[Dr T]

neil - any chance of a "mello" dose or where you too busy climbing?

no chance sorry, thought I would go camera free this trip and enjoy just chilling drinking and climbing with friends, wish I did take it mind, there were a lot of quality moments, incuding me wrecking the familly allowance by ripping a big chuck of rock of a famouse 7c+ (now 8b)

[Danger]

. I wonder how JB's pic of Bransby at Eigg would have seemed if instead of the Joe Brown helmut there was a massive Petzl logo down his sleeves and legs?

 

My favourite mag cover shot. The helmet, crag, fear, location, the overbite, fanatstic!

For those not in the know

[Johnny Brown]

Thanks for the props guys 

What's perhaps ironic is that all of Ben's sponsors' logos are clearly visible for anyone who is actually interested in what gear he uses (except the boots, but they're pretty obvious). As it looks, it is just the stuff he happened to be wearing/ using, and we didn't make any efforts made to ensure they were on display, but some of those logos are extra compared to the kit you'd buy. I think the trousers were logoed on both leg pockets instead of one, and my quickdraws never had DMM sleeves on them. Just goes to show it doesn't need to be in your face, I always thought it must be more effective advertising to have a climber looking like he actually uses the kit rather than just being paid to wear it... or has that ruined the shot for you?

[nik at work]

FWIW I don't care if climbers are logoed right up, if it pays the rent and gets these heroes out climbing great things then fair enough. You can't realistically expect sponsored sports(wo)men not to chapion their sponsors, and you can't expect companies to provide sponsorship for no tangible return.

[dave]

Theres wearing logos and theres wearing logos. Sometimes it's just like people only do things because they get paid.

[grimer]

hi nic, I don't have any problem with them wearing logos either, and could never begrudge what Neil Gresham, Keen Youth, Tim Emmett, Leo etc earn from it. I'm sure they work very hard for what they get and do a good job for their sponsors. I just find that it takes away from images in climbing terms for some reason. It's like the pic of the girl on the old front cover of the Yosemite Climbs guide. It seemed to me the image was all about the pretty girl, less about the place or the climbing. Same too with logo shots.

I saw Leo do a lecture one time, and there was a relly big Audi presence in it. He drove around in an Audi, the logo was on this clothes and his parachute had the massive logo. My impression was the Leo was trying to sell me a car. If someone approaches you in the street and tries to sell me something, i get defensive because this person wants something from me, and I close myself off to them. Leo's lecture had the same effect on me, and it turned me off. Logos, especially in your face ones, have a lesser version of the same effect on me, personally. A sponsored climbers get paid because a company believes that their actions and image will have an influence on those of a viewer.

But again, no problem with it. If Dave Simmonite, for example, wasn't getting paid for his part in this process than It's unlikely he would have got to take so many great pics, or Leo wouldn't get to do so many great things.

[nik at work]

I'm sure we pretty much completely agree Grimer.

I doubt very much that Audi were trying to sell YOU a car, I am equaly sure that they spent a large sum of money getting a marketing company to focus group their target demographic to assess which type and level of marketing was going to be most effective, and acted accordingly. I imagine middle managers in multi-national organisations with a golf handicap of between 2 and 26 who considered themselves to be solid and dependable but slightly left of field were very impressed with the lecture and branding. You're just not Audi's target audience, and as such they won't pander to your wants. Equally I'd say that the majority of people on this board are not Beal/DMM/Wild Coutry/etc target audience from the perspective of marketing. We are people who buy the products these companies sell but I imagine that our purchasing strategies are somewhat more refined and sophisticated than caring what X was wearing when he climbed Y as featured on the front cover of Z. I may be overstating the savvy of people here, but I don't think so. So we can grumble about the use of logos or look past them. The more logos the harder it is to see through them and I guess we all have our personal thresholds of tolerance for this kind of thing.

If someone offered to sponsor me (riiiiight....) then I'd have no problem with logo-ing up, that's the deal. I wouldn't feel like a sell out, I want to climb and these theoretical sponsors want to help me do that (for their own reasons) sounds good. Of course they'd have to be 5.10 if it was a boot deal...

[GCW]

If someone offered to sponsor me

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=217822#x3236724

[account_inactive]

If someone offered to sponsor me

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=217822#x3236724

That is fucking genius

[GCW]

Anyway, please can some rockboot company who knows what there product is used for, sponsor the following climbers, (or can someone let me know what boots they wear): Nik Jennings, Sean Myles, Nick Dixon, Johnny Dawes, Marc le Menestral, etc.

