Specialized gives ambassadors the boot

[Danger Dassie]

19 minutes ago, Nick said:

Agreed. But in America employment law is brutal and this sort of thing appears to be fairly common behaviour. Specialized are in Silicon Valley after all, the land of mass abrupt firings right now. The bosses drive Teslas, just saying 😉

Indeed. And as pointed out already. Regardless it’s still correct to call out said behaviour and challenge it. 
Regardless of employment law. 

Renay summed it up perfectly.

teslas Silicon Valley etc are irrelevant. 

[Jewbacca]

1 hour ago, Danger Dassie said:

Indeed. And as pointed out already. Regardless it’s still correct to call out said behaviour and challenge it. 
Regardless of employment law. 

Renay summed it up perfectly.

teslas Silicon Valley etc are irrelevant. 

The thing is, in America it's just business, not ethical or unethical.

Just like the west hates on parts of asia that eats cats and dogs, we in SA live by a very different employment code.

So while it seems completely unethical to us, it is commonplace there and only made the news because influencers have influence and had a public whinge.

While I don't agree with the practice or the way this was done, it really isn't news. 

I think Twitter just fired a whole whack of staff because they didn't read their emails over the weekend. 

I have mates in the US that have lost jobs without warning as engineering projects have changed direction over night. 

 

[Nick]

3 hours ago, Danger Dassie said:

Indeed. And as pointed out already. Regardless it’s still correct to call out said behaviour and challenge it. 
Regardless of employment law. 

Renay summed it up perfectly.

teslas Silicon Valley etc are irrelevant. 

I agree that it is insensitive behaviour (if as reported). It's definitely not how I'd go about it. I can rant endlessly about building a good company culture. That said, it's not at all unexpected for the company in question and the employment culture in California.

I'd guess that how rudely the company can behave is likely spelled out in the termination clause of their contract. Assuming it is, can you turn around at a later stage and justifiably demand a higher standard than you've agreed to? I don't know.

What first grabbed my interest about this story, however, is the place of influencers and their value in the marketing mix. And the big u-turn by a company that invested so heavily in it. For me, that's the real news story here.

[Steady Spin]

I feel for these guys. 

Influencers get a lot of flack. There is so much more to it than just doing a dance on TIk Tok. 

[KingZA]

Does this mean the price of their bikes will come down? 😂

[Nick]

4 hours ago, Steady Spin said:

I feel for these guys. 

Influencers get a lot of flack. There is so much more to it than just doing a dance on TIk Tok. 

Actually, the Tiktok-ification of the social platforms might be partly the cause of these firings. The platforms are showing more and more content that they consider valuable. This means that "high quality" content is shown regardless of the publisher's follower count. So accounts with good followings compete against accounts with no following. The content is becoming more important than who's publishing it. The Kardashians are pissed.

It also plays nicely into the hands of the platforms. With influencers not being able to guarantee as many impressions to advertisers/sponsors, that budget might get spent on adverts with the platform instead.

A downside of not owning the platform that you publish on.

[J Wakefield]

18 hours ago, babse said:

Who cares about non performing athletes...

Wasn't Alan's Spez contract renewal talks was also ghosted before he nailed down his 'dale factory deal? 

No not atall 

[ChrisF]

10 hours ago, Danger Dassie said:

There’s a far better piece from Velo News on this topic. 
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what one’s personal opinion on brand ambassadors is.
The fact is that there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things, including business. Essentially ghosting people is a **** move, full stop. The Moving the Needle Podcast touched on this industry practice recently. 

https://www.velonews.com/news/gravel/adventure-no-more-specialized-ends-contracts-with-dozens-of-paid-ambassadors/

 

 

For better or worse .... these influencers have a following.

 

If they suddenly represent a new brand ... how will it impact sales, for either brand ???

 

I have no idea if @Warren Melissa Go Riding are Specialized "ambassadors".  They most certainly give the brand a LOT of airtime on their videos.  If Giant was to extend their Tygerberg sponsorship and get the brand on their videos ... it can only bolster sales ...

[stringbean]

Was chatting to one of the big 3 importers a month back and we touched on this as well as sponsorship.

Most of the big players in SA are in the same boat that ,all their stock that they can get and bring in at the moment is pretty much sold before it even hits our shores.Having influencers etc ain’t gonna do anything  to sales.They simply can’t keep up.When the guy told me how much they pumping into the Mtb team(you can imagine a couple of top end bikes etc)as well as the demand of local cyclists I was shocked at the cost.I’m sad to say what’s happening to the influencers will trickle down to the smaller teams as well.Sorry if I burst some bubbles but seriously,if they got WT riders and teams under their belts do they really need you.

Post Covid in corporate world there were obviously lots of retrenchment and introspective looking at everything in the company.I know from corporate buddies they are looking at things like,how can I tell my employees no bonus this year,or X amount were retrenched when at the same time we spending X on marketing that isn’t increasing sales or influencers.

[ChrisF]

15 minutes ago, stringbean said:

Was chatting to one of the big 3 importers a month back and we touched on this as well as sponsorship.

Most of the big players in SA are in the same boat that ,all their stock that they can get and bring in at the moment is pretty much sold before it even hits our shores.Having influencers etc ain’t gonna do anything  to sales.They simply can’t keep up.When the guy told me how much they pumping into the Mtb team(you can imagine a couple of top end bikes etc)as well as the demand of local cyclists I was shocked at the cost.I’m sad to say what’s happening to the influencers will trickle down to the smaller teams as well.Sorry if I burst some bubbles but seriously,if they got WT riders and teams under their belts do they really need you.

