Where to get sponsors?

[Shebeen]

7 minutes ago, renayg said:

Another great way to add value for any brand is to do something for a "cause" . Companies love getting behind something where their funds have a lasting impression. Find a charity or organization that you identify with and then approach local businesses in your area to sponsor you the entry. In return for the sponsored entry, you can run a campaign with your family/ friends/ school/ other local businesses to sponsor you a Rand value per kilometer etc. and set an ambitious target or goal to raise.

This creates value for the company that sponsors you the entry as their name is attached to the campaign and shown in a good light, but their money enables their funding to go much further if your fundraising target is double/ triple the cost of getting you to the race.

I take your opinion seriously here as I'm sure you wrote many of these request letters back in the day!

You make a very good point about the sponsored entry,(best case the race sponsors it). This charity angle is a double edged sword for me, many people use a charity as their vehicle in. they post lots of rah rah rah selfies with beneficiaries, raise some money, donors feel good kumbaya. At the end of the day they do the cool stuff they wanted but after expenses (like paying race entry from donations not their own pocket) not much goes to the actual charity. I would feel really uncomfortable doing this, but plenty of people sleep at night just fine.

 

 

 

 

[Hairy]

16 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

You guys focussing on race results live under a rock.

I know PLENTY of less than bog average 'athletes' who have a wicked social media presence, tell a good story and LOOK good at sucking who are 'sponsored' by companies.

Up your socials and just send the links to the companies. You probably won't get sponsored but at least you will have wasted thousands of man hours creating content of your or your mates' butts, doing wicked jumps getting 3 feet of air on your sledgehammer and grown your 'brand' into something sellable.

Everyone knows the only way to ACTUALLY get sponsored is to make VHS sponsor me videos and drop them off or mail them to the company HQ. I remember doing that as a kid your age for skateboarding.

All jokes aside, unless you will add massive brand value as a 15 year old with huge promise, there will be a struggle to get any sort of foothold 

You will likely need to win races, have wicked socials, a podcast AND make sponsor me VHS tapes.

Good luck! 

There were two dudes who used to be on here who managed to get a certain level of 'sponsorship' for riding bikes without being particularly excellent.

Maybe best to chat to AAron Borrill or Martin Zietsman?

come clean .... you did not do VHS tapes, your age surley puts you into the Beta tape category

[Shebeen]

18 minutes ago, Hairy said:

come clean .... you did not do VHS tapes, your age surley puts you into the Beta tape category

nice try, to pretend to be young!

beta and vhs  = same era

[Hairy]

5 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

nice try, to pretend to be young!

beta and vhs  = same era

Al I remember was being able to rent the new movies on VHS, and then the poor old Beta section was old and lonely with little to no action ever seen.

[Mongoose!]

16 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

You guys focussing on race results live under a rock.

I know PLENTY of less than bog average 'athletes' who have a wicked social media presence, tell a good story and LOOK good at sucking who are 'sponsored' by companies.

 

my guess is ex Springbok rugby players and maybe a few ex Protea's? 

[Puncture Kid]

1 hour ago, madmarc said:

I know of some cases of youngsters missing the age limit by a few months and managed an official entry by changing the month numbers in their ID's and then staying in the middle of the

Either the website does not verify ID Numbers (bad) or you are talking erm.. untruths. Can cannot simply change a digit in your ID no. It will immediately render the number invalid. The last digit is a check digit that is calculated from the others. If it doesn't add up, the ID no is invalid

[Nick]

If you want an entry to a specific event, I'd suggest targeting its sponsors and partners with the proposal ideas shared above. Leveraging their existing partnership with the event. They usually get entries as part of their deal that cost them little to pass one.

But still bank on studying hard and getting a good job and riding it in 10 years time - that's the path with the most guarantee of success.

[Ispeed_V]

There appears to a be specific race for school goers (15-19yrs).

Maybe that is what the OP is doing.

If that is the case, why not then approach you schools for sponsorship?

 

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, Puncture Kid said:

Either the website does not verify ID Numbers (bad) or you are talking erm.. untruths. Can cannot simply change a digit in your ID no. It will immediately render the number invalid. The last digit is a check digit that is calculated from the others. If it doesn't add up, the ID no is invalid

partially correct!!

South African ID number

A South African ID number is a 13-digit number which is defined by the following format: YYMMDDSSSSCAZ.

