| Pages: | 1 | 2 | |
| XC all Day |
| ||
|
Here is a perfect example. I ran my first 50 miler yesterday at Leona Divide and noticed that most of the top guys all had shoe sponsors. This one guy named Dominic had a New Balance singlet on and I was shocked NB would sponsor a ultra runner. Anyways he lost the race by almost an hour and when I went home I looked him up and his other results are good but not great. What gives? Here is his blog http://dominicgrossman.blogspot.com/ Why are shoe companies to eager to sponsor runners in a tiny fringe sport like ultrarunning compared to fast road and track runners? |
| jackassss |
| ||
|
WAWAAWAWAWAAAWAWAWA..... Listen jackass any sponsorship of running ought not to be condemned. YOU go run fast yourself. Don't worry about someone else. Jackass!!r Besides this guy kicked your butt didn't he? lmfao Sponsors sponsor to get exposure...plain and simple. It is a BRAND. Get it? |
| voiceofreason |
| ||
|
Are you certain he had sponsorship? I know people who wear only one brand apparrel. There are different levels of sponsorship. Maybe he gets $200 a year for clothes only? Is it that big of a deal? |
| follow the money |
| ||
|
Ultra runners are from a higher socioeconomic status. Shoe companies know they'll get a return on their investment. |
| cumberbun |
| ||
|
As soon as I become an elite running, or even sub-elite, I'm gonna come on here everyday and be the as big of an ass as possible |
| GO PRO |
| ||
|
There are different types of "being sponsored" Some people know a guy who knows a guy and gets some shoes and some gear, or just have an actual deal to get gear. A lot of national class guys want/need more than just gear, so they will have a deal through a running store or just wait it out until they can get a better deal including some money or travel help or bonuses or something. |
| ggg |
| ||
|
Don't know, but they are clearly wasting their money sponsoring a niche sport like this. |
| For serious.. |
| ||
|
This is funny. I know Dominic. Cool guy. I am pretty sure he knows he is not an elite ultrarunner. He is a whore for NB though. |
| Go muddier, go longer |
| ||
For one, it is perception. The market out there is full of people who are enamored by guys and gals running really long distances, quite fast in natural places. The adventure/outdoorsy side merges with the competitive running side and average joe on the couch is captivated. Its the same reason Outside magazine flourishes. Second, NB has actually committed to developing trail shoes with a ton of input from top ultrarunners like Anton K. They are going after that market directly and agressively. Finally, the top ultra guys are elite; and any old 28 min 10 km guy would have his hands full trying to run away from the top ultra folks over 50 miles and an even more difficult time over 100 miles. Spare me the "its only the slow folks who do ultras" thing. It is a challenging and difficult endeavor that requires skills and toughness not required in shorter races. I am still trying to figure out why that makes some of the 10 k types feel so threatened. |
| Aghast |
| ||
|
its only the slow marathon folks who do ultras
|
| Sponsor Ponder |
| ||
|
Congrats on your first 50M. "Sponsorship" in the ultra world is pretty much (some) shoes, (some) gear (maybe), and possibly race fee reimbursement and travel reimbursement -- IF YOU'RE GOOD. Even the top ultra athletes do not make enough money to make a career, but pretty much break even doing what they enjoy. For most "sponsored" sub-elite (and the word "elite" is uncomfortable for some of the top runners) may be as simple as a Drymax sock sponsorship (easier to get) or local shoestore (some signature races and shoes). It's kinda bad form, IMHO, to single out an individual person and be "shocked" by their sponsorship in a public forum. I don't know Dominic, but it's possible you could have gone up to him and asked, "Dude, you're sponsored by New Balance, how does that work?" and he would have talked with you about it, possibly encouraging you to do something similar if you had the desire and ability. Oh, and a good point on a sponsorship application is having a blog with a decent number of hits. This means good/interesting/humourous/insightful writing, pictures, race reports, and training logs/advice. People can use advice about any of those subjects, or use the pictures and writeups to decide on interesting training runs or races. But to summarize: 1. Don't be a hater 2. Most ultra/trail sponsorships barely pay for anything 3. Sponsors think they get value from runner feedback, and race and blog representation |
| vanilla finger |
| ||
|
To the OP Dom does more to help promote and sell New Balance in his area than any other runner I know. The brand has found value in this and his sponsorship is well deserved. It's not about what kind of times you run. Just ask Scotty Bauh's. Your classless for calling the boy out anonymously. Your first 50 miler, right? So you don't know anything except that you can complete an easy 50 miler that is probably 2-3 miles short. Dom won the Angeles Crest 100 miler last year. He's was in the sport for a few years before he earned his sponsorship. He deserves what he has, he's a good ambassador and an even better person. Maybe you should try Triathlon next? |
| jrtj |
| ||
|
In TV you pay for however many minutes your ad runs (and the day/time of day at which it runs, yes). Ultra races are generally in the 5-24 hour range, so naturally someone wearing a sponsor's equipment for that long should get paid much more than someone who wears the gear for a few minutes or less. That just makes sense. |
| yale mba |
| ||
Your problem, besides that you have no manners or class, is that you are seeing sponsorship as a "reward" for performance. It is not a reward. From the sponsor's point of view, sponsorship dollars are a marketing investment. From the sponsored runner's point of view, sponsorship dollars are earned by the value one can generate for the sponsor - by one's brand. Brand in this case means "the number of people who might be influenced by what I wear." Racing speed could be one contributor to one's total brand value, but it is not the only one, or even the most important. Ryan Hall has much higher brand value in the US than lots of Africans you've never heard of who would blow him away head to head. It comes down to: do it for yourself. If you think getting sponsorship is easy, then by extension it should be easy (even easier) for you. |
| luv2run |
| ||
Except how many eyeballs see an ultra runner running in the dark on a mountain trail? If the person above is right and Dom pimps NB then maybe he has shown that he increases their sales. That is what sponsorship is about most of the time. (Sometimes someone as a company may just like a person and throw some gear their way or even money.) Seems pretty hard to prove that sponsoring an athlete does anything aside from the rare athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods (back in "the day"). Is Puma doing better financially with Bolt than before? (Maybe they are). |
| or....... |
| ||
|
Do national class marathoners wear trail shoes? |
| Ywo |
| ||
|
Pearl Izumi was paying ultra athletes $25,000/yr + travel. |
| Azaleas |
| ||
|
There aren't a whole lot of competitors in the trail shoes market. If you can get a few dozen good ultrarunners to influence a few thousand bad ultrarunners, they'll influence tens of thousands of terrible runners to buy New Balance trail running shoes. It's entirely possible that that's why I bought New Balance's trail shoes. |
| vanilla finger |
| ||
This is total BS. 25K isn't even the total budget for the WHOLE team. stop posting this crap. |
| Jeff Wigand |
| ||
Except how many eyeballs see an ultra runner running in the dark on a mountain trail? If the person above is right and Dom pimps NB then maybe he has shown that he increases their sales. That is what sponsorship is about most of the time. (Sometimes someone as a company may just like a person and throw some gear their way or even money.) Seems pretty hard to prove that sponsoring an athlete does anything aside from the rare athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods (back in "the day"). Is Puma doing better financially with Bolt than before? (Maybe they are).[/quote] I would guess that Puma gets far more value out of Bolt wearing their gear in virtually instance he's photographed/filmed than they would if they attempted to purchase equivalent ads in those mediums. |
| Pages: | 1 | 2 | |