Sponsorship? Is it worth it?

[mark barrett 2]

Interesting thread this, especially as there are a lot of perceptions that have not been my experience of the way things have worked. I have been sponsoredby three of the bigger companies in the UK, Fox, Wychwood and Dynamite baits.

Not one of those companies told me that I had to use their products exclusively, in fact I recall Andy Little at Fox telling me if there was something I preffered from another company then to use it.

Likewise with my writing I was under no duress to have X amount of mentions of any product or the company in general within any article. unless mentioning a product was directly relevant to the article they didnt get mentioned at all. I always considered the logo's on my clothing and the odd logo in close up tackle photo's was enough in my opinion.

My personal bug bear these days with the world of sponsorship and consultancies is that of paying ones dues, to borrow a phrase. Increasingly we are seeing younger and younger anglers becoming consultants. Well sorry but there is only onhe reason for this, because as a person they will be completely malleable to the companies way of thinking as they will have neither the knowledge or experience of both life and fishing to have much of a mind of their own. This means that those that are supposedly hired to help develop gear are of little use in thjis respect and worse still for us the consumer they wont have the experience to stand up to the company man and say that product A is not fit for purpose etc. Very slowly its creeping in that angling consultants are little more than a clothes horse to drape logo's upon. With companies able to dictate to magazine editors there is no longer any need to build yourself a reputation from a long back catalogue of articles and pictuires to get printed, just tell the mag that this week you want editorial space and whatever foetus that you are deciding to promote this month will get his name and photo plastered accross its pages, hell they dont have to be any good at writing, we can sort that for him.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Sponsorship was a subject I was going to start a thread about last week but decided not but since Ron's brought this up here what I was going to write
Sponsored anglers switching companies - how can we trust what they say?
When a "name" anglers moves from one tackle/bait manufacturer to another and you start reading of how excited they are to be working with one of the best manufacturers in the world how seriously can we take them when only weeks before they were singing the praises of the products from their old sponsor?
To me it like when you see footballers score a goal and then kiss the badge on their shirts and you know that next season they'll be doing for a different team

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Unlike any other sport i can think of, there is such a multitude of pieces of kit, tackle and bait in fishing ..all ripe for endorsement deals.

The bait thing was a surprise to me on returning to fishing..but no surprise at all really as the quest for a miracle bait has always been there. The only reason i would be swayed into using a particular branded bait or flavouring is if the fish are turned on to it in the water i intend to fish. If they are, they may ignore most other baits. I could not care less who is endorsing the bait. I would just as likely look to replicate the bait at home than be dependent upon a tackle shop having a stock of it (this has happened with spicy luncheon meat cubes!).

 

[terry m]

Increasingly we are seeing younger and younger anglers becoming consultants. Well sorry but there is only onhe reason for this, because as a person they will be completely malleable to the companies way of thinking as they will have neither the knowledge or experience of both life and fishing to have much of a mind of their own.

Rather harsh on the young angler, and underestimating the skills of the marketing team methinks.

Consistently putting fish, quality fish, on the bank would be much higher up the priority list than supposed malleability!

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Mark

out of interest - how old were you when you were first sponored?

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

This means that those that are supposedly hired to help develop gear are of little use in thjis respect and worse still for us the consumer they wont have the experience to stand up to the company man and say that product A is not fit for purpose etc. Very slowly its creeping in that angling consultants are little more than a clothes horse to drape logo's upon.

Absolutey ..... bang on! There you are Mark, something we can agree on thsi week.

I get the idea from a lot of anglers that become 'consultants' (?) that they haven't a clue nor any intention of furthering the development of products and are as such no more than a waste of space - other than, as you say, to pin a logo on.

I just wonder at times how many sponsored anglers hold a rod and tell you how good it is and have absolutely no idea what's gone into that rod, ie: the type and/or mixes of carbon and what terms like IM7 or IM8 actually mean? How then can they justify saying it's the finest rod ever for such a method when another company who has put in more research has produced a far, far better product. But then that would involve the sponsored angler learning something other than how to tie a rig or land a fish.

