does sponsorship help companies?!?1

[pip_999]

i sit here wondering how they actually help, i mean every team only does the same thing, they simply put them on there banners and when they win they hold it up, and occasionly the names on the jerseys!
well la de FREAKIN da

who actually pays attention to the and looks at them, i can see why companies want to sponsor pro teams, because they get more coverage, and alot more publicity, so they have names and stuff all over there jerseys. but i ask you why do they sponsor us lower end teams?!?! i know some of you will come back with the whole, "well we could make it and then they are recognized". well yeah there is a chance, but when you do finally go "pro" will u still want to wear Brass Eagle jerseys, or would you rather be sponsored by JT, and WDP, etc.

so those little companies dont get recognized. Also banners only go up if you WIN! and well, usually there are (1st place, 2nd, 3rd, sportsman). Even then the publicity isnt there, its only with the bigger tournies, when magazines like FACEFULL, PB2X, APG, etc. are there to take photos!!!

with the money that they put towards teams, couldnt they just post up more adds in magazines, fare enough i want to be sponsored but HOW does it help the companies?!?!?!

[FutureMagOwner]

maybe me and you think differently because im guessing you like me already have there opinion on most products and seeing ads makes you either think "what complete bs" or "yeah right they wish" or "there just ***** wannabes"

[pip_999]

but....
WHAT THE HELL DID U JUST SAY!!!!

[magman007]

i agree with him actually. Do you kno what it was that made me buy a mag? it was a full 2 page spread ad of an rt pro in my first ever coppy of apg. that coppy i read all the time, the cover has even fallen off. It is the one with the guy with the epic on the front. thad add actually got me to buy my first mag. companies should spend more on good advertising, and less on crappy teams. i like the idea of being sponsored, but local sponsorship is the way to go. like before every game, i eat a slice of white pizza from my favorite pizzaria. they help me pay for paint. it works

[shartley]

I could write a book on this topic, but will not.

Yes it helps… No it does not help.

There! ;)

Now a slight clarification and you can connect the dots…. Most of the “sponsored” teams I know that are not actually outfitted, financially supported, etc. by the larger manufacturers are not sponsored in the way most may think. Many of them receive sponsorships by receiving discounts at stores, fields, etc. There are many “ways” to sponsor a team (or help sponsor) so the word “Sponsored by” means little to me personally at face value.

Yes, major sponsorships can help the Teams and the Sponsor alike, but the team will do much more than just show up with a banner and play. They will promote the company, meet and greet, and other things that help justify any sponsorship agreements made. In this way the Team is a traveling ambassadors for the Sponsors NOT just a way to make the team look more “important” than they really are.

Now, there are hundreds of OTHER sponsored teams out there that do not fit this category. They are sponsored in a different way, and that is by being allowed discounts on products, at shops, and at fields. The “sponsors” would get something out of the deal even if the team never placed in a tournament… they get their business and their friend’s business. It is a way to become a “sponsor” without actually having to GIVE anything. The team gets to puff their chest and say they have sponsors (thus being a “sponsored” team), but it really does not mean a whole lot. Chances are, there really was NO major contribution made by these “sponsoring” companies at all.

There are exceptions to both of these rules, but that breaks it down in its simplest terms.

Added Note: So the real question is, not how many Sponsors a Team has (or who the sponsors are), but HOW are each of the Sponsors are actually “sponsoring” them.

[BlackVCG]

Keep in mind that sponsorship works out for the company in MANY other ways than the team holding up their sponsor's banner directly promoting their products. As Shartley was pointing out, they are traveling ambassadors for the company.

By sponsoring a team that can win by giving them your guns and other products, when they do win those people at the field that are playing or not see what they're using and the image of winning and the company's products go hand-in-hand.

A lot of it just comes down to getting exposure of your products. You give them out to teams, they use them, other people see the players using them and now that person just saw your product in a player's hands and you got exposure of your product(s). It's a lot like print ads. They don't make the person want to go right out and buy the product, instead they expose the product to the person, then if it appeals to them, they go to their local pro-shop or come to a forum like this and talk with people about the product and then make a decision from there.

