Another reason to love Specialized and Lululemon (fixed it)

[tiretrax]

Lesli Cohen @Cycletart


Both @iamspecialized & @lululemon end sponsoring @velociosports this year. Welcome to the club of fan-funded sport: indiegogo.com/projects/proje…


They are now raising funds to continue on Kickstarter - Project X.

[skijoring]

[QUOTE=tiretrax;1594655]Lesli Cohen @Cycletart

Both @iamspecialized & @lululemon end sponsoring @velociosports this year. Welcome to the club of fan-funded sport: indiegogo.com/projects/proje…

They are now raising funds to continue on Kickstarter - Project X.[/QUO


It's almost Esperanto with the twitter speak.

[e-RICHIE]

Wait - when a company ends a sponsorship,
you now have a reason to hate them atmo?

ps

arrange disorder

;):p:)
:p:);)
:p;):)

[charliedid]

Lesli Cohen @Cycletart


Both @iamspecialized & @lululemon end sponsoring @velociosports this year. Welcome to the club of fan-funded sport: indiegogo.com/projects/proje…


They are now raising funds to continue on Kickstarter - Project X.

Huh?

[Hank Scorpio]

Are you sure you hate Lululemon? Have you been to the short hills mall recently? Or to the Starbucks in Summit midday? I think you would change your tune pretty quickly.

[AngryScientist]

i dont consider myself all that old, but i have virtually no idea what the OP is about.:confused:

[Davist]

Lululemon is in trouble financially, one of the brands most likely to disappear in '14 per one of the Yahoo! financial banners I saw (can't find, sorry..). My wife loves their stuff (she's an ice skater) could be a crisis in my house later this year/next year!

Here's a WSJ link for reference: http://online.wsj.com/articles/lululemon-lowers-outlook-sets-stock-buyback-1402569746

[jtakeda]

I have no idea what this means.

[Bruce K]

Not sure I get this either

Both companies get to choose who/what to sponsor and what makes sense for their business model

Cycling sponsors come (happy) and go (mostly sad - but not if it's Rock Racing)

Seeking funds through SM is a new trend - we'll see how that works

BK

[brockd15]

i dont consider myself all that old, but i have virtually no idea what the OP is about.:confused:

Ha, glad I'm not alone.

[biker72]

i dont consider myself all that old, but i have virtually no idea what the OP is about.:confused:
+1
I am old and confused too....:p

[54ny77]

Post of the day.


Are you sure you hate Lululemon? Have you been to the short hills mall recently? Or to the Starbucks in Summit midday? I think you would change your tune pretty quickly.

[rugbysecondrow]

i dont consider myself all that old, but i have virtually no idea what the OP is about.:confused:

reads like it is copied from Twitter or Instigram.

Don't make fun, but I really like the casual shirts and workout shorts from Lulu. Being a bigger guy with an athletic build, finding shirts that fit, don't stretch and are comfortable to wear is hard.

[fiamme red]

http://www.crca.net/2014/07/project-x-crowdfunding-the-future-of-womens-cycling/

CRCA: How do you see the future of women’s pro cycling develop over the next 5 years and what factors do you think will contribute most to reach that point?
Kristy: I would love to see a live televised series of women’s cycling in the next five years. I would love to see the riders of my team and others become stars of the sport and role models for young girls. I’d love to see cycling recognised as a leading sport for women in the way women’s tennis and gold have broken through.I'd love to see it too, but sadly this is just a pipe dream. There will never be enough general interest in women's cycling to make it profitable to sponsor a team.

[EDS]

Lululemon is in trouble financially, one of the brands most likely to disappear in '14 per one of the Yahoo! financial banners I saw (can't find, sorry..). My wife loves their stuff (she's an ice skater) could be a crisis in my house later this year/next year!

Here's a WSJ link for reference: http://online.wsj.com/articles/lululemon-lowers-outlook-sets-stock-buyback-1402569746

No worries, there are other options out there if Lulu were to go away:

http://www.gracedbygrit.com/

[deechee]

The funding is on indiegogo (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/project-x--13?sa=0&sp=0), kickstarter has nothing to do with this.

I'm confused though, the description doesn't say anything about Spec and Lulu pulling out for 2015. I don't see it on the team site (http://velociosports.com/category/news/)either?
*edit* my bad, I see it on this post (http://velociosports.com/velocio-sports-turns-to-crowd-funding-for-2015-team-with-project-x/).

I was always indifferent about Lululemon since I found their clothes too long or too thick for any real sports' use, but I was happy that they stepped in when HTC-Highroad decided to end sponsorship of the women's team. They're not doing well on the market so why hate them for pulling out and possibly trying to become a private company again and re-structure itself?

[fiamme red]

I'm confused though, the description doesn't say anything about Spec and Lulu pulling out for 2015. I don't see it on the team site (http://velociosports.com/category/news/)either?http://velociosports.com/velocio-sports-turns-to-crowd-funding-for-2015-team-with-project-x/

"The team’s financial contracts with Specialized and lululemon come to an end in December and the team is looking to bring on new partners."

[Jason E]

http://velociosports.com/velocio-sports-turns-to-crowd-funding-for-2015-team-with-project-x/

"The team’s financial contracts with Specialized and lululemon come to an end in December and the team is looking to bring on new partners."

To the OP, sorry, but whatever. We all have sponsors come and go. What was the TEAM doing for THEM? No reason to hate, be thankful you had them. Now evaluate what you could have done to differentiate yourselves from another team they were sponsoring or cry in your hands.

