Hello, I have a question about being a sponsored yo-yo player. C3yoyodesign is by far my favorite yo-yo brand, and I am hoping eventually they will sponsor me. (I am going to worlds and competing at us nationals so I will have lots of opportunities) I was wondering if you have to use the brand of yo-yo that you want to be sponsored by, like if you want to be sponsored by yyf, you have to use one of their throws or else they won’t pay attention to you. I don’t have a competition-ready 5a yoyo by c3.
7 Likes
It doesnt incredibly matter for now but can help for the future, be present in contest having good positions or filming good tricks and videos (possibly using their yoyos) can let them notice you easily.
I would say use what you have but aim for a good placement on the contest and then do some more contest trying to place yourself highily slowly slowly, film videos with their yoyos and tag them or make some stories so they start to know you exist, after that keep going they will notices you if you start to have some recognition around and be part of the scene.
Best of luck man, C3 is an amazing brand!
9 Likes
You don’t have to, but if you’re not already known by the people within the company you want to get sponsored by, then not using their yoyos sends a weird message. Why would they sponsor somebody who visibily seems like they prefer using yoyos from another brand?
People jump from sponsor to sponsor in yoyo sometimes though, but the players who do are already established and known.
C3 used to do a top fans competition where they’d pick three of their favorite freestyles of the event from people who were using C3 yoyos, and give theme prizes including a potential team invite. That’s how Gun Ju Eom got on C3.
Place well in notable contests, use their yoyos, pay attention to if they do another top fans contest. C3 feels a little more straightforward than other brands. Brands don’t typically require that you only use and compete with yoyos from their brand, but if you don’t love and want to actively use yoyos from your sponsor… they might not be the brand you wanna get sponsored by.
9 Likes
Hey there! Welcome to the forums first of all, hope you enjoy your time here. 
I can’t speak for C3 directly but from the past we have seen them sponsor a variety of players, both players who were avid C3 yoyo users, as well as players who weren’t necessarily throwing C3 yoyos, but were friends of the brand / people within the brand. And of course just overall community leaders and influencers.
Your goal is certainly ambitious and I wish you all the luck moving forward!
I will say, generally it’s best not to focus too hard on trying to get on a certain company team as your big goal in yoyo, as quite often , players who make that their big goal end up burning out once they achieve that goal as there’s nothing more to aspire to. Instead, it’s best to focus on growing yourself in the community, even not on any brand or team. Grow your skills, find more friends, work on competing or other ways to contribute depending on what your goal is.
As time goes on you may find other goals and ambitions to work toward, but in general, having sponsorship as the end goal is not the best idea.
Let yourself climb the ranks, mingle and build friendships and family within, and just focus on enjoying yoyo for now, and if you like C3 yoyos personally for competing and using, then by all means do so! Just know that brands will look more into potential players than just those who “use our yoyos” and look at the individual and what they’ve done and contributed themselves.
Best of luck!
G̸̲͙͎̜̘̬͔͋͘ ̴̧̧̧̛͇͉̼̥̱̩̳̲͕̀͂̍̅̚R̸͉̩̯̦̘̭͙͚͚͛͊ ̷͙̩̜̝̀̎̀̉̏̒̃̄̉͒̾͂̚Ỏ̶̭̫͔̹͎̥̪̤̭̥͍̬͔͇̯̩ ̶̩̣̞̖̬̪̠̆̈́̆̇̑̔͑͑̀̈͋͑́̃̂̒̕͝W̶̲͉͍̤͔̌̔̎ ̶̖̺̣̬̺͕̜̖͙̥͎͚̥͍̜̤̬̫̉̈́̒͛̽͌̌̓
10 Likes
Alright, what everyone else said is by no means incorrect, but I’ll add on some stuff that I would have liked to know when I was starting out and looking to get sponsored.
I will try to give you an accurate picture of the current sponsorship climate, and how different brands choose their sponsored players.
Let me break this down the way I see it.
There are three broad levels of sponsorship, separated by the yo-yo skill a player needs to have to be considered for each. A level one sponsorship requires the least skill in a player, a level three sponsorship requires the most.