I'm being facetious, obviously, and it may be out of spite as I have never been sponsored or used as a consultant - although I did design a holdall for Chub once and it's still available today priced £24.99 from all good tackle shops. That deserves sponsorship doesn't it?

I was even thinking one time of printing up some angling Tee shiirts for fun, one of which had on the back for passers-by to read -

SPONSOR REQUIRED
APPLY WITHIN​

 

[The bad one]

So isn't it time you started writing a few articles on how you fish?

I am sure a couple of the magazines I have mentioned would be interested.

Ron I only write articles for "whoever" when I feel I have something to say and by that I mean something that will advance someones knowledge or understanding of an issue. Not for me the urning, churning bowl of funk!
Much prefer to be out doing it than bashing the keyboard writing about it.

As an example of this, last week I wrote two articles about zander fishing on the Fens for a closed website I'm a member of because one of the members wanted to have go for them and asked for advice/info.

It's unlikely those will appear anywhere else, as I've no wish to put them elsewhere.

 

[mark barrett 2]

Mark

out of interest - how old were you when you were first sponored?

When I was first sponsored by Wychwood though this wasn't a contracted sponsorship, in so much as I got some items of kit, mainly rods, reels and landing nets I would have been around about 34-35. I had been writing regularly in pike and predators and Coarse angling today at that point for nearly ten years, but had others published before that.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

When I was first sponsored by Wychwood though this wasn't a contracted sponsorship, in so much as I got some items of kit, mainly rods, reels and landing nets I would have been around about 34-35. I had been writing regularly in pike and predators and Coarse angling today at that point for nearly ten years, but had others published before that.

so you served your apprentaship

but what if an angler had been fishing since he was 8 and writting arricles simce he was 16 - that 8 years of knwoledge (all be it learn from other) then gets a sponor at say 22 - 6 years of writing , 14 years of angling - isn't that a good apprentaship

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

but what if an angler had been fishing since he was 8 and writting arricles simce he was 16 - that 8 years of knwoledge (all be it learn from other) then gets a sponor at say 22 - 6 years of writing , 14 years of angling - isn't that a good apprentaship

It was good enough for Frank Guttfield, he wrote 'In Search Of Big Fish' in his early twenties, still one of the best selling angling books ever. 50,000 copies in Germany alone on the first run!

Sorry, forgot to add - he was never sponsored.

 

[dezza]

It was good enough for Frank Guttfield

Old Frank was one of my heros in the 60s.

The last time I spoke to him he told me of the trials and tribulations he went through to try to get a 6 lb tench from Southill Park in the 50s and 60s. He failed of course.

And then years later, not having fished Southill for a long time, he went up one day, set up a rod with float tackle, baited with a lob, and in a few seconds the float went down and up came a 9 pounder.

There certainly is no justice in angling.

 

[mark barrett 2]

so you served your apprentaship

but what if an angler had been fishing since he was 8 and writting arricles simce he was 16 - that 8 years of knwoledge (all be it learn from other) then gets a sponor at say 22 - 6 years of writing , 14 years of angling - isn't that a good apprentaship

In theory yes, but I would question as to how much experience you would be gaining from say 8-18 when your still developing as an adult let alone as an angler.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

I'd say any sponored angler is goign to tow the party line to some extent -
You may have been told to "tell it how it is" but if you wrote " This fox rod just didn't perform as I wanted it to so I switched to a Shimano" how long would Fox have keep sponoring you

 

[dezza]

In theory yes, but I would question as to how much experience you would be gaining from say 8-18 when your still developing as an adult let alone as an angler

In terms of whether you are old enough to write an article or not in my opinion doesn't matter. It's not how long you have been learning that counts, its rather WHAT you have learned.

My first fishing article was published in my school magazine.

The first article I was ever paid for appeared in Midland Angler 1962 when I was 20 years of age.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Every so often Ron brings up a thread that makes you think, and this is definately another of that kind.

For what its worth, nothing turns me off an article quicker than the author constantly pluging their sponsor. As far as I am concerned once you have taken the shilling then you opinions on tackle are totally worthless.

Most anglers realise that the author is biased and tune out, I know that I do. I have lost count of the articles I have skipped. You may think I'm wrong, but how many publications have folded because people have just lost interest and think they are being taken for a ride.