Too often sponsors feel they stroke a check and regret it not soon after. Sponsorship is not so you can get a deal. It is relationship building and comes with responsibility.

We've lost sponsors and asked ourselves AND the people we lost what we could have done better and learned from it. We are no RS CX team, but we've got good relationships with our current sponsors and WORK at it.

[zetroc]

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

-Some guy

[marciero]

Have a great pair of lulu travel/bike camp pants. Light, fast drying, comfortable, and can have elastic ankles which facilitate hiking up as knickers.

[SlackMan]

i dont consider myself all that old, but i have virtually no idea what the OP is about.:confused:

LOL, REALLY LOUD! Actually, laughing-crying! I am in the same boat.

[rzthomas]

http://www.crca.net/2014/07/project-x-crowdfunding-the-future-of-womens-cycling/

I'd love to see it too, but sadly this is just a pipe dream. There will never be enough general interest in women's cycling to make it profitable to sponsor a team.

Same could be said about men's cycling, too, with the exception of the GT big-deal teams.

Really have to wonder about the ROI on advertising via sponsoring a bike team. To think of recent examples, cyclists can only buy so many Bissell vacuums or ship stuff via Panther.

If I owned a business and someone tried to sell me on the benefits of sponsoring a cycling team to get general market eyeballs, I'd laugh them out of the building.

That's not the same thing as a sponsorship based on passion for the sport or vanity.

[tiretrax]

Posted in a hurry - sorry for the confusion. Yes, twitter speak was copied and dumped there. You're correct, e-richie, hate was too strong a word, but Specialized's litigation history has eliminated my interest in purchasing another bike from them.

My point is this - Specialized sponsored/supplied about 1/3 of the teams in the men's peloton in this year's TdF, but they can't sponsor one women's team? It's pathetic that women's cycling gets so llittle assistance from big bike companies. Promoting the sport among women would help attract new female participants - sell more bikes (not vacuums), increase viewership of more women's races, etc. At least Rabobank felt that it was worthwhile to keep the women's team for a few more years before transitioning out of cycling following multiple doping issues in their men's team.

As far as Lulu goes, if they're in trouble, it's because the former CEO was a dip····· by taking their success for granted - making rude remarks about customers and not ensuring good quality assurance of their product is never a good business strategy.

[gdw]

I'm so tired of reading and hearing the words hate, haters, and hating.

[EDS]

Posted in a hurry - sorry for the confusion. Yes, twitter speak was copied and dumped there. You're correct, e-richie, hate was too strong a word, but Specialized's litigation history has eliminated my interest in purchasing another bike from them.

My point is this - Specialized sponsored/supplied about 1/3 of the teams in the men's peloton in this year's TdF, but they can't sponsor one women's team? It's pathetic that women's cycling gets so llittle assistance from big bike companies. Promoting the sport among women would help attract new female participants - sell more bikes (not vacuums), increase viewership of more women's races, etc. At least Rabobank felt that it was worthwhile to keep the women's team for a few more years before transitioning out of cycling following multiple doping issues in their men's team.

As far as Lulu goes, if they're in trouble, it's because the former CEO was a dip····· by taking their success for granted - making rude remarks about customers and not ensuring good quality assurance of their product is never a good business strategy.

Specialized does provide bikes for two of the top womens teams this season, Lululemon and the Boels-Dolmans team. So certaintly for this season they seem to be well represented in the women's peloton. Not sure what their plans are for next season, but teams and sponsors change frequently.

[fiamme red]

My point is this - Specialized sponsored/supplied about 1/3 of the teams in the men's peloton in this year's TdF, but they can't sponsor one women's team? It's pathetic that women's cycling gets so llittle assistance from big bike companies. Promoting the sport among women would help attract new female participants - sell more bikes (not vacuums), increase viewership of more women's races, etc. At least Rabobank felt that it was worthwhile to keep the women's team for a few more years before transitioning out of cycling following multiple doping issues in their men's team.Does sponsoring a team really help sell bicycles? There's been a lot of press coverage of Evelyn Stevens over the last few years, so she's definitely the most well-known member of the team, but how many women have bought Specialized bikes because of her?

[tiretrax]

Does sponsoring a team really help sell bicycles? There's been a lot of press coverage of Evelyn Stevens over the last few years, so she's definitely the most well-known member of the team, but how many women have bought Specialized bikes because of her?

It's probably hard to measure perfectly, but Trek certainly benefited from a well known but now disgraced cyclist. Women's cycling needs more assistance to get some momentum. Specialized would probably sell more bikes if they made that another nitch.

[45K10]

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

-Some guy

Love it! the little green guy is full of wisdom

[ohsnapitsed]

I'm so tired of reading and hearing the words hate, haters, and hating.

Couldn't agree more. Glad the OP came back and disclosed that "hate" may have been a bit strong to use.

[fiamme red]

It's probably hard to measure perfectly, but Trek certainly benefited from a well known but now disgraced cyclist. Women's cycling needs more assistance to get some momentum. Specialized would probably sell more bikes if they made that another nitch.Which other name has sold road bikes in the United States besides Lance Armstrong?

Even the most enthusiastic female cyclists that I know don't follow professional women's racing. For that matter, they don't read online cycling forums. They just ride. :)

[shovelhd]

Specialized has female-specific bikes so they could get some PR bump from sponsorship as part if a marketing campaign. Those have finite lives.

[tiretrax]

Even the most enthusiastic female cyclists that I know don't follow professional women's racing. For that matter, they don't read online cycling forums. They just ride. :)

Either that, or they don't look for distractions during conference calls!