(NOTE: as I will go into later, there is more than skill level considered by companies when choosing players, but skill is often required to be selected for a sponsorship slot).
So here are the levels by skill required:
LEVEL ONE:
These primarily focus on a player’s personality, and how they interact with the community. These sponsorships are usually given out by boutique companies, and allow the owners to sponsor their friends.
Examples include: Motion yo-yo, Rain City, Fair Trade Yo-yos, etc.
These positions are often a ton of fun to be in, but can be tricky to land, because it can be difficult to form friendships with company owners organically, without seeming like you’re asking for a sponsorship.
Best strategy for getting one of these: go to contests and meet people. Ask to try any prototypes. Be friendly, and see who you vibe with. If you do meet a company owner, and like their products, exchange Instagram usernames, and maybe start posting up some videos using their products. Give them a tag. If they want you on their team, they’ll extend an offer. Never ask for a sponsorship.
This level of sponsorship didn’t used to exist. A decade ago, the financial barrier to starting a yo-yo company was much higher, and the scene was dominated by a few bigger brands. Thus, there were very few sponsored players, and those that were on the main teams were like celebrities.
Now, every time someone throws $2500 at the Magicyoyo machine shop, a new boutique company is born. There are so many brands I’ve never even heard of! And many of these small operations immediately start recruiting players. Often, the owners aren’t super advanced yoyoers themselves, and they’re not able to differentiate between different players skill levels easily. Thus, players of lower skill have a chance to get sponsored by these new brands, after having yo-yoed for only a short time.
Do I think this is bad? No, it’s a great opportunity for many folks. But it sure is different!
LEVEL TWO:
This is a level of sponsorship that requires a fair amount of skill in players, but they don’t necessarily have to be winning major competitions. Players for these companies are often required to keep their skills sharp, and regularly post videos online.
The different with level one being that these videos are often meant to demonstrate the yo-yos capability by putting it through its paces and doing hard tricks.
This is the level of sponsorship that I have with Sengoku. I was picked up with the idea that I would be able to demonstrate product capabilities on Instagram and Youtube, while also interacting with folks in person to help sell yo-yos. Not so much to sell yo-yos by taking major competition victories. Im simply not a good enough yoyoer!
If you want one of these sponsorships, I’d go about it similarly to what I said with level one. But definitely focus on upping your skill as well. You’ll want some banger tricks that will make a company owner remember you.
LEVEL THREE.
These sponsorships are the top level for required player skill, and are given out for competition performance.
The idea is that a player will place well in major competitions, this will be seen by many people, they will want to know what yo-yo was used that could do those amazing tricks, and this will help sell products.
Teams like this are Yoyofactory contest team, Yoyorecreation, Duncan, etc.
I think that C3 is probably one of these brands as well.
These are the biggest and most successful brands, and they can often afford to invest the money to fly their players around to different contests.
Having a position like this is a big responsibility and time commitment. First, you need to spend the years to get really good. Second, you always need to be honing your skills to be able to place highly at contests. If a company spends thousands to fly you out to the World Yo-yo Contest, they are doing it because they’re assuming you’ll do well enough that they’ll make money back on their investment.
To get one of these positions, go to contest, try and meet the owner, maybe tell him that you’re using his products, and then go on stage and smash your routine out of the park. Not easy, but certainly attainable with enough practice.
OTHER TYPES:
There are a few wild card types of sponsorships as well.
Generally, the more successful a brand is, the more picky they can be with their players. Some brands like A-RT and Atmos have some CRAZY good teams of players, that you need at least as much skill as any contest team to get on, but the focus is not on competition victories. Just on player skill, and how their throwing style matches the brand.
These teams are so high caliber because the companies are very well known and successful. The top talent has come to them.
While I would have put CLYW in category 3 is previous years, I would put it in this last category now, as they are expanding their team into VERY skilled players, with a chill vibe recently.
FINAL NOTES.
There is more than pure skill considered when sponsoring a player. You have to match with the team’s culture, and the owner has to trust you to represent the brand. This is why it is often best to meet the owners in person, and they will often observe a player for months before offering a spot on their team.
