Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 06/17/2014 10:18 AM |
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In it for less than a year and are al ready pulling out after 2014.
Yeesh...
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 06/17/2014 11:11 AM |
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| i always wonder about these non-cycling related companies being title sponsors for a cycling team. is it a rich guy that likes cycling? advertising? it's nice to see cycling related companies being title sponsors. |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 06/17/2014 11:21 AM |
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Bike companies can't foot the bill for title sponsorships...at least not for long. The Cervelo Test Team killed the old Cervelo and was a driving force in their sale to PON.
The increased reliance on industry sponsors is a very troubling sign re: the health of the sport......
Numerous studies have shown that cycling can provide an excellent ROI...depending on your marketing goals. In the case of belkin, they wanted to increase their presence / awareness in the European market. Cycling is a great option in this regard. That is exactly why Motorola started sponsosring a team back in the 90's....their market awareness skyrocketed as a result.
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Keith Richards
Posts:781
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| 06/17/2014 12:15 PM |
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| I remember when Vitalicos Seguros pulled their sponsorship, they actually posted their numbers in terms of increased market awareness when they made the announcement. They pretty much said, "mission accomplished. No further need for this marketing money to go here." |
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It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 06/17/2014 02:19 PM |
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sponsorship changes are a fact of life but the abruptness shouldn't be.
Rabo showed how to exit properly and in orderly fashion allowing for team continuity.
Belkin...blehh. |
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dkri
Posts:95
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| 06/17/2014 03:48 PM |
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What KR said. And if their exit is per contract, well, then their exit is the team manager's issue.
The whole structure of how teams exist is freaky as hell. But think about it in overly simplistic terms - say Contador gets paid $4mm in endorsements (his salary is an endorsement deal, it's just filtered through a team), that means that if the global gross margin of stuff in the world is 40%, then he personally needs to create $10mm worth of positive purchasing decisions in favor of his sponsors in order to pull his weight. Not a rhetorical question: is it realistic that he does that? That's not counting any fulfillment cost to the sponsors beyond what they pay him/his team, or a lot of other expenses incurred in sponsorship.
Realistically, I've always accounted for it as "in order to make my giving one wheel set away worthwhile, I'd have to have 10 directly attributable sales follow out of the set that I gave away. I have yet to meet the person with that much influence over people, ergo I don't give any wheels away." Simple.
There's a would-be pro in the Mid-Atlantic who's always screaming about how sponsors need to come forward and developing bike racers need to be supported on their path to be pros, etc. No, they don't. There are about 1000 professions for which you could make that argument, professional athlete of any stripe is not one of them.
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| formerly dkri |
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Keith Richards
Posts:781
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| 06/17/2014 03:56 PM |
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| When it comes to sponsorship at the local level, unless you are a junior racer....don't even ask. The answer is "NO!" |
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It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 06/17/2014 04:00 PM |
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Posted By DRKI on 06/17/2014 03:48 PM
Realistically, I've always accounted for it as "in order to make my giving one wheel set away worthwhile, I'd have to have 10 directly attributable sales follow out of the set that I gave away. I have yet to meet the person with that much influence over people, ergo I don't give any wheels away." Simple.
LOL! When I owned a boat dealership I'd get these bass fishermen wanting me to sponsor them by telling me they'd get me a lot of publicity. When my sarcasm wasn't held in check I'd tell them I could dump 15 gallons of gas inside the boat, tow it to the center of town and light it on fire if all I wanted was publicity and I'd get a ton more doing that than giving them a boat. |
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jmdirt
Posts:775
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| 06/18/2014 03:14 PM |
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Brand recognition and sales are two different things. Brand recognition might be easy to determine through polling people; "oh yah, I've heard of Belkin". Sales are a different thing. Unless you ask each person why they bought a product, "I bought it because they sponsor a cycling team", you will never know. Plus who is going to compile the data from each retailer into one nice spreadsheet?
Once I figured out that I wasn't going to make a living racing bikes, I developed a great 14 year relationship with a LBS. The owner and all of the employees treat me like I'm the best dirt rider/racer on the planet. A local dirt team wanted his shop to be the title sponsor, but they had really (too) high expectations for sponsorship. Their main claim was that they would increase his sales numbers. The owner and I discussed how it would be tough to measure that. Within a month of that conversation the owner called me laughing because he had just sold a bike to a woman who wanted a bike just like (perfect description of me) because he is the fastest guy in the foothills, and he is also the friendliest. I don't know that I'm the fastest anymore, but I'm glad that she described me as friendly.
So in 25 years of sponsors, I can claim one direct sale!
Bianchi-TenneT is my suggestion. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 06/18/2014 11:25 PM |
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Yes, brand recognition and sales are 2 different things, but investing in marketing to build brand awareness is an activity that is heavily invested in. If you increase brand awareness, then you are at least in there consideration set for people who previously would not likely have chosen you. There is value in that....
The challenge, as you note, is trying to quantify the $$ in terms of sales. Sure you can measure increase in brand awareness, but not always sales increases....at least not directly (especially if you have multiple marketing campaigns)
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 06/19/2014 10:34 AM |
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| this thread is very informative. thanks for the knowledge. i need to increase my brand awareness. back in the day, my first real job, one of the guys told me if your going to screw up, screw up big because in a couple of years people won't remember what you did but they will remember who you are. |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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roadbuzz
Posts:24
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| 06/20/2014 10:26 PM |
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"he had just sold a bike to a woman who wanted a bike just like (perfect description of me) because he is the fastest guy in the foothills, and he is also the friendliest"
Another reason LBS might not want to be a sponsor ... too many LA wannabes don't appreciate their sponsors or that they're rolling advertisements.
$0.02 |
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Nick A
Posts:625
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| 06/21/2014 08:41 AM |
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Time to go old school...like Virginia Slims sponsoring tennis, or shoot... Gitane! ;-)
Nick |
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jmdirt
Posts:775
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| 06/21/2014 11:10 AM |
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| buzz, she went to my LBS because i was a good representative of my sponsor. I really don't care that she thought that I was fast, but I am glad that she thought that I was friendly. That is good for me, my sponsor, and my sport. |
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roadbuzz
Posts:24
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| 06/22/2014 09:02 PM |
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| exactly |
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