All things Team Qhubeka NextHash

[Ozzie NL]

On 10/26/2021 at 8:06 AM, TNT1 said:

Multi national? I likewise have anecdotal references, but I have Soudal adhesives and other products in my garage right now. I buy Jumbo products at a speciality store or online, several south african flooring companies will use Quickstep floors if you ask them to do the floors in your house, Segafredo is ubiquitous in the fancy pants cyclist meets coffee world, isn't it? Along the highway by the airport there's a bathroom accessories warehouse, and along with billboards for Tivoli, there's a Hansgrohe one. 

 

I my experience, the world is a hang of a lot smaller than you seem to think.

Jumbo is a Dutch supermarket chain so I doubt you buy products from them here

[DieselnDust]

25 minutes ago, Eldron said:

What? The team has been BAD for Qhubeka? Please explain how showcasing the charity globally with famous athletes has been bad for Qhubeka. That makes no sense. Even people here in Copenhagen know what Qhubeka is thanks to the Doug and the team. 

That is how the world works....according to you.

Sponsors want positive exposure (with the positive part becoming more and more important). Qhubeka has "positive" in spades. The exposure is linked to the winning of course but it isn't the only metric. I agree with you that winning would help but it is one of many aspects of sponsorship - not the main one.

There is a reason the top paid riders of 2021 and the world rankings of riders for 2021 looks radically different (hint: Chris tops the tables and he hasn't won anything in a few years).

 

 

You know that's not what I'm saying. Complete misrepresentation. I think at the beginning, Qhubeka needed the team as a vehicle to get the message out to the world. In 2021 I don't think the team is as important to that objective anylonger. There are no dependencies any longer since Qhubeka is a strong international brand that has delivered on its mandate.

This is their latest statement about Qhubeka: "Qhubeka is a global charity that moves people forward with bicycles in Africa.
People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics
and jobs. A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, to generate
income and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can
change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level –
helping people to get where they need to go."

No mention of Team Qhubeka Assos.

Instead If you read the teams mission statement it is more dependent on the continued association with Qhubeka to keep that heartstring cash coming in.

Team Qhubeka ASSOS Next# Mission statement:

Team Qhubeka ASSOS races for something bigger than wins. The team rides to help
people in Africa to move forward with bicycles. Team Qhubeka ASSOS share a belief that
#BicyclesChangeLives.

< Iwould have thought that racing at World Tour level would require some desire to win races which takes us to ASSOS....>

ASSOS Mission statement wrt to TQAN#

"Team Qhubeka NextHash is a purpose-driven WorldTour team on a mission to win races, change lives with bicycles, and drive development of the World’s most technologically advanced equipment. <Note the positioning of the objectives...quite deliberate>

I firmly believe Qhubeka has outgrown Africa's team of Europeans. The brand association is now historical but even if the team folds, Qhubeka won't be affected. It is transferable to any other team and recognised independently and well funded to fulfullits mandate. It's marketing is now also pretty much independent of the cycling team. Sure the team trumpeting the message is still a positive metric (for the team and sponsors) but how does it weight against actual performance results in a time where economies are shrinking, corporations are cutting back, retrenching, ie. when money is better spent directly with the charity? or Others?

[J Wakefield]

3 hours ago, stringbean said:

Any sponsors willing to pay 10-50 m euros to add feel or fuzziness to their brand will be closing there doors soon. Corporates are retrenching and there is no money for crap like that.Sorry if I open a can of worms but Qhubeka has done little for SA riders imo.Yes some have been given a short term job(some because they deserve and some out of pity)but wonder how many of those riders will make it into another WT team.

Even if they are going continental not sure if they have the riders to progress further again.Rumours that some continental riders don’t even get paid a salary.Perhaps John can confirm this?

there is no requirement for a Conti team to have to pay riders unlike Pro and World Tour. Guys race for 2 sets of kit and good luck if they win a National title and have to get new kit made. 

 

[Eldron]

36 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

You know that's not what I'm saying. Complete misrepresentation. I think at the beginning, Qhubeka needed the team as a vehicle to get the message out to the world. In 2021 I don't think the team is as important to that objective anylonger. There are no dependencies any longer since Qhubeka is a strong international brand that has delivered on its mandate.

