JWOWW. Snookie. The Situation.
If none of these names are familiar to you then the following will not make much sense. But since I’m assuming you haven’t been living under a rock the last few years, and may possibly have fallen into the same morbid-fascination comma that I did, than you are all too familiar with the infamous characters of the reality show, Jersey Shore. And although I haven’t caught an episode the last couple of seasons, I’m sure it’s still brimming with ridiculously trashy and obscene moments that it’s famous for.
One of the main characters, Michael Sorrentino, who is known by the reality T.V. world as “The Situation”, frequently sported Abercrombie and Fitch sweatpants on the show. After numerous episodes aired with him sporting A & F apparel, the retailer was quoted as saying the following:
“We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.”
Soon after, the company offered The Situation a “large cash payment” if he discontinued wearing A & F and began wearing an alternate brand. Abercrombie was so disturbed by the growing association of their brand with “The Situation”, and everything he represents, that while other companies were offering the actor advertising contracts for bronzers and alcohol, this apparel giant was so intent on distancing themselves they were offering him money to NOT wear their clothing.
And as hilarious as I find this predicament, I also find it the perfect way to illustrate my next point.
Here at Heritage Brand we get hundreds of Sponsorship Requests each year. Hundreds of people who want to endorse our Brand.
That’s awesome. I mean it’s truly flattering to have so many people love what you make. Trust me this never gets old and I am in no way trying to minimize that by what I say next.
But it has to be said.
When we extend a sponsorship offer to an individual, which includes providing free or reduced product, trailer stickers, shirt patches, etc… we are in a sense endorsing you as well. Putting our stamp of approval on you to be a model hand-picked to represent our company. We are admittedly extremely particular in who we want out there in the spotlight, and go to great lengths to ensure we aren’t putting our Brand on any “Situations”.
From a business standpoint, we sponsor individuals who will represent our company in a positive way which will encourage sales in the future. And to be even a little more blunt, we sponsor people who will ultimately help to make us money.
It’s really that simple.
The bigger your exposure, the better it is for us. For example, all of the people on our Professional Team compete at an elite professional level, and have garnered a lot of recognition in their sport. We’re talking NFR qualifications, magazine covers, world records, etc… These people are really good at what they do, they’re exceptional in their event, and are likely to be emulated by many. Or at least that’s the idea.
Now if you’ve made it this far, I have this for you… all which may or may not be actual examples of submissions.
I lie. They’re all bloody real.
TOP TEN WAYS TO NOT GET A HERITAGE BRAND SPONSORSHIP
1. List yourself or your mother/father as your only reference. Are you kidding me? If you can’t find one person to use as a reference that isn’t related to you than I think we are done here.
2. Ask for money, not product. Ummm…let me be clear. If you don’t wear my tack it does me NO GOOD. Capiche?
3. Misspell and/or use terrible grammar throughout the application. So, you won’t put the effort out to proofread an application, but I’m supposed to trust that you will when it’s time to fulfill your sponsorship responsibilities?
4. Your biggest accomplishment is placing in the 3D. I know this one sounds harsh. And it is.
5. Your most recent accomplishment is from 5 years ago Ya, that’s not really gonna work either.
6. You would like a sponsorship so you could “look good as you LEARN to run barrels”. I literally don’t know what to say about this.
7. Never having bought or used Heritage Brand tack…and disclosing this fact. If you are not familiar with the quality and functionality of our tack, you should not be willing to endorse it. It’s in my best interest to have endorsees on my Team who have positive, first-hand experience with what they are endorsing.
8. Forget to delete your half-naked, drunken Facebook pictures or crass posts. Don’t think we won’t look you up online. We will.
9. Talk more about the cool/famous people you know and ride with then yourself. Perhaps your cool/famous friends should be filling out the application and you can be their reference?
10. Be under 18 years old.
Although we have a few, select “Rising Stars” that receive small sponsorships, we typically don’t extend sponsorships to anyone under 18. Refer to #8 for one of the many reasons for this.
While a good deal of the applications we receive are very professional, the above examples are just a few of the highlights we’ve made note of over the years. If you are interested in applying for a sponsorship and promise not to commit one of the 10 application crimes listed above, you can find information on our application for sponsorship here.
Have a great week!
Until next time! ~ Jess