Buy as many cheap yoyos as you can, then go to schools, do demos with ball bearing ones, and give away the yoyos to the small impressionable children.
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I’d buy a sports car and yell to anyone I drive past ‘OI!!! BUY SOME YOYOS AND PLAY THEM!!’
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A sports car for 20,000? What, like a Dodge Viper 888 [DV888]?
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Like a second hand something. A Nissan Skyline.
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A+++ for effort would read again
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I dunno man. This works. I see examples every month. Here’s another
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I think they need to make yoyo places like skating rinks. A place yoyoers can go to hang out. Should include full snack bar, yoyo shop, good music, and a nice space where everyone can yoyo and hangout and learn together. Also should include really nice lighting
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I’d either spend it on school programs or getting some form of social media personality to promote them. Back when I was in elementary school there was a program that came to our school where they had a performer doing tricks on the yo-yos they were selling, and that worked wonders. Obviously most people just bought the equivalent of a Duncan Imperial and never touched it again, but for some people it was their gateway to more serious unresponsive play.
Edit: Unresponsive yo-yos weren’t really around, I mean a while after. The program mostly sold fixed axles and I think one that could sleep for a few seconds.
The social media angle can certainly work as well. I’m not sure if anyone mentioned the video Rhett and Link did on yo-yos, but that’s what first got me interested. The tricks they made up were intended to be funny and light-hearted, but they showed a clip of Zach Gormley and that’s how I learned that the kind of yo-yoing he did even existed. It’s true that most celebrities would charge more than 20K, but YouTubers can have a more involved and sometimes larger following and quite a few would be happy to promote throwing for that sum.
Sorry for the essay, I just thought that this was a really interesting question and I wanted to include some of my own experiences.
Honestly, $20,000 isn’t much for a massive cultural shift, but focusing on gaming crossovers would go a long way. Games like CS2 (CS: GO) have already impacted different hobbies. Look at how the Balisong (butterfly knife) got a huge popularity boost from CS: GO. If a game introduced a cool yoyo cosmetic or an in-game character using a yoyo, that could generate interest among younger players. Combined with social media marketing and influencers, it might get some traction.
Speaking of CS2, I’ve sold a few skins for cash online, and it’s surprisingly easy with platforms that instantly buy CS: GO skins. It’s a good way to make quick money from extra inventory. Check this link here for more info:https://skincashier.com/
20k isn’t much but accounting for inflation since this post it’s technically 25k now. Regardless what got allot of 90s kids into YoYo’s was seeing it at school in the auditorium so probably bringing that back in some small way would be the best bet.
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Yoyo man 2: unresponsive boogaloo
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Fun reading through this.
I would offer a program to people who would want to start clubs in schools, preferably school employees. Retention is the hardest part of any person trying a new hobby, and I would want to support the people who are teaching and going to be constantly surrounded and introducing a hobby that they enjoy. Essentially sponsoring a club, paying for half of the yo-yos and wear items, like strings, pads, bearings, and lube. Probably set up a system/ formula for running a club to equip the teachers/demostrstors of the club. People would have to apply by doing 3/4 of the skill tree in SA, it would be easy to check because of the video posting as evidence.
Or just buy a sports car (S2000 would be my choice) and yell out the window at people to play with yo-yos. That seems to be a great idea too.
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I mean…that’s how it got popular in the late 90’s…just…with Mars inc. or Cocacola inc. money.
20K won’t cut it.
I would get that $20,000 and start buying every Excellent yo-yo as they were released.
That way, for me, the future of yo-yos would certainly feel more popular.
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My idea: Make 4 Gonzo-Style roadtrip documentary films, about people traveling the lands (maybe to an event) show them playing Yo on the way, show them meet people tell their story.
Humans like humans, if you want people to get into yoyo, you have to show them, that Yoyo-peeps are good folk and that playing Yoyo is worth it, that it has at least a social reward.
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Honestly…this might be the best idea yet…
One of the first Rollerblading movies I ever watched was “The Hoax 3” which a bunch of pro bladers travelling by bus through europe, stopping in various places.
Watched that tape until it basically didn’t work anymore.
Bet you could make it in to a cool indie film and sell it to netflix or something. They already had a feature on yoyoing.
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Or… to make the cash last longer, one could try to get Yoyoers onto other YT-Channles. I think about freestyle people like Mountain biker, acrobatics, Enduro Moto, Sowboarder, skier, surfer, skater, para glider and so on and show/teach these people Yoyo.
These are people, that already want to push their abilities and are in some sense on the same mental plane as Yoyoers and their viewers too. So we would have an audience and customer pool immediately.
Kind of like when Pewdiepie made his Yoyo-Challenge. Not that this is worth anything today. But if you can get better people involved then you could create an impact. I think…
On the subject of a movie:
I think many people have docs like this, they like. For me “Roadkill” stands out, where too interesting dudes fixed up old cars and drove them recklessly around the USA. I don’t care about cars, never have, but these two on the road and the style of video they made, sold the film to me.
Or some of the independent war photography, where you can see the cameraman and his story in such a chaotic environment on tape or video.
That’s probably also, why I always want to get into these old miniDV Cams. They showed me people I liked, that did things I admired in some sense.
Or something like this.
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Honestly find a way to get Jimmy Donaldson (Mr beast) to use a yoyo in a few videos, blippi/meeka, Mrs Rachel, wild Kratts. Etc. basically send a yoyo to all the popular preschool/k-8 kids live action kids show actors abd personalities and get them to yoyo.
That would probably be more impactful than anything else and relatively cost effective
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