BMX News Editorial: What Does It Mean To Be Sponsored? Options

[MikeCarruth]

And I'd be willing to bet that survey is statistically incorrect. Racers might respond at a higher rate given the perceived lack of service - the old squeaky wheel. Either way though, roughly 1500 out of 75000 puts them at 1 out of 50 or two percent. Like I said, small market.

What does the 75,000 number represent?

[MikeCarruth]

(IMG:http://www.bmxnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/what_is_sponsorship2.jpg)


Part II is Now Posted


Enjoy!

M

[ANT DOG 3:16]

Mike this is an excellent idea, about to print out part 2. Since I have access to a copier at work I am going to make copies and leave this at registtration at my home track.

[MikeCarruth]

Thanks for the props my man.


Just as a heads up, BMXNOW will be running a companion piece on Monday "25 Things you Can do to be a Great Brand Ambassador"


Some good stuff in there that will up your currency with the sponsors-- be sure to check it out.


Best,

M

[Brett Middaugh]

Off topic...though it may be on topic, I'm not sure depends on your point of view.

Anthony,
Your link to your challenger video needs to be fixed. The "pure" part of the link kills the link to the video. Just remove that and it will solve the problem.

[mister2dt]

Kind of a catch 22 if you ask me. In my opinion there are too many amateur sponsorships out there right now. But on the flip side, there are hardly any bike shops that are willing to take on a local team. This leaves it to the manufacturers to work with local teams. It shouldnt be that way. Local teams and riders and the vast majority of amateur racers should be the profit base for manufacturers, not the sponsors. NAG riders, yeah, some form of a sponsorship, but little johnny and his 7 friends in the novie and inter class? No, they pay retail and help the manufscturers stay in business.

How does that get corrected?

[ANT DOG 3:16]

Mike I have a response to this as I am not a factory rider, but an ambassaor to BULLDOG bikes. But I can say that it is very important to reflect a positive image.

thank you for the concern about my link,

[Brett Middaugh]

LOL, YVW. grrrr, lol.

Mike,
I was thinking along those same lines with your editorials when I had my BMXNJ site set up as brokenspokes.net.
Here's a link to the article. Sitdown Chat with local BMX racing team managers

"apologies for the html flubs, this is an old article and has been transferred between web hosts probably about 4 times."
Thanks, BMXNJ Management, lol...me.

What would go down if someone had a video of like...I dunno a team manager cursing and flipping the bird in front of people like...jeesh, nbl state commissioners, kids, that would be a total no no. Hope I never see anything like that from NJ.

What does it mean when the sponsor TM is acting poorly. Sorta funny thing though is that a LOT of TM's couldn't stand a guy like Moeller BITD (pretty sure I remember reading about an aba grands one time where people were not pleased with Chris, lol!) but yet here he is years later with several successful BMX brands.

Maybe BMX racing needs people who don't act but are...ya know sorta along the lines of the whole "keep it real" thing.

This post has been edited by Brett Middaugh: Sep 9 2011, 10:52 AM

[CWracer]

The guy loves his "cigarettes". Five minutes of smoking - one minute of riding.

Sure does. If he isn't sponsored by a tobacco company he ought to be.

Did you want to be a choir boy or a rock star when you grew up?

Rockstar of course, but not a loser.

This is part of what really irritates me about freestyle. It's a sport that doesn't appear to take itself seriously in the least. It's more about selling an image than something substantive, hence page after page of clothes in Dans Comp. Never mind the the number of professional riders who have suffered head injuries as a result of hitting concrete without a helmet, these guys rarely wear anything to protect them. The list goes on.
Unless you're interested in promoting the tattooed, stoned, slacker image to sell your products, why would you sponsor somebody like that?

[MikeCarruth]

Thanks for the link Brett, I'll give it a look.

I think it is absolutely true that, just as there is a lid for every pot in the dating world, so too does that phenomenon exist in the world of sponsorships or preferred brands.

You have those who like the white hats, and those who cheer for the black hats. Like your Moeller example, some people will like the rebel types who don't give a rip and just live it how they live it. If you don't like it... well, go screw.

Any given market segment has room for one or two of those types of companies. Generally, they are not the mass-appeal brands, but support a healthy niche of dedicated customers (until they tire of the bad boy thing and move on).

In the S&M case (and freestyle, as a whole, really), that is a market almost exclusively comprised of people who are all-about that kind of image (teens in their "rebel" phase, looking for a way to show their independence--and this is as good a way to rebel as blue hair or getting arrested for tagging under the railyard bridge). And if not teens, it's the beyond-teens that are still livin the dream.

Whether deliberately (rebel, by design...which I tend to doubt), or as an effect of just going to their own tune, it has worked for Chris, so good on him.

Parents are more involved in BMX Racing, and my guess is that if S&M were strictly a racing company, they would not be nearly as successful with that approach--even if the participation numbers were equal.

Racing has those types of kids as well, but far fewer "black hat," brands to line up with. How many "we don't care" brands could our tiny sport support, afterall?

M