Can Sponsorships depend on what region you live in?

Some small ski companies are about sponsoring local skiers, so yeah. Also, a company might want to expand to new areas.

The two sides of promotion in the ski industry are local and online, and separately at the highest levels, televised comps. If you live in an area that the company believes has a market that is not being fully capitalized on, they will want to increase their local presence to make better use of the market's potential. If you live in an area with few sponsored skiers, yet there are many park skiers (particularly young ones), you may have a better chance of landing a sponsorship if you can demonstrate that you would make the company's product more visible to that demographic. If you live in an area with lots of park skiers, but there are many high-level or pro skiers and the market is already flooded with promotion, you will have a smaller chance of landing a sponsorship based on local promotion. However, you must also produce edits and be involved in the online community on the company's behalf to really make yourself an effective marketing tool and a strong candidate for sponsorship by said company.

sure, if a company based let's say in colorado has a quite stacked team in america, but hasn't got any riders outside of the US yet, they will most likely start sponsoring riders outside of the US. The sponsored riders could probably also be a bit lower then the ones they sponsored in the US since not to many riders will know the brand yet.

I guess that a company like that will probably go through the same process as they did in the US in Europe again.

Its going to be depend on the person making these decisions for the brand and if they see value in having a local presence vs a purely online presence. Personally I think that you need these talented local riders to be repping your brand in order to compliment the brand's online presence. I don't have any statistics to say that this is true or not, but it certainly feels right. After this year I can tell you how it worked out with the additions I'm making to the clothing brand that I run.

Swandog7You get get sponsored because you are great skier. Companies want to sell more products. They sponsor you because they think if you use their product so will someone else, thus selling more products. So I was wondering, if you live in Region A that a company does not sell as much product compared to Region B, can a person with the same skills and style more likely to be sponsored in Region A than Region B? Wouldn't a company target places that sell less than others places so they can boost thier sales in that area?

Yeah absolutely. What a lot of people don't realize is that most first sponsorships start with a local rep.

When I got my first sponsor a long time ago (Head) it was straight from the local rep. He has his territory to handle, and a small amount of product to use for promotion. He sponsored me to help boost sales in the area.

Some online companies who are smaller might not have a rep force, you can bet your ass they would pick riders in areas they want to build.

It can be much later in an athletes career that they move up to national or international teams.

TallxTIts going to be depend on the person making these decisions for the brand and if they see value in having a local presence vs a purely online presence. Personally I think that you need these talented local riders to be repping your brand in order to compliment the brand's online presence. I don't have any statistics to say that this is true or not, but it certainly feels right. After this year I can tell you how it worked out with the additions I'm making to the clothing brand that I run.

I am disappointing I have not been contacted, how else are you going to exploit the ever growing Pakistani-American ski niche

ndyeI am disappointing I have not been contacted, how else are you going to exploit the ever growing Pakistani-American ski niche

you're actually on my list haha. my bad i havent hit you up yet

TallxTyou're actually on my list haha. my bad i havent hit you up yet

The excitement is real

if you are canadian, it is 100x harder to make it in the ski/snowboard/skateboard industry. With a population the size of california, you're just not as marketable.

Companies also rely a bit on online edits and social media for their sponsors so in that case it doesn't reay matter what region

jason...if you are canadian, it is 100x harder to make it in the ski/snowboard/skateboard industry. With a population the size of california, you're just not as marketable.

Not sure I agree with this at all. I mean, feel free to correct me but I feel like there are plenty of high level Canadian pros, maybe even a disproportionate number if you compare it to population. Also, by your argument (which could very well be flawed, haven't checked the numbers) I would say Canada probably has a higher percentage of people involved in winter sports which means their market is a higher ratio of their total population.

Bishop or some other Canadian industry person feel free to correct me though.

cydwhitNot sure I agree with this at all. I mean, feel free to correct me but I feel like there are plenty of high level Canadian pros, maybe even a disproportionate number if you compare it to population. Also, by your argument (which could very well be flawed, haven't checked the numbers) I would say Canada probably has a higher percentage of people involved in winter sports which means their market is a higher ratio of their total population.

Bishop or some other Canadian industry person feel free to correct me though.

"make it" is the key definition here.

Its definitely very easy to get a sponsor in Canada - no harder than in the US. We have a very strong proportional industry as mentioned.

However when it comes to money, its a totally different story. We produce loads of great skiers, but the budgets at companies pale in comparison to their american counterparts. There's just simply more people and more money in America.

So yes, higher ratio, but the numbers are still weak. Its very healthy for its size though, but america still definitely beats us out.

Swandog7You get get sponsored because you are great skier. Companies want to sell more products.

The first bit, no, the second bit, yes.
I've done the spansercized thing in a couple of areas before (not skiing) and you don't have to be "the best". You just have to be not rubbish - more importantly, you need to be able to help them shift product. There are loads of things that come into it, such as your social media profile and just whether you come across as an asshole or trustworthy.
Essentially, a company will often quite happily hook you up with gear as long as you drive more business to them than it costs them to hook you up. Also bear in mind that even if you're not dealing with the brand directly (i.e. with an area rep or something) the manufacturer will likely give the rep some free/cheap gear for the purpose of promotion.
And just another thing people don't always think about - sometimes it's the low-level, quiet sponsorships that are effective - when a pro talks up their gear, there's always the nagging thought of "you obviously get paid to say that" but if you took a chairlift ride with someone and got talking about skis with them, and they were super positive about a certain bit of gear, what's to say that's not because they're actually getting it on the cheap?
Whenever I've gotten gear (non-skiing) cheap or free it's been because I will promote that product and drive sales, not necessarily because I'm the best at that particular thing.