This is their latest statement about Qhubeka: "Qhubeka is a global charity that moves people forward with bicycles in Africa.
People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics
and jobs. A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, to generate
income and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can
change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level –
helping people to get where they need to go."

No mention of Team Qhubeka Assos.

Instead If you read the teams mission statement it is more dependent on the continued association with Qhubeka to keep that heartstring cash coming in.

Team Qhubeka ASSOS Next# Mission statement:

Team Qhubeka ASSOS races for something bigger than wins. The team rides to help
people in Africa to move forward with bicycles. Team Qhubeka ASSOS share a belief that
#BicyclesChangeLives.

< Iwould have thought that racing at World Tour level would require some desire to win races which takes us to ASSOS....>

ASSOS Mission statement wrt to TQAN#

"Team Qhubeka NextHash is a purpose-driven WorldTour team on a mission to win races, change lives with bicycles, and drive development of the World’s most technologically advanced equipment. <Note the positioning of the objectives...quite deliberate>

I firmly believe Qhubeka has outgrown Africa's team of Europeans. The brand association is now historical but even if the team folds, Qhubeka won't be affected. It is transferable to any other team and recognised independently and well funded to fulfullits mandate. It's marketing is now also pretty much independent of the cycling team. Sure the team trumpeting the message is still a positive metric (for the team and sponsors) but how does it weight against actual performance results in a time where economies are shrinking, corporations are cutting back, retrenching, ie. when money is better spent directly with the charity? or Others?

You're a confusing man - you said Qhubeka would do better without the team but meant that the team have outgrown their mandate?

While you were googling Qhubeka's mission statement you should have probably looked toward the top right of their home screen - there is a direct link to the team - right in the hero section. A mention in the hero space is a pretty solid confirmation that the Team is really important to the charity.

So Team Qhubeka say they race for something bigger than wins but you reckon it's all about the wins?

Economies are not shrinking - the expected global growth for 2021 is 6% and 5% next year.

[DieselnDust]

33 minutes ago, Eldron said:

You're a confusing man - you said Qhubeka would do better without the team but meant that the team have outgrown their mandate? You're again misrepresenting what I said. The charity has outgrown the team. The Teams mandate does not align with sponsors. Something wrong there perhaps...

While you were googling Qhubeka's mission statement you should have probably looked toward the top right of their home screen - there is a direct link to the team - right in the hero section. A mention in the hero space is a pretty solid confirmation that the Team is really important to the charity. So what? They have a link to the team. The teams carries their brand, but this does not reflect the value of that association to Qhubeka. Lip service will tell the world its valuable ut in reality the one is a success and the other a dismal failure.

So Team Qhubeka say they race for something bigger than wins but you reckon it's all about the wins? To paying sponsors it certainly is. If not, find them one that doesn't care about wins but will give them the budget they needs to buy tops riders. Please I challenge you to take on the task. can you even name one?

Economies are not shrinking - the expected global growth for 2021 is 6% and 5% next year. I see you can google too......well that depends on what you read. IMF says 6% Statista says 3%, while unemployment rates are on the rise...

Biggest growth should come from G8 economies., followed by developing nations followed by the EU. What it will be remains to be seen. G8 has written off each others debt so that should assist recovery but jobs are shrinking. Can those economies spend the amount of money they project their GDP to grow by? 

So in a nutshell your argument is that Team Qhubeka Nexthash is a prime candidate for a massively lucrative sponsorship deal that will be based on the love of riding a bicycle and sing alongs to guitar music around camp fires biofueled heaters with celebrities like Greta Thunberg. They shouldn't have any difficulty finding a lucrative sponsor then.....

especially in light these of scintillating statistics;https://www.statista.com/chart/20078/estimated-worldwide-real-gdp-growth/ 

I don't see it happening

 

[Eldron]

4 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

So in a nutshell your argument is that Team Qhubeka Nexthash is a prime candidate for a massively lucrative sponsorship deal that will be based on the love of riding a bicycle and sing alongs to guitar music around camp fires biofueled heaters with celebrities like Greta Thunberg. They shouldn't have any difficulty finding a lucrative sponsor then.....

especially in light these of scintillating statistics;https://www.statista.com/chart/20078/estimated-worldwide-real-gdp-growth/ 

I don't see it happening

 

Am I now supposed to answer with an equal but opposite extremism? So in a nuthshell your argument is that wins wins wins count and no other metric is needed for sponsorship? A whole team of roided up winning Moscons will get all the cash and the other teams can close up shop?