So as Shartley pointed out, there are MANY other things sponorship does for the company than getting their logo on the team banner. Even though the company may not get in return the amount of money they invested in sponsorship directly, it's more of a long-term investment that has many other benefits besides cash return.

[zvanut]

why do so many little newbs :) want angels and cockers?

because the pros use them.

if WDP didnt sponsor dynasty or other teams like that they could use some competitors gun. then people see dynasty winning with some other gun the newbs :) could want that gun.

[magman007]

as black said, visual aids/ Now i forgot to mention, but in the issue i was talking about earlier, there were tons of mags in action. i mean tins, it was the same issue with the review of the world record game. It had meny of em, leading me to think, wow more people are carrying mags then my spyder, they must be more reliable. so what did i do? i purchased a classic mag from 888paintball, I was happy with it and got offered 275 for it, couldnt pass it up and i sold it. needless to say, i bought the rt pro in the ad i saw. then i got strayed bought a cocker, also because of the numerous amounts of people using them at tournaments. then i got tired and wanted an e-mag, needless to say im a verry happy customer.

[CoFFeY[NiTrO]]

if they get in a magazine with their banner it is free advertisement

[AcemanPB]

you can also take into effect that companies can trasnlate thier sponsorships onto thier magizine ads

for exapmle .. (flips through APG) .. ok this is an old ad

"Introducing the avalanche series JT barrel. The BEST barrel on the market, endorsed by one of the best Pro teams in the world!"

it's all about advertising and the $$

[rudy]

sponsors do gain quite abit, as shartly said many and i would say most teams actually only get these partail sponsors team discounts. there is a great one WDP runs you get to but a angel for about 800 - 850 i think. the angel is possibly flawed and you dont get a choice on colors they send so you order for your whole team then fight over colors and styles. they dont really lose any money and the team gets angels that they can use for a year or so then turn right around and probbaly sell that angel for 700 - 1000 most times they get more then they paid. then the real gain for wdp comes in. the store team mostly shoot angels, and so do many more nppl participating teams then woudl otherwise. so people see hey those pros shoot that gun it must be good. when you go into the store they are also pressing the gun because humans for the most part have a nature to try and persuade people to join them in anything. so join us and become an angel owner. it works quite well from what ive seen. also when ever a player is doing well at a local feild a number of people will always want to get the same gun that player has. when you get the local team shooting your gun they are usually good players.

[AcemanPB]

this is what i've noticed - my local team shoots all impulses and they are all preety good, now more than half of the people at my field own atleast one impulse, good gun too besides the trigger

[raehl]

That depends. I bet there are plenty of people out there using TImmy's right now who never would have even given them a chance except that a pro team uses them. And I bet if you go asked those Michigan Tech guys they could point out how many of their club members end up using mags because so many of the team uses mags already. And I know that there are a good chunk of people in the college league who buy stuff just because the products company has sponsorred us in the past - that's how they know they exist.

Now, does a sponsor having their name on a banner in a team pic help? Probably not all that much, but then again, in most cases the company isn't doing much beyond giving out their product more cheaply that the team can get it retail.

Sponsoring the college league always generates a huge return on the money however. ;)

- Chris

[Skoad]

I always thought of paintball "sponsers" more like that of street teams for music bands and such... get the good words building up so someone may purchase their product.

AND i like the big-time companies sponsering little ole teams, help some people out shows the company may have more of a contribution to the sport than just in it for the "bling bling" (i feel hip-hopish)


OH and AcemanPB its the exact way down at one of the indoor fields by school, the field's team all use impulses, when i go there most other players now have impulses. One time I went with some friends and one of the fields members to play some woods. 2 model 98's (including mine), 1 spyder tlplus, 2 stingrays, and the one impulse. Of course everyone was super impressed with the impulse as he preached the impulse goodness saying its one of the best tourney level markers and so on. I talked to him about me getting a new gun soon and how i was thinking of going mag. Immediate response from him was "blender" then started talking about the vision for the impy.

