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Kelly wrote:
ColinvanDongen wrote:
I also don't really see a long term demand for Bodyboarding on TV either unless our own brands come to the table. But lets see what happens when DSD gets released.
The reality is that if you are looking to bodyboarding companies for support then you do have those who will try and support you and those that won't. Those that will are the one's which probably have overstretched budgets as it is so you need to make sure you get your pitch into them as soon as you can so that they can factor you into their budgets.
You also need to work out how many productions are being produced locally in the year and make sure you don't clash otherwise you may be fighting over a not very substantial pot. South Africa can realistically support one local production per year with the current industry players. Obviously we would like to see this grow but realise where we are first and then move on from there. The ideal would be to move to 2 releases per year with Brands A, B & C supporting a release in the first half of the year and Brands X, Y & Z supporting a second production released in the latter half of the year.
If you can sell bodyboarding to outside companies then that is where we want to be taking our sport and anyone who thinks that they could bring one of these companies on as an advertiser for any production, event or even the mag should contact those behind the production and ask for a referral fee.
As far as support from big outside company's goes, i can't realistically see this happening, at least not in any substantial way, for some years to come.
you have to ask yourself, why would a company that doesn't sell bodyboards, wetsuits, leashes, wax or whatever else, want to sponsor and be involved in bodyboarding, or be involved in any other sport that they are not directly related to? and well obviously the answer is that they may get some mileage out of it, advertising etc, their company that sells soft drinks could be associated with something cool like surfing and that helps get public interests and create a cool image of that company.
but if we face reality, bodyboarding isn't cool - at least not as far as the general public is concerned. we don't have the money or public interest to get our events broadcast on tv, and even when they are it's usually 2 foot mush, floppo's to the beach and spins in the foam..which i personally feel does more harm to the sport than good.
so really we're in a bit of a pickle here, we're not gonna get support from major players until the public sees us as cool and we're not gonna be seen as cool until we get support from major players!
I feel the answer lies in strong bodyboarding based companys initially, ten years ago the aussies bailed the 90's contest format, bailed the surf companys, and started going big! they built up a strong core bodyboarding industry which could sustain it's pro riders and get kids amped, and probably went about getting some decent coverage for a few mind-blowing events(shark island, box etc.) and look at where bodyboarding is in aus today, they've got Milo advertising in Riptide for god-sake!
I feel that for a long time SABA has mis-managed bodyboarding in SA, paying lip service to going big etc, but at the end of the day the same shocking acts of grovelling go down at every contest, in the same terrible waves and the perpetrators are rewarded everytime(not to say that there aren't some guys who are great all rounders and stand out in contests and free surfs, but maybe that they shouldn't have to be reduced to that)..and this is what the public thinks of bodyboarding if they see it at all. how can we expect big outside company's to support us when really we have nothing to offer them in return.
We've got too build this from the roots up, there's no point in chasing a token few thousand rands from corporates here and there with no foundations for it to all stand on, we need strong bodyboarding companys, and pro's who can be well looked after by these company's, who in turn will get more and more kids amped, and supporting our companys, growing things further, then some solid media coverage of REAL bodyboarding and a well run national tour held at quality waves, from there things can only go up.
I realise that i've brought up a lot of negatives here and not many solutions, and on that note i'd like to commend colin for his work with don't stop dreaming, it looks awesome and i'm sure it'll do us a great deal of justice, and also to the people involved in this new production, it sounds like a great idea too.