Fark me sideways why do these debates always have to be so binary?

Will winning help? Yes. Is winning the only metric used for sponsorship? No. Doug proved that you can start and build a team based on a more altruistic goal than just win win WIN. He did it for a decade. At the highest level in the sport.

I'm sure your mindset is appropriate for SA but on this side of the pond the MONEYANDWINATALLCOSTS approach is rapidly losing popularity. 

[NotSoBigBen]

Look I don't know about sponsorships, feel good and all that stuff but clearly on the hub WINATALLCOSTS is the only thing that matters ????

[DieselnDust]

42 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Look I don't know about sponsorships, feel good and all that stuff but clearly on the hub WINATALLCOSTS is the only thing that matters ????

Maybe, will have to check the argust ride reports against racetec reality to weigh in on that one.all I could add was experience in sponsorship and altruistic gestures to assist the little guy.its seldom,...never long term. Why sponsor a cycling team when you could buy a brazzilion qhubeka bikes and get better mileage, kudos Facebook likes Instagram followers?

[Jewbacca]

This is internet forum gold.... 

My take? 

Who cares? If you do care, why do you care? I don't mean a 'gosh darn what a pity' comment on a thread care. 

To me it just seems that everyone wants their opinion to be the rightestestest with no real time, real life inside knowledge of the truth.

To be fair, very little will change when/if NTT bow out. They seldom influence the racing. 

I also watch cycling for the racing. I genuinely don't care who is racing for whom.

The Qhubeka initiative is awesome and has a massive global following. That is rad. I hope they find a way to continue to be awesome and stay in the public spotlight.

Looking at how Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney just bought a small, no name brand, 5th division football club in Wales and said 'We want to take Wrexham to the premier league' just shows that cycling is 'the wrong business'.

I actually think this is due to years and years of doping, poor brand recognition and the fact that, quite generally, cyclists are despised globally.

A heck of a lot of big companies probably don't want to deal with associated fallout if/when things go pear shaped in the next cycling scandal 

[TNT1]

3 hours ago, Ossie NL said:

Jumbo is a Dutch supermarket chain so I doubt you buy products from them here

You are free to doubt all you like. I have Jumbo products in my cupboard right now. They're not cheap or easy to get but there are some Dutch speciality stores around.

[DieselnDust]

20 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

You are free to doubt all you like. I have Jumbo products in my cupboard right now. They're not cheap or easy to get but there are some Dutch speciality stores around.

Much like I could buy Mrs Balls chutney in the SA Shop in Liverpool

[TNT1]

4 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Looking at how Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney just bought a small, no name brand, 5th division football club in Wales and said 'We want to take Wrexham to the premier league' just shows that cycling is 'the wrong business'.

Is Ted Lasso involved?

[OVERDRIVE]

I know this is off topic in this great debate but I have a saddle sore which is killing me. 
 

Never mind me, carry on. 

[Jewbacca]

8 hours ago, TNT1 said:

Is Ted Lasso involved?

I thought he was odds on for the Newcastle job... 

Amanda Stavely is basically Rebecca

[CAAD4]

6 hours ago, OVERDRIVE said:

I know this is off topic in this great debate but I have a saddle sore which is killing me. 
 

Never mind me, carry on. 

Methylated spirits. Stops everything in it's tracks and cracks. Don't thank me later...

[OVERDRIVE]

15 hours ago, CAAD4 said:

Methylated spirits. Stops everything in it's tracks and cracks. Don't thank me later...

Took your advice. The sore is gone. 

The less said about how that felt, the better ????