Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboard Community

How To Get Sponsored

Written by Concrete Wave
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Publishers Note: This came to us from Michael Brooke at Concrete Wave, we found it so unusual that we decided to go ahead and publish it here front page. Editor’s note: This came to me from an anonymous industry insider who’s been active with companies you see here in our pages. He’s written a guide to getting into the world of extreme sport sponsorship, and he’ll lead you through approaching a company, securing sponsorship and then getting the most out of the privilege that is sponsorship. Due to space constraints, I’ll publish this article in three parts. HOW TO GET SPONSORED, BE SPONSORED AND STAY SPONSORED There is nothing like it: the moment when you’re offered a sponsorship from your favorite company. Imagine the opportunity to have a company you support actually endorsing your unique way of riding while you promote them. With a bit of work and a lot of persistence, you can do this. The following is a basic rundown of what you can do as an individual to get yourself into a position to be sponsored. DEFINITION OF SPONSORED VS. PRO [To preserve formatting the images have been removed from this article, if you wish to see the article as it appeared in print then download it here. How To Get Sponsored . ] Before we get into it, I just want to go on record and clearly define the difference between pro riders and sponsored riders. “Sponsored riders” can expect to get gear and event- attendance support. They might get some costs covered and be reimbursed for things they spend money on to do the activities the company is paying for. A “pro” will be receiving money directly from the company, be it for boards, ads or just straight-out payment. Often, a pro may have a side job that also supports them to supplement their income. The basic distinction here is the sponsored rider gets gear and event costs covered and the pro just gets paid huge, fat sacks of cash. The following is a guide on sponsorship. Once you’re sponsored, then you can worry about how to become “pro.” WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GET SPONSORED? You want to get sponsored because you love skating and want to be as involved as possible in your passion. If you want sponsorship to be the free gear, the extra cash for events, the hot chicks, the rad photo sessions that are all about you, the groms asking you to sign their grubbed hands just to be ignored by you ‘cuz yer a cool sponsored skater…if that’s why you are reading this, then just skip this article! Better yet, drop this mag in a dustbin, ‘cuz you are reading the wrong mag, bro! You can go stomp on yer deck with your girl pants on and blame your unsponsorship on your deck – yeah, it’s the deck’s fault. But if you are reading this because you love the sport and want to push yourself even harder, thanks for joining us. GET SPONSORED The Objective The goal is simple: to secure sponsorship with a company of your selection. Think long and hard as to whom you have in mind as far as who you would like to skate for. Not only does it matter a great deal, but following the instructions you’re about to read will be much easier if you have an idea of what companies you want to approach. The Benefits The benefits differ from one company to another. However, you can usually expect to get gear either for free or for nearly at cost (more on ProForms later). Having a sponsorship can also make it much easier to get to events you want to be at. It can also be a great starting point for getting your own events together. You’ll find out the full extent of what the company is willing to do for you down the line, but for now, let’s just focus on the first part. The Targets Think about it; is there a company that just gets you all stoked, a company whose ethos just seems familiar and attractive to you? Maybe your favorite board comes from that company, and maybe you rip it 24/7. That sure makes the decision easier. However, you can pull sponsorship from more than just board companies. Local shops sometimes make awesome candidates; why get one type of board when you can get any board? Being sponsored by a local shop means you always have a shop where you can work on your decks, a steady supply of groms to stoke out and a location to really get riders together. That’s not all, though; your options include companies that produce drinks, headphones, shoes, safety equipment and skate hardware. If you’ve got a favorite local restaurant, get sponsored by them! Keep it local, think global! There’s no harm in trying. If you are feeling it, set your sights. How to find sponsorship Contacts. Eventually, you will need to contact someone at the company you have chosen. How are you going to do this? These days with the Internet, doing research and finding contact information is easier than ever. Check their website. Never be hesitant to pick up the phone and call a company to ask whom you should talk to in regard to sponsorship. If your local shop carries the company you are planning on approaching, find out who they work with and see if they can get you some contact information or a business card. Attend events the company sponsors and pick up contact information or business cards from the reps there. Always keep a list of everyone you have contacted Martin Siegrist and Mischo Erban enjoy the benefits of a car sponsorship from Daihatsu. Photo: Michael Brooke In an effort to show how elusive sponsorship can be, we looked