Sponsoring women’s cycling leads to direct sales!

Yesterday I wrote about 10 ways we can all help grow women’s cycling, and in it, I talked about buying or using products that support riders, teams and races.  I said that I was sad that I couldn’t use Boels Rental products – but then my friend Nic replied to a tweet about the company:

It inspired me to ask my twitter followers to share things that they’ve bought, or used, because of the women’s cycling connection, and especially because companies have sponsored riders, teams and races.  The replies made me so happy, I wanted to share some them with you.

They include a lot of people who’ve bought bikes and related products, but they also cover everything from people making decisions about buying a pair of socks, or choosing  right up to a car, because companies sponsor the sport, and lots in between.  These are just a tiny snapshot, based on who saw my two tweets asking for examples, in around 24 hours, so it’s the tiniest tip of the iceberg of demonstrating how sponsoring cycling raises awareness and changes perceptions of a brand. What’s also interesting is how many people are still using products after the sponsors left the sport – in some cases, years later.

There were so many replies that I couldn’t include them all, or this post would go on for days – but thank you so much to everyone who shared these with me.  If you want to talk about this, or to share things to be included in Part 2, please leave me a comment below, or chat to me on twitter.   In no particular order…

As I would have expected, there are a lot of examples of people buying bike-related products because of sponsoring a team

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So many comments about Rapha, and the Canyon-SRAM team jersey, which has a huge number of fans, I can’t fit them all in! (You can buy yours here).  And it doesn’t just stop at jerseys – there are lots of people looking at the team bikes, and a couple who have already bought them:

It’s so interesting how both Rapha and Canyon Bikes have only sponsored Canyon-SRAM for one season, and it’s having a real impact already.  Rapha isn’t a named sponsor, but being so associated with the kit, it’s a win-win, especially when they’ve made some great photo-essays about the team on their website, and videos on their YouTube.

But even before they were a team sponsor, Rapha were making sales because of pro cycling women:

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Sponsoring races also really raises awareness of a brand.  There were 4 or 5 different people telling me about how Friends Life/Aviva sponsoring The Women’s Tour made them use buy their insurance.

Such a shame Aviva stopped sponsoring The Women’s Tour, but that’s an example of a customer relationship that will last for years.

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A bit of explanation here – Sho-Air Twenty20 started out sponsored by Peanut Butter & Co (I still miss the Irish Champion’s shamrock + monkey jersey) – and Victory Beer sponsored a women’s USA team from the Tri-State area.  And there’s more love connected to Twenty20:

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And there are more relationships with brands because of cycling, that go back years:

Keetie van Oosten Hage was a huge star in the 1970s, and Becks Bier had sponsored her team.  Superstar Leontien van Moorsel retired after winning her third Olympic gold medal in 2004 , and Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel is the most recent of this trio, retiring for the last time in 2009 , and had ridden for the Farm Frites team back in 2004.

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More love for Vulpine!

Again, there were 4 or 5 more tweets talking about finding Vulpine and Milltag through their relationship with Matrix Procycling.  And while it’s harder for people to things from sponsors like Matrix Fitness, the relationship definitely raises brand awareness.

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High5 Nutrition sponsors Wiggle High5 and the Australian High5 Dream Team

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I think this is the biggest women’s cycling-related purchase yet…  Can you beat it?

Skoda started life as a cycling company, and support women’s cycling all over the world, via teams and races – here’s to them becoming a big team title sponsor in the future!  But check out their link to find out about their cycling connections.

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It’s not just road – some MTB love – and especially for the legend that is Tracy Moseley

and mine, because wow, I love them so much!

And of course, some cyclocross love

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It’s not even sponsoring that makes a difference – just featuring women cyclists can lead to sales:

Sadly there aren’t any more women’s cycling Rouleur mugs for sale at the moment, but I really like my Laura Trott mug, and hope they come back with more (I’d love a Marianne Vos mug, for example!)

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Now, some replies were all about other products that people can use – but I have solutions!

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And this one just made me laugh!

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How cool is all of this?  And watching the likes come in from companies that have been mentioned has also made me happy.  Cycling positivity – it works!

If you’re thinking about buying something, and your decision is influenced by a company’s relationship with women’s cycling, please do let the company know on your favourite social media platform, because it truly does help demonstrate Return on Investment to the company, and make them see the value in sponsoring the sport.  And do tell the rider, team or race as well, so they can use that to get more sponsors as well.   You can always look on your favourites’ websites to find their sponsors, to see if you can buy from them!  I’ve got more quick and simple tips for how fans can use social media to help women’s cycling grow, in this article.

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As always, I don’t benefit financially in any way for featuring these companies.  I am, however, supported by my amazing Patreon supporters, who fund me to do women’s cycling work from as little as £/€/$ a month – huge thanks to them, and if you want to join them, there’s more information here.