Obviously in order of influence (most to least) and unrepeated esoteric wall problems.

[a dense loner]

i have nothing against all the logo's in view, well i do i think it's ridiculous. what really gets me is the taking the t-shirt etc etc out of the bag and putting it on for the shot. the photo of katz on cirque de freak made me cringe. he's a boulderer doing hard moves close to the ground and watching his back, not a snow rock and trek advert

[El Mocho]

I was holding the 'top rope round the corner' on the gresham shot, and when it came out I had a pretty similar view to Dave's. I guess the thing to note is that at the time of our respective front covers we were both on the same photo incentive deal with dmm the difference being they will have paid out for gresham and (if I had sent an invoice in which I don't think I did) not paid out for me as my logos were to small.

In my 18 years of dmm sponsorship I don't think I have ever had a photo incentive paid for any of my front covers, this never really bothered me as I felt like a twat if I had logos all over the place, but in the last few years (since being a father) I have been doing all I can to try to still climb as much as I want and this has involved trying to make some money from climbing (also means I get to say "just off to work dear" and go to Stanage)

At least if the majority of the people on here feel the same as me about logos I will just continue keeping them subtle(ish) and continue having Paul refuse photo incentives.

I don't know who is more made up JB for taking the 'best cover shot ever' or me for being in it. If you could change all the comments along the lines of:

shit helmet, crap looking clothes, stupid face, overbite, looks like he is shitting his pants, ugly fucker...

to

My favourite mag cover shot. The hansom side profile, crag, manly lack of fear, location, the obvious power, fanatstic!

then it would def be me...

[GCW]

Ben, I preferred the one you did when sponsored by Durex




Although, I fear we may have wandered a tad off topic.

[galpinos]

I don't know who is more made up JB for taking the 'best cover shot ever' or me for being in it. If you could change all the comments along the lines of:

shit helmet, crap looking clothes, stupid face, overbite, looks like he is shitting his pants, ugly fucker...

to

My favourite mag cover shot. The hansom side profile, crag, manly lack of fear, location, the obvious power, fanatstic!

then it would def be me...

Well, you're the one who's inspiring everyone seeing the covershot and JB is the man who captured the image so it could be on the cover so equal "props" to you both.

The reason it's such a great shot is that you don't look like a sponsored hero (sorry!), you look like a climber, doing what everyone does and feels at the weekend, just at a level most weekend warriors could only dream of.

[Sloper]

As a one time chef (and probably closer to a mention in the red book than a well known mockney cunt) who was a one time Vespa rider I fucking hate sponsorship, and I'll tell you why.  Fucking Sainsbury's never offered me a Million quid a year to sell shit food to the proles, and there's another thing for that sort of cash I'd have got my old fella out and genuinely cooked naked.

So in short, I'm not bothered by it at all.

[Jim]

I think the best thing about that photo was the fact it obviously wasn't staged and captures some proper climbing, not the fact its lacking in logo's.
Personally I couldn't give a shit if someone is covered in logo's or not, its the last thing my eyes are drawn to, its the climbing I look for

[nik at work]

Exactly what I meant Jim. Much rather a logo pasted climber in a genuine situation than a logo-less one in a staged photo-op.

[Johnny Brown]

not paid out for me as my logos were to small.

In my 18 years of dmm sponsorship I don't think I have ever had a photo incentive paid for any of my front covers

I didn't realise that, I always had DMM down as 'the good guys' of sponsorship. If you can identify the gear they should pay up. I don't see how having a DMM t-shirt on a bouldering shot is better advertsisng than someone clearly climbing fucking hard trad with a DMM rack!

[neil h]

something to cheer you all up. the may dose of font

enjoy all, a real dyno month

[Charles]

Neil that dose is quality.

Its got me so unbelievably psyched! Phobos Moon looks wicked, good effort!

It really is time I got myself over to Font.

Cheers.

[neil h]

cheers.phobos is one of the best dynos I  have done, i was so phsyced and it started to rain, I just had to do it

[highrepute]

Gratuitous Ondra - seems he's so good now that people will watch 5mins of him climbing in ultra slow motion - well I did.

[craic-head]

I watched it too. 
She looks bored out her mind, just like me.

[Dr T]

an actually reasonably quality video made by some students....
(I used to teach one of them...)

[Mr Cat]

young Will at the Durham Climbing Centre...