Alex Wright is a martial artist with 30 years of experience, as well as a BJJ black belt under Angel Lopez – and the brand director of Revgear.
And, in a recent interview with the Jits Magazine, he revealed what it takes for Jiu-Jitsu practitioners to be sponsored by them, as well as by the majority of other martial arts brands.
He first went into what doesn’t work when reaching out to brands:
I’ll start out with the negative and say this on record for the interview, if you do this with a brand then expect no response.
If you do get one then you’re very lucky, and the brand’s probably not worth working with anyway.We often get an email or Facebook message that looks like this: “My name is Joe Bloggs and I’ve done next to nothing in the sport. I’ll name-drop one or two of my training partners who are loosely in the same team and if you give me X, Y, and Z; I’ll wear your gear and you’ll get more sales because people will see me in it.”
That’s instantly in the bin, because the very first thing you look for is some form of relationship.
The first thing you ask as a brand is: “Are you actually already using our gear?”Why would we sponsor a guy who doesn’t even use our gear to begin with?
It’s like, if you don’t like the food in the restaurant then why are you asking for it for free?We’ve got thousands of loyal customers, so why would we choose to sponsor someone who doesn’t use us over someone who does?
So, if you are already a customer of the brand, Wright explains how to approach them:
We look for somebody who’s enthusiastic and genuine.
If somebody comes to me and says: “I’ve been using Revgear gis since I was a white belt and now I’m competing at the IBJJF European Championship at purple belt, here’s my Instagram with me wearing all the Revgear stuff, would you consider sponsoring me and helping me out with my drive to win Euros?”
That would be a really difficult email to say no to.
That would genuinely be difficult for someone in my position to have a negative response to.
Wright also presented a clear-cut plan for BJJ practitioners to take when looking for a sponsorship:
First and foremost, pick your brand.
Do your research and pick the people you have a natural alignment with.After that, be a customer first. Put some skin in the game.
If you’re not prepared to buy anything the brand sells, why would they give it to you for free?Then, be visibly endorsing that brand.
Basically make it impossible for them to question why you want to work with them.Then when you make your approach, connect with the right person.
In our case it’s me, but every brand has a guy who deals with this and that is the guy you need to build a relationship with first.Make it impossible to say no.
Get more insights in the full interview on the following link.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.