Sponsors Now Want Unique?

My how times they have a-changed.

For about 30 years, you had to toe the line to get a bassin’ sponsorship. That’s three decades of being polite, nice, largely soft-spoken, no complaining and a good stick.

Nothing real wrong with that. But in some ways, changed was overdue.

And that change happened one fine day in 2003.

ESPN had been pushing BASS pros to liven it up, to be a bit over the top, whatever expression you want to put on it. They were looking for a “new type” of angler, and in the summer of 2003 it happened. Mike Iaconelli won the Classic.

He delivered himself to ESPN on a silver platter and they made the most of it.

And the backlash was epic. New Jersey guy, loud, yelling on the lake, all that stuff that was the direct antithesis the Brauer-Nixon-Cochran-etc. tradition. If you don’t know it, Ike took a LOT of crap, for years, for being that guy.

Crap, he couldn’t even get a boat sponsorship! After winning the Classic and being ESPN poster child of the new bassin’!

Don’t feel sorry for him, he kinda knew what he was in for, though he didn’t know it’d be as heavy as it ended up being. Then again, he got paid!

Anyhow, Ike’s Jersey-bred thick skin paved the way for the blossoming of personalities like Swindle’s and others, which is now called “branding” by marketing folks.

Which brings me to what inspired this post in the first place, an article from Yamaha on how to get sponsors. Check out this excerpt to see how much things have changed over the last few years:

Clearly define your brand. Fans are usually most attracted to anglers who have an established “brand,” or in other words, a personality trait that helps them to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

[Holy crap! Eight years ago that was a no-no!]

Sometimes anglers have branded themselves with nicknames like Cliff Crochet’s “Cajun Baby,” and sometimes an angler’s unique, energetic approach to the sport of fishing itself establishes that “brand,” as is the case with Mike Iaconelli.

[So Ike’s “branding” is now the model. Who woulda thunk.]

A hook that sets you apart from the crowd is always an asset and can make a good impression on potential sponsors.
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I guess that transition was a Buck Perry moment.