Sponsorship 101
I’m sure all of us have witnessed greatness at some point in our lives. Whether it was man landing on the moon, the Milwaukee Bucks winning the 1971 NBA championship, or that beer pong game that went to triple OT finishing with a behind the back trick shot.
The story I’m about to tell is a tale of hope and relentless determination. It’s about the journey of one man’s dream to achieve the impossible…. This is the tale of Dan and his vision.
From birth Dan was always different, when he came into this world he was blessed with incredibly good looks and a set of six pack abs. This led to an uncontrollable sense of self-confidence; the world would never be the same. Fast forward a short 28 years, Dan and his buddies decided to book the trip of a lifetime that would take them to the Greek and Croatian Islands on the famous Yacht Week Adventure.
Dan knew that the vacation would provide memories for lifetime, but he also had other plans in mind. With swagger like “Flavor Flav” and the mindset of Warren Buffet, he set out to get the crew sponsored.
Jokes aside, this is the actual and non-edited email conversation between Dan and one of our Sponsors, Shinesty:
(Please note that the names of corporate owners have been taken out to protect their epic identities)
“Subject: Yacht Week Sponsorship
To whom it may concern,
I’d like to take a second to offer you, Shinesty, a very unique opportunity. In fact, this opportunity that I’m about to present to you will most likely be a once in a lifetime game changer. Myself and three very good friends are going to be taking the trip of a lifetime to Europe this summer and we would like to invite Shinesty along with us.
First let me tell you a little bit about the trip. On June 26th 2015 I will be hopping on a plane with three of my best buds. Our destination you ask, none other than Mykonos, Greece. For 7 days we will be gracing the islands of Greece with our presence. I could explain the activities that we have planned, but I would rather let your imagination run rampant. Just know there will be some insane memories made while wearing the sickest gear ever (pending Shinesty sponsorship).
Now, Greece will be a great time, needless to say; however, this isn’t really where we need your sponsorship. It’s simply a selfish part of our master plan. Where Shinesty really has an opportunity to market itself is on our next leg of the Trip. On July 4th myself, three of my closest friends and four Australian girls that we have never met, set sail in Croatia for the legendary Yacht Week. If you don’t know what The Yacht Week is, please feel free to educate yourself here: Yacht Week Aftermovie
Basically, we would like to sacrifice our bodies, in order for Shinesty to market their amazing gear to their target demographic. In fact, this isn’t simply your target demographic, this is the cream of the crop demographic. These are the influencers. The ones who disrupt the norm. The ones who go out of their way to live life to the fullest, in order for their friends to have a reason to wake up and go on social media. This is the demographic that companies would pay hand over fist to have marketing their gear. This is the market with disposable income. The market that others love to emulate because they simply want a taste of the life these people have. Also, did I mention that last year at The Yacht Week there were over 60 nationalities represented…. #WorldWideMarketing
We love what Shinesty stands for. You see we are patriots too, American made Men. We already own a handful of your gear and love it all. We would simply like to extend an invitation out to you guys to share in our epic adventure. This is really a bargain for Shinesty. A small price to pay for a global market to view your gear!
Now I realize that we are no longer college students; however, we are influencers. Big time. We are the guys who go out there and live it up. Make shit happen. We are dreamers. The dreamers who create realities out of our wildest imaginations. Now why is this important to you? Let me tell you. When we receive our sponsorship from Shinesty, we will ensure that it is worth your while. This will be accomplished in many ways, here are a few of those ways:
- Presence at The Yacht Week (enough said)
- Social media posts – I.E. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with hashtags such as #ShinestyDoesTYW #Shinesty #ShinestyDoesTheYachtWeek #TheYachtWeek #TYW – I’m sure that we can come up with additional hashtags that are relevant. Just know that #TYW and #TheYachtWeek are very relevant to your customer base and will be awesome marketing tools when our pictures with your gear on show up in the search.
Now, let me introduce you to the Shinesters.
