R&D (making better more marketable and appealing product)
Sponsorship of players ( to keep people worth a damn in yoyo longer building what everyone else takes for granted)
Retail rebates (to stores who actively promote)
Direct event sponsorship (roadshows, tours, contests)
In store demo events
Generating quality content (both actually doing it and paying people to do it)
Finding partners who will help us expand reach and also invest globally and working with those partners.
How many stores carry the $30+ metal yo-yos, though? I get the impression retail is kind of a desert of relatively inexpensive plastics, ideally under $10. Not saying these are bad yo-yos by any means, but it seems to me there’s a kind of an artificial ceiling on what brick and mortars can do?
$1200 for a school show?? That just sounds ridiculous, how would that even work? I know @YoYoExpertEric does school shows in our area and he just brings a sound system and a box of yo-yos.
It is woven into the fabric of all that is. But it sure doesn’t exist now. It’s like they say, there is no past or future, only this moment. That’s why they call it… drum roll… the Present. ha ha ha…
I actually have a business plan geared towards getting more yoyos in to more hands. I don’t want to reveal too much, but if someone wants to loan me $2 grand, I will start today!
The basics revolve around: donations, inexpensive beginner throws, and working for damn near free…
Id buy one of these to troll with people. Someone would get made at me claiming im some nazi or that i am actually Hitler, and ill ask them if they know how to read, because all I want is for yoyoing to be great again and that im not a nazi.
New thought on this @codinghorror . World YoYo Contest is August 7-10 in Cleveland, OH this year. I’m sure an extra $20k would help @unklesteve and the contest organizers advertising budget. Perhaps allowing them to pursue extra, mainstream, sponsors, take out billboards, commercials, YouTube advertising, and other types of advertising and marketing. Perhaps, and again because I feel he’s the best at it right now, bringing Tyler in to Cleveland the week prior to visit local schools in and around Cleveland to promote the contest and teach.
Yeah, like I mentioned above, NED is a money making venture. And more power to them. But it’s not a vehicle that exists to get kids into the world of yoyoing.
Get a bunch of the members of the community, especially those in major cities, together. Have them meet up in a private chat or Skype or something and organize a huge national event for a single day, get media attention by having the community spread it around social media and build a following, and spend the money on yo-yos and supplies to be sent to the members organizing the events to be sold cheaply along with some trick demos or maybe a custom trick booklet. Basically get the community to pitch in their time and use the money to give to the future of the community.
The problem is yo-yos are costly and we have to buy strings,pads,oil… everything should be provided with one yo-yo we buy.i think make strings,pads,oil free will be my answer, or reduce the price upto some extent.
So extra budget money for Worlds, in the hands of one of the best marketing guys in yoyo is pouring money into a black hole? so instead of reaching out to thousands, if not millions, a better idea you think is to just send a number of kids to Worlds and hope their few friends catch on???
Any thoughts @unklesteve, is $20k in advertising/marketing for Worlds a waste of money?
Start with sending 500$ to @Myk_Myk for starting the ATL yoyo club, always proving free pizza, and for letting me take his 000 on play dates once a month!
If the goal is to promote modern high-level yoyo play, sure, Worlds could use the help.
If the goal is to get more people yoyoing, buy $15k worth of yoyos and then spend $5k on sending people around to libraries and schools and Girl Scout meetings to teach people how to yoyo and then give them a free, good one.
Advertising will never, never, never do as much good as a skilled professional putting a yoyo in someone’s hand and teaching them how to use it. That personal, one-on-one connection is what sparks interest and sets new players on the path.
so instead of reaching out to thousands, if not millions, a better idea you think is to just send a number of kids to Worlds and hope their few friends catch on???