On October 30th, I presented “Is Sponsorship a Sin?” at the annual Night of Lies in Canmore. It’s a fun evening of heckling, mockery & ridicule. Given the nature of the event (& the typical amount of beer consumed), I thought examining professional climbing would be a good fit. I’ve included a video of my talk below.
I sent this video to a few friends that weren’t there, and my friend Dave Karl, a sales rep in the northeast US, raised a good point:
Good slide show but I disagree with the three-test rule. I have IFMGA & AMGA Mountain Guides that I sponsor that are totally worthy. Their personal (non-guided) climbing accomplishments may not be noteworthy among their elite peers, but they don’t bullshit either, and they do help sell product. These guides help the entire sport and climbing community by educating the public and introducing new participants to climbing. A good mountain guide can be a great sponsorship investment.
This is a good point, and one I wish I had made during my talk. I agree with Dave that there are folks out there worthy of support that may not be on the cutting edge of climbing. They are typically local, grassroots climbers or industry-folk like guides that are in front of the target market on a daily basis. I have no objections to these athletes being supported, either by sales reps or by brands, on an informal basis.
My beef is with climbers that are put on an official, publicized pedestal by the sponsoring brand (and with climbers that are striving to be put on that pedestal) — via blogs, websites, magazines, slideshows, etc — but who really haven’t done anything of note to warrant their elevated status.
This latter group seems to be growing in numbers, and that trend needs to be reversed.
Enjoy the show…
Sponsorship Slideshow from Scott Semple on Vimeo.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
SS,
This, I think, was a great show for Night of Lies. It sparked debate and got people thinking. Most of the post show discussions I have had about NOL was around your talk and I think that is great!
You had some guts to stand up in front of that crowd and talk about this. I am sure there were many people in that room ready to run for the door at some point
but all in all I think that it was taken well and you made your point. Not everyone is going to agree with you (I don’t even know that you agree with you 
) but it opened the dialog.
Thanks again for sponsoring Night of Lies
WG
Thanks, Wade!
why bother? if there are people trying to succeed in climbing without arriving with true “realizations”, i don’t think this will change the true meanings and values of climbing. and i don’t think it will affect anyone but themselves. let’s face it, for the companies, having people endorsing their products is heaven. the more you have, the more chances of buying your products exist. for about twenty years, the climbing scene was about the money. who owns TNF? who owns MH?
Thanks, craciun. It’s true that sponsorship helps business, but should that be the prime consideration?
Who owns TNF and MH? Nobody who cares about climbing. There may be climbers that work there (hopefully), but they’re both owned by large public corporations that have very little concern for the culture of the sport the companies came from. Both have strayed very far from there roots, TNF in particular.
A better question, do you know any serious climbers who wear TNF that aren’t paid to? I think that alone speaks loads about how the brand has weakened since it started — core users have abandoned it.
Scott:
Many haven’t the time to figure out which muttons are being dressed as lamb. Though you obviously do.
So please and thank you. Gives us a list of those pulling ‘wool over our eyes’. When ranting with critique, you ought to provide documented evidence.
Keep warm. Stay cool,
Roblet
Thanks, Rob. Figuring out who’s legit and who’s pretending isn’t hard to do. Just review resumes. Whose resumes are woefully lacking in anything significant?
C’mon Scotty stand-up:
The ruler you measure others by should be introspective as well. So if you’re gonna spray, cite your detailed evidence.
We want your list of dilettantes. Your list of insignificants.
And how long must we wait before the giants need to repeat? If they went kong solid 5 years ago and nothing since….?
You appear a good man. Have a Merry Xmas,
Roblet