Brandon Mendoza (AKA Doza)– The adventurer. Doza is the type of guy who will ask you to go on a 3 mile hike. In three months, when you return from the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, you’ll know that you’ve met Doza. Size Medium, Age:26, Sales Engineer
James Burns (AKA the Philosopher)– Saying the Philosopher is a thinker is an understatement. He’s just about to publish a motivational coffee table book entitled “Open and Read”. With looks like a model, a heart of gold and thoughts that rival the “Allegory of the Cave”, your brain will hurt after spending some time with the Philosopher. In a good way. PS he walks his cat on a leash and it goes to the bathroom….. in the toilet…. Size Medium, Age:26, Sale Engineer
Colby Grobschmit (AKA Thor) –Thor. Do I really need to say more? He has literally been mistaken as Thor numerous times. I mean a lot. He carries a hammer with him as he sails the seven seas. Yes, he is a sailor, of big ass boats. Also, did I mention Thor. You can have Thor market your Gear…THOR… Size Medium, Age:25, Sailor
Dan De Vries (AKA The Chaperone) – As the oldest member of this trip, I plan on ensuring my younger compadres have the time of their life, via my infinite, age old wisdom. Also, I tend to live Vicariously through myself by traveling to a new city just about every month. It’s awesome. Size Medium, Age:28, Project Controller/Field Engineer
With all that being said, help us help you. We want to see Shinesty become what Kleenex is to tissue paper.
Cheers,
Dan
Subject: Fwd: Yacht Week Sponsorship
You old sailor you,
I’m not going to sugarcoat this. We’re impressed.
To date, our sponsorships have been limited to one Alaskan crab fisherman and a 13-year-old who can throw a double daffy spread eagle backflip on ski blades. The Yacht Week sounds like it could make an excellent addition.
We have so many questions about you, Thor, Doza, and The Philosopher setting sail with four unknown Australian women. I’ll list a few of the more important ones. Are your Australian companions of the Aboriginal variety or the European variety? Do you know their names, what they look like, or their respective marital statuses? Do you think you could convince one of them to get a Shinesty tattoo (preferably in the face region)? Did you book a yacht with a skipper or is Thor handling the captain duties? Regardless of your answer to the previous question, is there enough room for Thor to bring his hammer aboard? If so, would you be willing to strap a GoPro to said hammer to document its adventures? How will you ensure that Doza doesn’t slip something into Thor’s drink and turn the ship into a pirate vessel hell bent on pillaging every small island between Croatia and New Orleans? When the Philosopher publishes his novella, will we get first dibs on movie rights? Finally, and most importantly… As I’m sure you are aware, when worn as directed, Shinesty products have the tendency to attract outstanding amounts of attention from members of the opposite sex. In the not-so-rare scenario that a child is consummated during this epic voyage, can you promise us that the child’s middle name will be Shinesty?
I like where this is going. Pending your answers to these crucial questions, we may be able to work out a sponsorship. Are any of you fine American gents well versed in the art of GoPro videography? In addition to the social media tags, what’d really get us going is if you’d be willing to document your travels via a video blog. I think there are some strong storylines here that could make for some excellent 15 second video content.
Anxiously awaiting your response,
Team Shinesty
Subject: Fwd: Yacht Week Sponsorship
Chris,
First of all, thank you for getting back to me. Your ability to word smith an email is rivaled by none. You literally had me “LOL”ing.
That being said, let’s get down to business here. I was unaware that we would be up against such talented individuals in our quest for Shinesty sponsorship. I mean, I’m sure that the crab fisherman’s beard has better stories than any one of us could dream up! With all that in mind, we plan on doing our damnedest to create a story that our grandchildren will still talking about years later (partly because they may be the result of this trip)!
Now, let’s get to your questions. As far as the Australian girls go, I don’t believe that they of the Aboriginal or European descent. I believe that have been sent to us straight from heaven. Angels – Angels with Australian accents. Their names are Sarah, Amy, Emma, and Jess. I have included pictures of each of them. They are all single and by the looks of it, ready to mingle. Without having met these Angels, it’s difficult for me to say whether or not they would want a face tattoo. I’m leaning towards yes though, simply based on irrefutable evidence that Doza can basically convince anyone to do anything… And I mean ANYTHING.
