New CEO of Jumbo, no more sponsorship

[benb]

I'd of course jump on the bandwagon of not getting why a grocery store or coffee place would pay all that money to sponsor a cycling team.

But when I was in Europe during the TdF a few years ago.. it is a LOT of brand exposure. Like more than I think I could understand as someone who always lived in the US. I think it was hard to grasp that over there you flick on the TV and start flipping channels and you're going to easily find cycling on TV, possibly on multiple channels at the same time. Totally different than here.

[72gmc]

Frits van Eerd (former CEO) was also racing cars in IMSA & WEC as an owner / driver. I’d imagine the one of the new CEO’s first questions was, HOW much are we spending on sports?

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

Lidl is at least international, and growing.

Jumbo is hyperlocal. They serve a footprint smaller than the state of Pennsylvania.

Jumbo hyperlocal.
Quite the oxymoron.

[sjbraun]

Yeah, I’ve heard of Jumbo and Visma due to their sponsorships of sports teams and yet, I have no idea what either of these companies sells

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by sjbraun

Yeah, I’ve heard of Jumbo and Visma due to their sponsorships of sports teams and yet, I have no idea what either of these companies sells

Here's the list of all the world tour teams.

*=I think I know what their sponsor sells and I could buy it
**=I think I know what their sponsor sells but it's not available for purchase in the U.S.
***=I don't know what their sponsor sells
****=I don't think their sponsor is actually selling anything

UCI WorldTeams
**AG2R Citroën Team
**Alpecin-Deceuninck
****Astana Qazaqstan Team
****Bahrain - Victorious
*BORA - hansgrohe
***Cofidis
*EF Education-EasyPost
**Groupama - FDJ
**NEOS Grenadiers
**Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
**Jumbo-Visma
*/**Lidl - Trek
**Movistar Team
**Soudal - Quick Step
***Team Arkéa Samsic
***Team DSM
***Team Jayco AlUla
****UAE Team Emirates

By my tally, I'm only aware of 2.5 title sponsors who are actually selling stuff I could buy in the U.S. out of the whole world tour.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Here's the list of all the world tour teams.

*=I think I know what their sponsor sells and I could buy it
**=I think I know what their sponsor sells but it's not available for purchase in the U.S.
***=I don't know what their sponsor sells
****=I don't think their sponsor is actually selling anything

UCI WorldTeams
**AG2R Citroën Team
**Alpecin-Deceuninck
****Astana Qazaqstan Team
****Bahrain - Victorious
*BORA - hansgrohe
***Cofidis
*EF Education-EasyPost
**Groupama - FDJ
**NEOS Grenadiers
**Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
**Jumbo-Visma
*/**Lidl - Trek
**Movistar Team
**Soudal - Quick Step
***Team Arkéa Samsic
***Team DSM
***Team Jayco AlUla
****UAE Team Emirates

By my tally, I'm only aware of 2.5 title sponsors who are actually selling stuff I could buy in the U.S. out of the whole world tour.

This is a good list.

You can also get Alpecin shampoo (caffeinated!), Soudal adhesives, QuickStep flooring, Deceunick windows, and Jayco RVs in the US

[RoosterCogset]

How come Rapha doesn't sponsor a team (or Walmart for that matter)?

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by RoosterCogset

How come Rapha doesn't sponsor a team (or Walmart for that matter)?

Budgets run as high as $45m.

Rapha was the clothing sponsor for Team Sky for about 4 years and did not get the return they wanted.

Walmart sponsoring a team makes no sense to me.

Jeff

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Here's the list of all the world tour teams.

*=I think I know what their sponsor sells and I could buy it
**=I think I know what their sponsor sells but it's not available for purchase in the U.S.
***=I don't know what their sponsor sells
****=I don't think their sponsor is actually selling anything

UCI WorldTeams
**AG2R Citroën Team
**Alpecin-Deceuninck
****Astana Qazaqstan Team
****Bahrain - Victorious
*BORA - hansgrohe
***Cofidis
*EF Education-EasyPost
**Groupama - FDJ
**NEOS Grenadiers
**Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
**Jumbo-Visma
*/**Lidl - Trek
**Movistar Team
**Soudal - Quick Step
***Team Arkéa Samsic
***Team DSM
***Team Jayco AlUla
****UAE Team Emirates

By my tally, I'm only aware of 2.5 title sponsors who are actually selling stuff I could buy in the U.S. out of the whole world tour.