Long story..well..long...guess what i bought 2 weeks ago? A minimag. I've only seen 1 other mag at fields i play at and that was close to 2 years ago so i cant remember if it was good or not. Other's gun preferences might not always influence people to buy them, although i will admit i got a model 98 because 2 friends did, that was mostly out of knowing they worked from friends and that the price was right.

P.s AGD's reputation had A LOT to do with my choice

[paintbattler]

most of the sponsors are shops or stores. they want to get their name out to ppl so they will get more
customers. so it could go either way, they could lose money or gain it. it all depends

[RT_Luver]

well, if they sponser the right team it does

[[FE]Memnock]

Here is a real world example of a sponsorship by a local field:

Team Gains:
Cheap paint
Equipment at cost
Their own field to play on
Free Field fees
Being sponsored (or, named affiliation with a known local vendor)

Sponsor Gains:
A website (built and maintained by a member of the team)
A speedball course built by an experianced team
Dedicated and experianced refs from the area
Name recognition through tournaments and team website etc
A sponsored Team (or, named affiliation with a known and recognised local team)

As far as the whole "what the pros use" issue... A lot of people claim that the pro's drive the 'popular paint/equipment' market for both the tournament and rec scene. Newbie and/or Everyman Paintball player sees what the pros use and see that as their next must have product. Well, it may seem that way, but it's not. The pros use what their sponsors tell them they have to to keep their sponsorships... so in a sense, the companies themselves drive the precieved popularity of their own products through manipulation of their sponsorship of pro teams...

Whoa, did that make an ounce of sense? shartley, back me up here (or straigten me out) since I know we'll hear from you again... plus I know you know what you're talking about. ;) What a tangled web we weave...

As a member of our team said recently in an extremely sarcastic moment, "Of course Avalanche uses Preoteus goggles, they're sponsored by JT... theey're a walking commercial and you fell for it." He's just pissed because he can't afford new goggles right now. :)

Anyways, my $.02. It's better than tossing it into the free penny tray.

-Mem

[paintbattler]

they will only sponsor good teams that will spread their name a long way

[raehl]

I don't really believe pro teams have any influence at all over what people buy. why?

1) New players don't know who pro teams are, much less what equipment they actually use.
2) Most pro equipment is way beyond the price or performance required by most players.
3) Even if players fo know who the pro teams are and what equipment they use, one pro team is as good as another. It's not like there are many people around saying "Well, I'm going to use the same equipment that Pro Team X uses, because the equipment the use must be better than the equipment another team uses."

I'd say players are more likely to buy what people they know personally or know from their local fields use than they are what pros use.

Now, if oyu combine sponsorship with advertising "Use our product, because these teams that use our product win with it", then you've got something going.

- Chris

[M-a-s-sDriver]

Our team, the Pink Fluffy Ballerinas, is fully sponsered by Ace Paintball, and Ace Paintball.com. Fully, meaning free unlimited paint, free jerseys, pants, gloves, Invisions, whatever, and some free gear like loaders or what have you, and large items ar store cost. All our entries air and expenses are paid. For a ten man team.
Because of our outstanding reputation, the Ace people approached US with this offer.
Here is how we are different:
Although we play local tournies regularly, we concentrate on a preset schedule to play rec-ball at all the local fields, mixing up the roster with those players that are available. We go find the newbies and play with them and teach them to play, give them some paint, and hand out flyers for discounts at the store. Our most recognisable player, RUE, a large Indian has his own special "RUE CARD" that he passes out to one or two players a day to get a free case of paint at the store. By the end of the day, EVERYONE knows who Rue is. WE also staff swap meets and store functions dressed in full uniform.
We Earn our sponsership by hard work and exposure to those that are likely to buy at the store and justify our existance, rather than just a free ride to some tournaments. We also started posting where and what field we would be on at www.sacpaintball.com so players would know right where to go for the store goodies, and the response is excellent. So instead of gaining recognition on the national Big Guy level, we are getting more success and a better sponsership by really focusing on the local scene in the Sacramento area, with people we will see all the time.
Brent Jackson, ACE-PFB.