Post Covid in corporate world there were obviously lots of retrenchment and introspective looking at everything in the company.I know from corporate buddies they are looking at things like,how can I tell my employees no bonus this year,or X amount were retrenched when at the same time we spending X on marketing that isn’t increasing sales or influencers.

 

For a bit of context ....

 

When you see PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDS competing on rigs way over a R100k ....

 

After the event the kid declines a luckydraw prize .... as it is from a competing brand and not allowed in his CONTRACT ... 

 

 

For Petes sake .... these are FUN RIDES FOR KIDS ....

 

 

Have to wonder as to the cost vs reward of many of these sponsorships ....

 

 

Same as seeing some wannaby rugby players name splashed on a car, with all his sponsors details .... and all too often he drives like an idiot ....

[Warren Melissa Go Riding]

2 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

 

For better or worse .... these influencers have a following.

 

If they suddenly represent a new brand ... how will it impact sales, for either brand ???

 

I have no idea if @Warren Melissa Go Riding are Specialized "ambassadors".  They most certainly give the brand a LOT of airtime on their videos.  If Giant was to extend their Tygerberg sponsorship and get the brand on their videos ... it can only bolster sales ...

We are not specialized brand ambassadors and after reading that, I'm glad we are not hahaha. We have a partnership with Spez Paarl, but only because we are involved with Paarl Trails and Wine Lands Trails. We really do like the brand, but its because Darren gives us amazing support and the bikes enable us to show people the awesome trails we do. Its win win and we get to put more bums on seats because of where those bikes take us. Thats all we aim for at the end of the day, irrespective of which brand. 

Also, I dont really think we are influencers haha. We see us more as encouragers  

[ChrisF]

10 minutes ago, Warren Melissa Go Riding said:

We are not specialized brand ambassadors and after reading that, I'm glad we are not hahaha. We have a partnership with Spez Paarl, but only because we are involved with Paarl Trails and Wine Lands Trails. We really do like the brand, but its because Darren gives us amazing support and the bikes enable us to show people the awesome trails we do. Its win win and we get to put more bums on seats because of where those bikes take us. Thats all we aim for at the end of the day, irrespective of which brand. 

Also, I dont really think we are influencers haha. We see us more as encouragers  

 

Dont underestimate your reach and "influence" 👍

 

 

At least you are doing it for the love of the sport.

 

 

 

And digging just a bit Specialized is VERY big part of the trails on that side .... every bit of exposure is well earned.

[Robbie Stewart]

My take on what I ride is not based on social media or marketing, but more on how I ride and what at the time matches my budget and allows me the freedom to ride at the limit of my ability.

I will ride any brand that meets my requirement in terms of being able to take the abuse of having me as the rider. I play hard with my toys and they must last with the minimum amount of cash being chucked at it.

Now it's a Specialised Camber Comp bought in 2017. It takes me everywhere my mates ride with some high end equipment and we ride the same trails ranging from flow to tech to janky rocky steep downs.

My next bike is either going to be a Commencal Meta or possibly an e-bike perhaps if I still hate climbing as much then as now.

Influencers to me make some cool videos to entertain me on YouTube but I've never been coerced to go spend money to support the brands they're advertising.

It's like the amount of exposure Leatt gets around these parts hasn't yet made me go spend a wad of cash to buy their gear. That's also partly because they make gear in children's sizes and I'm a man that can't fit into their ideas of what I'd need.

[PhilipV]

9 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

For a bit of context ....

 

When you see PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDS competing on rigs way over a R100k ....

 

After the event the kid declines a luckydraw prize .... as it is from a competing brand and not allowed in his CONTRACT ... 

 

 

For Petes sake .... these are FUN RIDES FOR KIDS ....

 

 

Have to wonder as to the cost vs reward of many of these sponsorships ....

 

 

Same as seeing some wannaby rugby players name splashed on a car, with all his sponsors details .... and all too often he drives like an idiot ....

Ag it's been like that with outlier kids from back when I was 'n school. We had a couple of sponsored kids, with the assistance ranging from cost price parts to full sponsorships, the one with the full ride went on to ride professionally in Europe and still rides as a pro, albeit in SA now. Mostly the brands sponsorimg kids do it out of a talent spotting and nurturing viewpoint, not to get a return. 

The kid you mentioned in your post is probably the outlier. 

 

Sidenote: I know a sports agent, he represents a lot of high profile rugby players. He says the amount of 16year old players and their fathers and uncles and hanger-ons knocking on their door is surprising. 

[Nick]

Also, don't always take everything for face value. In some cases, people are trying to leverage an alignment with a brand more than the brand is trying to get something from them. Well, in the South African cycling context especially. Overstating the deal gains them more magical influencer points to befuddle their followers and the next brand.

[stringbean]

I think you hit the nail on the head Robbie and bike manufacturers are waking up to this.Most peoples purchase are not really going to be determined by influencers with tick-tock following etc but will be a personal choice.I think manufacturers also realise a young influencer is not really going to influence a group of people with huge amounts of buying power so would rather back the older crowd or bike shop owners on any deals.