Scottxs wrote:
Do people really buy a bike because "Pro So and So" rides one?
You present a very rational question that we see here a lot on slowtwitch but that's not how sponsorship marketing works. To answer your question, very few people are going to go out and sell their shiv and buy a Cervelo because of Ben Hoffman.
The reason companies sponsor pros really comes down to checking a validation check mark when the consumer is going through their purchasing decision model. Consumer A is in the bike shop and getting ready to drop 8K on a P5. In order for the consumer to hand over their credit card, they have to navigate several questions with their brain before they can commit to purchase. Am I attracted to the bike, does the bike meet my needs and goals, does the bike fit my budget, am I going to gain street cred riding around town on this bike, is this bike going to allow me to reach my potential, is this bike really worth 8k etc etc etc.
Consciously or often sub-consciously for the consumer, Cervelo sponsoring a guy like Ben Hoffman answers some of those questions for the consumer and ultimately helps pave the way to handing over the Visa. "This bike has to been fast and worth 8K Ben finished second in kona or hell yeah im attracted to this bike, did you see how cool it looked with hoffmans calves pushing the pedals."
Now in order for sponsorship marketing to work, the bike manufacture has to hold their end of the bargain up with great brand marketing and emerging new "sexy" technology. Classic example of this is Lionel and Garneau. Lionel certainly held his end of the bargain up, but Garneau failed to deliver on the brand marketing side and just had a very plain "run of the mill" tt bike that generated very little excitement in the industry. Absolutely nothing wrong with the bike and highly doubt it ever cost lionel a win, but there was just never anything cool about it or decades of history to back it up.
The flip side of this is Norman Stadler and Kuota in the mid 2000's. Kuota and the Kailbur was a very cool bike, a bit ahead of its time, and Norman crushed Kona on board. The next few years they made a huge splash in the tri industry and maintained a sizable market share for how new and small of a company they were. Later on they would struggle but that is an entirely different topic.
Last example is Phelps and Subway. People didn't go out and buy foot longs because they had phelps posters hanging in their home. Sub-consciously they figured subway was a healthy option because the greatest swimmer of all time showed up in a commercial with his goofy smile.