• The first 6 digits (YYMMDD) are based on your date of birth. 20 February 1992 is displayed as 920220.
• The next 4 digits (SSSS) are used to define your gender.  Females are assigned numbers in the range 0000-4999 and males from 5000-9999.
• The next digit (C) shows if you're an SA citizen status with 0 denoting that you were born a SA citizen and 1 denoting that you're a permanent resident.
• The last digit (Z) is a checksum digit – used to check that the number sequence is accurate using a set formula called the Luhn algorithm.

 

Here's some fake ID numbers I've generated for someone turning 21 today!

0206028581083

0206029265082

0206021492080

0206029283184

0206026513088

try work out which ones are the females and foreigners!

[Puncture Kid]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

partially correct!!

South African ID number

A South African ID number is a 13-digit number which is defined by the following format: YYMMDDSSSSCAZ.

• The first 6 digits (YYMMDD) are based on your date of birth. 20 February 1992 is displayed as 920220.
• The next 4 digits (SSSS) are used to define your gender.  Females are assigned numbers in the range 0000-4999 and males from 5000-9999.
• The next digit (C) shows if you're an SA citizen status with 0 denoting that you were born a SA citizen and 1 denoting that you're a permanent resident.
• The last digit (Z) is a checksum digit – used to check that the number sequence is accurate using a set formula called the Luhn algorithm.

 

Here's some fake ID numbers I've generated for someone turning 21 today!

0206028581083

0206029265082

0206021492080

0206029283184

0206026513088

try work out which ones are the females and foreigners!

where was i partially incorrect?  😕

but you are 100% correct. My point being that _if_ a website checks ID nos, then you cannot simply change the birth date

 

[MilkManMike]

3 minutes ago, Puncture Kid said:

where was i partially incorrect?  😕

but you are 100% correct. My point being that _if_ a website checks ID nos, then you cannot simply change the birth date

 

You definitely can, as long as the sequencing of the last 7 digits follows the correct protocol. I highly doubt most online entry platforms are linked in to the DHA database to verify ID number status. Hell, not even the SAPS criminal record data base is linked to that…

[Shebeen]

23 minutes ago, Puncture Kid said:

where was i partially incorrect?  😕

but you are 100% correct. My point being that _if_ a website checks ID nos, then you cannot simply change the birth date

 

Semantics over whether changing "a" digit is one or at least one. Which is why you were partially correct.

 

End of the day, you can totally submit a fake ID# if you really need to. and it will take you 10seconds to make a new one, so it can very simply be done.

 

#worstfridaythreadever

 

 

[Puncture Kid]

#notworthit

Edited June 2, 2023 by Puncture Kid

[madmarc]

I highly doubt 7 years ago that entry portals were, or still are, checking ID no's - At most they probably compare your first 6 digits with the DOB you enter on the same application

 How Dare you ! accuse me of speaking with forked tongue

[SwissVan]

23 hours ago, Shebeen said:

I think you'll find a lot of those mid pack teams are self sponsored riders through their own companies. Probably claim the VAT and fudge the whole thing as a "marketing" expense. There is basically zero exposure for anyone lower than 40th place so doubt a company will get involved unless there is a real interesting story to tell.

I think you've got most of the answers here already, but to add a bit more I think you need to be as professional as possible. Therefore get someone to check your grammar and proofread proposals. Maybe you're doing that already, maybe English is not your first language but the thread title here as an example is clumsy. If you can't take the effort to get that right, how do I know you'll go the distance to promote my brand?

Exactly, the kind who might be willing to sponsor a laatjie pursuing a familiar cause

 

[Zebra]

I got sponsorship for a couple of Cape Epics, well, myself and my ride partner; we chose a THEN (2006 & 2007) hip & happening product (yes, CROCS were a ‘thing’!) and then wrote to CROCS owners, met with CROCS owners, and got a not-insignificant sponsorship from them, 2 years running!

What helped ‘sell the sizzle ‘ (Steakhouse analogy!) was that we wore CROCS before and after EVERY stage, had some give-aways, did an interview of two on how -genuinely - CROCS really were the most comfortable thing after feet stuck in riding shoes for +8 hours, AND supremely practical for showering, bike-wash park wear, muddy campsites, the list goes on!
 

So we gave the sponsors a logical REASON to sponsor us, and gave them the coverage that helped sell more CROCS….

WE only placed top 105 & 106, 2 years running, (so not top 40!), but created enough hype  (and laughter), to give our sponsors RETURN ON INVESTMENT. (ROI).

Over to you…

Chris

Edited April 19 by Zebra
Context, dates…