge of what we want to see from our side of the fence. Its hard to take a step back from that and look at what a genuine punter wants to see, and who people think “should” be sponsored.

if you need a product to make this work in your head, make one up, and its a product that is being marketed to you, so you are the target market for that product. So who would you sponsor if you controlled the brand, and were trying to market it to yourself.