for a shot that combined skateboarding with rainbow. This is the closest we got! Mike Joyce at Kincumber Mountain. Photo: John Harle. (opposite page) and their position! Keep the business cards all together and make notes on them if the rep gives you any advice. Ask around! You never know when someone you meet might be able to get you a contact that will one day get you sponsored. How to Put Together a Sponsorship Package This step isn’t necessary, but it can help – and it never hurts to have it all together in one place. Gone are the days of VHS demo tapes; a rider’s influence can be quantified by so many more values than one tape can impress. With online content, Web portals and social networking sites, there are such varied points from which a rider can influence others that it’s mind-blowing. The goal here is to bring it all together. In your sponsorship package you should have images of you skating, links to video of you skating, links to all of your social networking sites, links to community sites and information about your level of involvement. List all the events you have attended or planned and links to articles or online news sources about the event. If you have ever been featured in any media source, in any way, shape and/ or form, include it! A burned CD of you skating is a good thing to have. In most cases you can just as easily find a place to load it. Also, a small business-card graphic with all your contact info is helpful; use it to tag your e-mails, or print some out and keep them with you. If you run into any skaters you want to rip with, just pass ‘em on. Also in this package you should have a short biography, or bio. Writing your bio Writing a bio can be disconcerting for some people. It’s very difficult to really describe yourself. For a start, take a look at the Next Wave section at the back of this mag. The bios there can give you an idea of how to formulate your own bio. Ask your friends and family how they would describe you. Besides the basic interests, add where you like to skate, what style(s) of skating you really enjoy and, obviously, any outstanding results in competitions. List every event you have attended. Try to give the reader of your bio a small glimpse into your life. Finding Help Getting everything together to produce a good sponsorship package can be hard. What if you don’t have any good video or pictures of yourself skating? Do what you can with your group of friends; see if anyone has a good camera you can use, and go shooting. Make some of your sessions about finding the most killer shot of doing what you love. If you’ve got no cam and no friends, then you can recruit. Local camera and video shops often know of people that might be interested in shooting you skating for a few bucks, or maybe for free, if you promise to give them photo credits. Local colleges and vocational schools also have a plethora of eager, future professional photographers and videographers who are willing to expand their portfolio with something as dynamic as some solid skate shots. Posting up flyers looking for a photog’ or videog’ around the school is usually all you need to wrangle someone willing to shoot ya! Always remember when working with anyone shooting photos or videos: You are their subject for the time they are shooting you and, unless they are paid, you are on their time. So show respect. Always be on time, and set up the shots and locations they would like to shoot. By all means, give them suggestions if they’re new to shooting action sports. Otherwise, if they want you to drop into that ditch and rock a finger flip on the far wall for the 42nd time, just shut it and do what they ask. Maybe that is gonna be the shot of the session! The Methods: Three Ways to Score The following methods lay out three very different techniques for contacting and relating yourself to the companies from which you are looking for sponsorship. These will lend themselves as more useful for specific scenarios and personality types. Believe it or not, personality matters just as much as – if not more than – raw skill when it comes to endearing yourself to a company when you are looking to get sponsored! The Sniper Technique This technique is best used when you are looking at one, and only one, company for endorsement as a sponsored rider. In this case, you need to have as much groundwork laid as possible before you even consider contacting them. A very methodical and logistically inclined personality is highly tuned toward this method. Have a very strong sponsorship package ready and, before you even send it to them, start sending them e- mail updates about how the riding is going, what you think of their products, etc. Link to them from your social networking sites, and act as a (non-sanctioned) resource when people ask about their products on forum communities. If you get sick photos and video, send them links. Keep them informed and involved in what you are doing, and show just as much interest in what the company is doing. When you get someone to pick up one of their boards, let the companies know you hooked it up. Ask about board development and new gear they will be releasing, and learn all about their technologies. If they sponsor events in your area, attend! Get well informed about who works for the company and whom you need to contact to really promote yourself with them. Make a list of contacts and who does what. Always keep in touch with them about what is going on. But if you feel like it’s too much, back off a little bit. When you feel ready, when you’re as close as you can