Your Athletes Are Remote Employees. Start Training Them.
Simon Pellaud ©Pipe Cano
Why buying rights is only 20% of the job. The real ROI lies in how you structure, train, and activate your roster.
The "Black Box" of Sponsorship For decades, the model was simple: stick a logo on a jersey, send free products, and wait for the exposure. Today, algorithms have changed, and the audience is smarter. They don't want to see a logo; they want to see a story. Yet, many brands still operate in the dark, wondering why their sponsorship budget isn't driving sales.
The missing link is Management.
1. The Mindset Shift: From "Beneficiary" to "Staff" Stop looking at your ambassadors as lucky people receiving free gear. Look at them as a decentralized media team. They are employees of your brand's visibility department. Just like any employee, they need guidance. If you leave them alone, they will do the bare minimum. If you lead them, they will over-deliver.
2. Education is Activation You cannot expect an athlete to be a convincing advocate if they don't understand why your product is better. Sending a press release is not enough.
The Fix: Organize "Tech Sessions" and Factory Tours. Show them where the product is made.
The Exchange: Facilitate sessions with your marketing team. Create a feedback loop where athletes can report on product issues or market trends they see on the field.
The Result: When they understand the R&D and feel heard by the brand, their content shifts from a forced ad to a genuine recommendation.
3. Set Business Objectives (Not Just Vanity Metrics) Asking for "3 posts per month" creates boring, check-the-box content. It kills creativity. Instead, challenge them with specific missions that serve your business goals:
"Launch this new range with your own voice to your specific off-road audience."
"Create a tutorial on how you use and maintain this gear, and explain the benefits you get from it in competition."
4. Co-Creation: The Ultimate Engagement Don't just impose your marketing plan. Involve them in the process. Ask them the hard questions:
"Work with us on the next launch campaign: How do you think is best to display our products? In which environment?"
"What are your honest feedbacks on our previous campaigns? What was missing to make it stick?" When an athlete helps build the strategy, they champion the execution.
5. The Power of the "Squad" An athlete alone is an island. A group of athletes is a movement. The best brands create a family feeling. Organize team camps or specific experiences where they can challenge each other. When athletes feel part of a "Club," they become loyal defenders of the brand, well beyond their contract obligations.
Conclusion: The Cost of Management Implementing this structure—daily exchanges, factory visits, brainstorming sessions—is time-consuming. Many Marketing Directors underestimate this. They have the budget for the contract, but not the bandwidth for the relationship.
This is where a Partnership Manager comes in. Brands invest thousands in products and fees. It is illogical not to invest in the strategy that makes those thousands generate a return.
Don't just collect stickers. Build a team.