RRios
Senior Heliman
Location: Orlando, Florida United States
My Posts This: Topic Forum | Sponsorship involves representing the companies product line in a concise and professional manner. It involves more than just fancy flying. Good communication, being personable and knowledgable are key requirements in order to represent or be an ambassador for that company in a professional manner that makes their product-line look good enough to make others want to purchase it. This is the sponsors return on investment in you, their sponsored pilot.
A key element in acquiring a sponsorship is in visibility. If you are not visible at many of the key events through-out the nation, as well as ranking high at those key events, then you will not have the visibility necessary as far as the company looking to sponsor a pilot stands. The more visibility the better, this translates into you, the wannabe pilot looking to get sponsored, into absorbing traveling costs such as hotel, car rental, food, helicopter parts, etc... for years possibly without any help hoping to get noticed by a company. This can involve thousands of dollars and in the end there is no guarantee of obtaining a sponsorship, not even one.
Another thing to look at is this, not all sponsored pilots are 100% financially sponsored. In other words, having a sponsorship by a product line does not mean they are or will pay you a salary, or pay for you to go to an event, or pay for your travel, hotel, etc... it simply means most of the times that they will provide you with a few of their products in the hope that you can promote them enough to generate sales. There are different levels of sponsorships too, starting at partial sponsorships that involve percentages off of their products (i.e. they will give you 25% or 50% ,etc... off of any order you place with them).
Some sponsorships might even be 100% off of their product line only, limited to certain quantities a year or a quarter, but no other money or sponsorship other than free parts. But this means you still must be visible to be an advertisement for them to generate sales, which translates into even though you get free parts from one vendor, you still need to attend or are expected to attend all of the major events around the nation to represent them. This is their return on investment, it's a business proposition. This is how you continue up the sponsorship ladder.
Most people think that being sponsored is "all that", but I am sure if you ask around you will find that many sponsored pilots still have to pay for their hotels, car rentals, food, etc... with the sponsor maybe paying for the entry fee to the event. This ends up costing you a lot of money out of your own pocket, as well as having a job that can not only fund this much travel but also allow you to take the time off to attend the many events through-out the year... not the ones just close to you. There have been known to be different levels of sponsorships within the same company, such as an A group, B group or C group, with the A's being full ride, the B's being 100% parts only, and the C's being 50% off parts, etc. Sponsored pilots don't do it for the sponsorship in as much as they do it because they love the sport.
I write this from my own experience of 8 years as a fully sponsored RC racer, having dealt in that industry for over 16 years (8 as a privateer) with the last 8 years sponsored by multiple companies, to help shed a little light here on the whole sponsorship mistique for those questioning about it.
Hope this helps those looking for it, but in the end your goal should not be to acquire one as you might find yourself in for a whole lot of hurt as it might turn-out to be harder and more expensive than you think. There is no guarantee you will ever get one just by being a good 3D pilot. More importantly you should focus on trying to enjoy yourself as much as possible with a love for the sport bringing others into it with your knowledge and help.
Orlando T.O.R.C.H.S. member
Spektrum DX7 Radio
T-Rex 700N YS91SR Hatori SB19FH
T-Rex 450SE |
. I used to want to get sponsored, but now that my favorite machine is a hybrid, I know that if I did get sponsored, I probably wouldn't be "allowed" to fly it anymore. Still though, I can never have too much fuel and lipos, sooooooo anybody wanna give me free fuel and batteries?! 