get to the company, pull the trigger. Send them a formal letter along with your sponsorship package. In your bio, make the content very concentric to the company you are contacting. Let them know what you have done in the past, and let them know what you would do for them in the future. Include as many concepts you can think of that would allow you to help promote the company. Present yourself as an asset to their business and as a full-bore skater who would do anything for a sponsorship opportunity. The Shotgun Technique This technique is more aimed at a semi-accomplished person, someone with a lot of presence who either is somewhat well known or is heavily involved in a local, national or international scene. If you are generally good with people and can present yourself well, then this is the method for you. Again, a strong sponsorship package is a good start, as is knowing whom you want to contact and at which companies. This technique is for when you are possibly looking at a number of different companies for sponsorship, so your sponsor package should be more geared toward overall skating experience and knowledge. Make note of all events attended and experiences where you interfaced with the public as a representative of skating. A multi-disciplinarian will have an easier time putting together the amount of information into a bio that this method requires. If applicable, add any involvement you’ve had with product design and testing on any level. Let them know you’re an informed rider already prepared to provide services they can’t get from any other rider. More ammo for use with this technique: any association with online event promotion, a video submission site, community site or a very active social networking page. There is no way to quantify the value of these aspects of your sponsorship package, but with the changing nature of the way advertising is done, a grassroots rider with a healthy following online is an amazing asset to a company. Many companies will see the value. Get it all together, and send it out to as many companies as you can think of. See what comes back to you! The big benefit of this method of sponsorship is that if one companies denies you, you just move on. The down side is that you have less of a personal relationship established. The Brute Force Technique This technique is dangerous, very dangerous. It should be attempted by one and only one personality type. Here are a few questions for you to ask yourself: Have you ever been told you are annoying? Have you ever been punched in the face and not known why? Do you change circles of friends often? If you answered yes to any of these three questions, please skip the next three paragraphs, as this technique is not for you; you simply don’t have what it takes to pull it off. If you’re still reading, here are some enforcing personality traits you will need: charged, friendly, energetic, animated, easily entertained, very forgiving, persistent, magnetic and funny. Funny helps a great deal. Throw away the sponsor package; don’t worry about qualifying yourself or writing a bio or any of that nonsense. Just pick a company and harass the hell out of them! Call them every time you see anyone riding one of their boards. Send them pictures or video from every session you have, making sure they get logo spots. Talk about them non-stop to anyone that may even be slightly interested. Better yet, make everyone skate! Post online about your experiences with the company every chance you get. If someone might even possibly be interested in one of their boards, tell them everything they could ever need to know. Go into shops and tell the owner he should carry their boards. Do this until they start to carry them. Do this at every skate shop in your area, including places you go on vacation. Get copies of the company’s catalog and pass them out at sessions – stickers, too! Let the company know about all of this. Make sure they know how absolutely stoked you are! If they have any events, anywhere, of any size, be there! Show up to every event, bring your board, make a showing and let the company know you did. Post on their social networking site every day and make other people add them as friends. Get as many numbers and e-mails as you can for the company, and become best friends with everyone. If your call goes to voicemail, leave a 15-minute-long message. Show up to the factory with a huge smile; bring other people to the factory to also smile. If you ever have any reason to talk to them, do it! Call them anytime! If there is an event you think they should be involved in, make sure they are! If there is a product you think they should make, send them drawings on napkins or 16-bit MS Paint pictures about your great idea. Plaster everything you own with stickers of the company. Make a stencil and tag your dog with their logo in a vegetable-based dye. Make sure you send them a picture of your dog, with their logo, on a board. You get the idea. Be highly visible, constantly active and dynamic. At this point you are beyond a stoked skater; you are a veritable force of nature. If you have done all of this and have not gotten punched in the face or received a restraining order, then congrats. You’re as good as sponsored, and chances are you have a bright future within the company! . The next section in this series will run in the Winter 2008 issue of Concrete Wave. Our writer will take you through the many advantages and responsibilities of being a sponsored skateboarder.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 September 2008 )