Off the top of my head, I can't even tell you who sponsors my favorite fighters.
Hope no sponsors see this thread. Mods, please delete.
MMA Girls -kaizen4life - definitely not. the fighters just do it for money mostly, not for love of the product. why should a fighter wearing something he was paid to wear make me want to buy it? the only thing the advertising is good for is getting the company's name out there. I will check the product out just because I saw it, but just because they sponsor a fighter I like that doesn't sway me to buy the product.
Granted it seems like fighters don't sincerely like the product they are representing and are just doing it for the paycheck. However, if the fans notice this as you do, and choose not to support that brand, what incentive does the company have to keep supporting fighters?
Being that most fight salaries are small, and sponsorships are a huge part of paying rent and putting food on the table, what can be done to change things?
Continue the move toward mainstream sponsors where there is a greater variety of products available to meet the wants and needs of the diverse (and growing) population of MMA fans.
Cindy
I have worn shirts or looked up shirts worn by some of the fighters.
I don't think sponsors effectively use their logo on shorts or shirts. Half the time I can't figure out where to find the shirt (ie no retail distribution.. not found at OTM, Hot Topic or mainstream/popular stores at the mall) or can't find the website or online retailer carrying the shirt or shorts.
If I had a logo.. and didn't have deep pockets.. then I would always make sure the logo was a URL.. ie SPRAWL should make sure the short or shirt has SPRAWL.tv on it.. because most people would think SPRAWL.com
Interesting topic. I can say I've been riding a Harley Davidson for over 20 years and when they first started sponsoring the UFC it made me kind of proud. I have bought NO-Xplode because of the sponsorship but I can't think of anything I've bought because I saw a fighter advertising it.
Oh and let me add, I have bought shorts, shirts and stuff that's been advertised on the UG. SPRAWL, MMAWarehouse, and of course the Underground Tees
hahaha everyone here is such an individual. All these MMA companies are cleaning up (sprawl, tapout, etc.), but no one here is prone to advertising. good for all of you.
Seeing the product on the wall of sponsorship behind a fighter or in font 8 on their shorts is tough.
When I do figure out which one it is, I will check it out if it is a product I am looking for.
But I will buy it based on the quality of the product, not on the endorsement.
The endorsement will get me to check out a companies web page though.
This is an interesting topic.
As a business owner of an MMA inspired company, we've decided to go in a little different route. While I would like to sponsor fighters down the road, it's a very saturated market right now. Also, our brand is more of a fashion lifestyle brand than an athletic brand. So we are trying to hit a variety of markets. I do advertise/market in MMA communities, but it takes much more than that to succeed given all the competition right now.
I don't at all mainly for 3 reasons.
#1 While they are great because they help fighters out. MOST companies that sponsor fighters make bullshit crappy 2nd and sometimes 3rd rate products. The ones that don't I supported before they got into MMA ( Ecko Clothing,BSN Nutrition, Harley Davidson etc)
2# It changes from fight to fight. Again not the fighters fault 100% cause they are just trying to get paid, but last PPV you have condom depot on your ass this PPV you have Joey's mufflers WTF? Identify yourself with a few great companies not freaking 42 little crappy ones.
3# The fighters don't care whose name they put on they're shorts why should I? Once again not the fighter's fault 100% It sucks that they need sponsors to begin with but as a consumer all I see is someone renting advertise here space and not really caring who they associate themselves with. My favorite fighter didn't do any extensive research to decide to associate himself with a certain company he just took a quick glance and ran with the check. That game Randy and Gina are in sucks you think they cared enough about me to find that out beforehand? Or even more important than that even if they would have known the game was going to suck would they have passed on the paycheck for me the fan for it? Obviously not
LOL, I don't do the whole MMA fashion. I have class.
I have yet to put on a Philthy Rich Shirt
Jamie Varner insisted that we include Harley on his seminar flyers. I told him they should donate to the charity etc. He said they make is so I a have a place to fight.