This is a couple of years old but explains what all of the sponsors do:

https://inrng.com/2021/06/pro-team-s...our-de-france/

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by RoosterCogset

How come Rapha doesn't sponsor a team (or Walmart for that matter)?

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Budgets run as high as $45m.

Rapha was the clothing sponsor for Team Sky for about 4 years and did not get the return they wanted.

Walmart sponsoring a team makes no sense to me.

Jeff

Rapha sponsor both the mens and womens (they are different organisations AFAIK) EF teams - EF-Easy Post and EF-Tibco-SVB

I don't know what the dollars were for either sponsorship (Sky or the two EF's) I'd suggest this sponsorship has been more effective than Sky, they have had some serious cut through with both the 'year round' kit as well as the substitute stuff they've had for the Giro and Tour.

[rwsaunders]

If you’re from Pittsburgh, the term jumbo refers to cheap bologna…maybe the new CEO has some roots here.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by jimoots

This is a couple of years old but explains what all of the sponsors do:

https://inrng.com/2021/06/pro-team-s...our-de-france/

Yeah... I mean, I can do research, but my point is if I, a devoted cycling fan either don't know what the sponsors are selling or don't think I can buy what they're selling, then the exposure that an advertiser gets needs to be significantly discounted compared to other methods of advertising with similar reach.

Maybe Movistar thinks that their market in Spain and South America is big enough that they don't care, but they are still effectively paying for exposure for France, Italy, U.S., Great Britain, etc. that can't possibly be converted into paying customers. Aside from possibly cycling equipment brands, sponsoring a cycling team is a very inefficient form of advertising,

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Yeah... I mean, I can do research, but my point is if I, a devoted cycling fan either don't know what the sponsors are selling or don't think I can buy what they're selling, then the exposure that an advertiser gets needs to be significantly discounted compared to other methods of advertising with similar reach.

Maybe Movistar thinks that their market in Spain and South America is big enough that they don't care, but they are still effectively paying for exposure for France, Italy, U.S., Great Britain, etc. that can't possibly be converted into paying customers. Aside from possibly cycling equipment brands, sponsoring a cycling team is a very inefficient form of advertising,

It was more an interesting FYI than a "do your research buddy" type comment.

It is kinda easy to sit back as armchair marketers and say "why would jumbo bother with a cycling team if they are focused on the Netherlands"... and sure, first principles, that is a fair statement.

I think the argument for cycling is that the return on investment would still be incredibly high for a 'hyperlocal' business like Jumbo, because:

- in absolute terms, the cost to sponsor a cycling team is small
- the Dutch love cycling

Jumbo itself is a $10bn revenue business with a net profit margin around the 5% mark, while the entire of Jumbo-Visma's budget is around the $30m mark.

It's easy to argue for the relatively modest investment when you have one of the most successful modern cycling teams and your customer base is cycling mad.

You can apply the same sort of arguments for Movistar or any other business that isn't 'global', the entry fee as a naming rights sponsor isn't exorbitant compared to other advertising/marketing efforts that get the same number of eyeballs. And when it boils down to it, advertising is a reach and frequency game... get in front of the biggest, most targeted audience as many times as you can.

As a sidenote, cycling from the Jumbo is unlikely to really do much for them financially, it's probably one of those things where the new CEO comes in and swings his weight around and signal his priorities to the rest of the business.

Again, INRNG has done a great job (better than I could do) talking through this sort of stuff:

https://inrng.com/2013/07/sponsorship-tour-vs-teams/
https://inrng.com/2014/01/pro-team-f...sorship-wages/
https://inrng.com/2014/06/pro-cycling-sponsorship/

[unterhausen]

I remember when Mapei signs were everywhere at races. I finally bought some of their products when I was doing a bathroom renovation. I thought I knew what Bora did, but now I'm pretty sure it's a different Bora from the world tour team.

[avalonracing]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

I agree with him.

Sports sponsorship is useless, especially for a very local brand.

I'm not so sure. On the cycling side, I remember a few friends who bought Festina watches when they were a big sponsor during the TdF. None of them would have bought (or even heard of) Festina otherwise.