12 Comments
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Steven Wagner's avatar

I used to manage motorsports and eventually some cycling sponsorships.

I would suggest building a riding club. Give all the members endemic discounts. Focus on growing it.

Sponsors would be more interested in a broad amateur reach coupled with pro level visibility.

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Joe Laverick's avatar

Yes! This is the 'Swatt Club' method and something I covered two or three articles ago on here too. I'm a *big* fan of building this alongside it. I think it's something most teams do very badly.

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KyleP's avatar

Like people have said Swatt Club with personality figures akin to a Holy Spirit of Gravel comedian or a VCletsgetit influencer and have fans buy into an easygoing brand but the best members are competitive.

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Joe Laverick's avatar

Our goal is (in a way) can we build a global cycling club/brand with a pro team at the top.

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simon williams's avatar

super interesting and yes my thoughts exactly :)

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Joe Laverick's avatar

Nice to know I’m not the only one thinking about it.

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simon williams's avatar

content forward, performance driven multi discipline teams are the way of the future!

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Tom Baker's avatar

I’m so bored by box-ticked video “content” and “story-telling”created by teams.

The Cycling Podcast nailed it recently: the Unibet Rockets are compelling because they are a media company first and foremost that then added a cycling team to create more content.

Food for thought

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Joe Laverick's avatar

I agree. I hate 'tag on' content. What Bas has done with Unibet - and we also have to credit EF too, has been very good. The media company first is a big part of our pitch.

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stuartare's avatar

This is a really interesting piece & idea Joe, and I wish you the best of luck. Unfortunately I’m not a billionaire who can slip £500k into your back pocket, otherwise I would just to see you do it. I can buy you a coffee though, which I’ll do now.

Are Swatt Club not already doing the multi-surface piece across gravel and road? Would your team be the first truly cross-surface team?

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Joe Laverick's avatar

Thank you! Swatt Club are doing the multi-surface piece, and I've chatted to Carlo about this a little. They're an inspiration of mine, alongside Bas too. I think the anglo-market (especially UK//N.America) would benefit from this.

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KyleP's avatar

Like people have said Swatt Club with personality figures akin to a Holy Spirit of Gravel comedian or a VCletsgetit influencer and have fans buy into an easygoing brand but the best members are competitive.

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