We also have about 50 or so emails from various fans claiming loyalty to MTX for their loyalty to fighters.
That being said the clothing industry that is mentioned so frequently here in this thread are likely the ones throwing darts to hit consumers.
Go grab a magazine, watch TV, drive down the street etc and tell me how many advertisements for Guess that have TrueReligion on the ad. The competing brands do not advertise together. They are after that consumer and they want him or her to identify with their brand.
At 91 you can see the contrast in those that are getting paid and the real brand builders.
Joe vs Floian, Joe had EVERY fight gear company on his shorts. it was a great ad for MMA Warehouse but a waste of money for the rest of the brands. That being said the average consumer would likely only recognize about 2% of the MMA brands on his shorts.
Brock had his clothing line and Jacks Jerky, He looked like a NASCAR not like some kid whose mom got the MMA version the bedazzler.
The majority of the fighters could use some marketing lessons. The scary thing has to be this:
What you see on fighters is called "Ambush Marketing" it is one of the things discussed most often by people that are selling content to tv, dvd etc. The concern is that ambush marketing can be viewed as a detractor of quality content. What does this mean?
You already see it at UFC's and saw it on Elite.
Elite was forced to go to its sponsor and have them change the url from www.rockstar69.com to www.rockstar.com.
UFC is now making fighters "clean up" an give a more consistent look to the banners being displayed. We have been given a format to follow which includes their logos, the logos of the venue etc.
TapouT has a clause now, no competing sponsors, limited number of total logos allowed on the gear and no logo bigger then theirs.
This sport is still very young Look at these early NASCAR cars:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://info.detnews.com/pix/joyrides/2007/copperstate07/53hudson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://info.detnews.com/joyrides/story/index.cfm%3Fid%3D662&usg=__32iAo2sqIugzPLpjglla-1ruOZ8=&h=288&w=500&sz=22&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=ixeaMveW_zgYiM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dearly%2Bnascar%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN
http://www.firstgenmc.com/museum/nascar/Nascar72a.jpg
http://www.stacymotorsports.com/nelson_stacy.htm
Now look at the modern day nascars
http://z.about.com/d/inventors/1/0/J/W/lg_americas_c2_nascar.jpg
http://www.slashgear.com/gallery/data_files/1/4/6/WiiNascar.jpg
The fact is we have a ways to go, we have to stop trying to make all of the money on a single fight and help these fighters and brand find a better way to reach the fan.
I do not know who handles Lexani sponsorships but I saw a Serious Pimp logo that covered half the Lexani. If Lexani paid and paid first why cover them? If they have not paid why have them on there? Either way showing 50% of a logo is about as hack as you can get.
LGSM - not like some kid whose mom got the MMA version of the bedazzler.
My nomination for quote of the year right there.
kaizen4life - definitely not. the fighters just do it for money mostly, not for love of the product. why should a fighter wearing something he was paid to wear make me want to buy it? the only thing the advertising is good for is getting the company's name out there. I will check the product out just because I saw it, but just because they sponsor a fighter I like that doesn't sway me to buy the product.
This post is right on. Thats all the sponsor really wants. You to see the name and when your at the store. But the product has to speak for itself. You can not replace quality.
Yes......I support special forces killing terrorists (CroCop) and the devil (Fedor)......
Yes, I definitely find myself wearing mostly T*U stuff.
Haole -My fault i should have read whole thread before posting.
A clothing sponsorship is only going to get a fan to look at the product, the product still has to sell itself (obviously) and I am pretty sure 90% of people exposed to the clothing would never buy the general lines they produce.
I think fans are much more likely to buy a shirt that is the 'fighters shirt' as opposed to some random tshirt that tapout or onemoreround makes - both BJ Penn's new RVCA shirt and Sinisters Anderson Silva Muay Thai college shirts are cool.
I am typing this on a directwave computer!