Although Thor is more than capable of being the captain of our vessel, we have hired a skipper. Due to the fact that there may be a few adult beverages consumed, we thought it would behoove us to hire a trained professional. I’m sure at some point Thor will have to bail out the entire Yacht Week collective from a disastrous storm though, earning a Croatian holiday in his name. That sounds like a typical Tuesday for Thor.
The living quarters of our vessel will be tight. Additionally, once girls realize that we have Thor on our boat, fights will ensue to try and spend fifteen minutes with him. Therefore, we are undecided in reference to bringing the Hammer… It may be too big of a giveaway that Thor is honoring Croatia with his presence. The last thing we want to do is have the Angels fighting for their place on the Yacht the whole week. Or…. Wait a minute, that could be fun.
In the highly unlikely event that Doza slips something into Thor’s drink, it would be more likely that Doza would tie him up, put him in a dingy and start on a quest to find an underwater city. When the aforementioned underwater city is found, Doza would have Thor marry the mermaid princess and they would live happily ever after. Thank God GoPros work underwater because that would be some of the best wedding footage ever!
Although the Philosopher has clearly written an instant classic, it will most likely not be turned into a movie. It’s simply not that kind of book. I’ll tell you what though, when the book comes out, we would be more than happy to let Shinesty help us spread the word about the book! That way your potential customers will realize that only the classiest and most educated of Men wear your gear.
Batting averages. Have you heard of them? Let’s just say that when we wear your gear we make Ty Cobb look like an amateur. I mean, I’m talking about a 1 batting average with the ladies. Is it that evident that Thor is going to create two sons named Móði and Magni from this trip? I mean I guess it is. I don’t think Norse Mythology would mind if we throw a new middle name into the mix. Móði Shinesty Grobschmit and Magni Shinesty Grobschmit. That has a good ring to it.
GoPro. Let’s just say we put the Pro in Going. You catch my drift? Doza has the skills when it comes to the GoPro videos. Currently we only have one GoPro. In order to create the best possible marketing experience for you guys, we may need some more GoPro equipment. I really like the idea of a video blog. Brilliance. We already planned on creating a video at the end of the trip anyway so this would go hand in hand with that. We would simply need a bit more GoPro gear. Maybe you guys could work something out with them to hook us up?
Lastly, and probably most importantly, Ben – your email address. Wow. You win man. Smooches! That is your work email! Amazing.
Love,
Dan De Vries
Subject: Fwd: Yacht Week Sponsorship
Wow…these kids are going to have onehelluvah time with those 4 aussies. It’s going to be like when the US sent it’s Pacific Fleet to Melbourne for R&R in WWII and the largest baby boom in the history of the entire country happened (my fact…but I’m sure it’s true).
Magic happens when you mix American men with Australian women.
These guys are hilarious.”
Back to the story: with multiple attempts to gain sponsorship for our European Yacht Week trip, we were able to solidify 4 truly amazing sponsors: Shinesty, Red Bull, Flabongo, and Portmanteau Stereo.
You may be asking, what do these sponsorships actually mean? More than $2,000 in gear! (Plus a signed copy of the “Rise and Shine” DVD from Jay Demerit… and if you know anything about Jay Demerit, his signature is priceless)
All in all, we’re set up to sail the Adriatic Sea in style; chugging beers out of official flabongos, flying high with wings from Red Bull, jamming out with the most powerful vintage suitcase stereo known to man, and partying in the most epic Shinesty clothing available (including 4 american flag speedos, Ow Ow, look out ladies).
This trip will be a story for the grand kids. Although Dan did sign over the naming rights of his first born during our negotiation. Boy or girl, looks like “Shinesty DeVries” is going to have a lot to live up to. But hey, you can’t put a price on the most epic 17 days of your life!
Stay tuned for more updates as we depart for our trip on Friday, June 26!
~Jimbo
Read the next part of the European Adventure here: Mykonos is Crazy