Also, some brands can shift categories. For example, Sengoku definitely started out as a category 1, in the beginning, but as it gained more speed and success, it became more difficult to get onto the team. It was a massive effort for me, and I have been their last addition in four years. As teams fill up, it gets harder to convince an owner to grab a new player.
Your dream of C3 will take many thousands of hours of practice, but if you are disciplined over the course of years, you can make it happen.
Alright, if you made it this far, congratulations. It did turn into a real essay here. But I hope I gave a bit of a picture of the current sponsorship scene. All levels can be incredible experiences, and it is so cool to have a window into the producer side of the yo-yo scene.
Nothing beats that feeling of being officially added to a team’s group chat.
7 Likes
It’s also important to remember that with a sponsorship you’re entering into a business relationship. With any relationship it has to be two sided or else it won’t last. It’s equally important what you can do for the sponsor as much as what the sponsor can do for you. Good luck at worlds and nats.
5 Likes
I’m gonna be boring here. It’s all dependent on what you sign in your contract if you have one. You can and should read said contract ask questions and ask to change things within reason. Or even have legal representation if it’s complex. If no contract then uhh do what you want but it’s all verbal and trust so do what makes sense but what right for both parties.
In the end I wouldn’t make your YoYo goal get sponsored. I just don’t see that as a good long term goal . Just have fun
2 Likes
That’s a very insightful breakdown from a sponsored player. I’d add (or maybe further emphasize) that having a skilled thrower using your yoyos won’t necessarily make your company money. You need someone with a following, who is well known in the community (i.e. the target audience who will actually be interested in purchasing your products). That means someone who not only can influence those on a forum like this one but one who can reach kids (I don’t have stats for this, but it definitely seems like a large percentage of the market is adolescents).
A good example of this is someone like Dylan Kowalski. Is he skilled? Sure. Has he won - or even placed - in any major competitions? No. But because of his personality and content, he’s amassed 200k subs on YouTube. This makes him highly persuasive - a living ad for MaigcYoYo and any company that sends him their yoyos to review. Now, if you can pair that with some noteworthy podiums from contests, then you wind up with someone like Evan Nagao, Angelo, etc.
TL;DL - Fame is more important than skill when it comes to advertising. Advertising is what companies want from a sponsored player.
3 Likes
I’ve been lucky enough to have landed 4 sponsors total. All smaller companies, 2 back in the day (Death by yoyo, Big Brother yoyos) and 2 currently (Dedhed Designs and Alchemik yoyos) even recently being honored with a signature model. BUT, i’ve never won or been good at contests. Got 3rd at pnwr 5a once but that was it. I just make videos and am active in the community for the most part. I also was total strangers with all these fine people and to this day, have not met them in person. Lol they all hit me up over the internets. Just to add that fact as another experience.
None of this was ever my goal though. I’m incredibly blessed and thankful i’m here, but it all stemmed from me just enjoying yoyo the way i want to. Doing my tricks for me, making videos because i LOVE cameras and video editing. There’s honestly nothing more to it than that.
Many, many ways to Skin the Gerbil here. Going the contest route is a tough journey for sure. But not one that should be discounted because on your way to the top, the path will branch off so many times you wont be able to make sense of it. Yoyo community is small and things move fast, people know people. I just go with the flow and the ride is always fun.
At the end of the day, if grinding out yoyo enough to get in with C3 is how you enjoy yoyo. Then by all means, enjoy the grind. You 100% will want another goal once you have landed the sponsor though, I promise. World champ or something, gotta be something more than just the sponsor goal.
Or maybe you will find out all along, the only goal was to find the flow state. Thoughts silenced, bearing singing, counterwight swinging… enjoying yoyo.
3 Likes
I think in my opinion it’s ok if someone has a goal to be sponsored and after he reach that point it’s goal can be keep staying in the team, as it is hard to enter is quite easy to get kicked out if you do not comply to the “rules”.
To stay sponsored you have to get better, put out video, go to contest (if required), be active etc…etc… no one is gonna keep on the team and waste resources on someone that is there just to “get free yoyos”.
Once you get sponsored the “work” just start and is far away to be the end.
I can add that be in a team is a massive inspiration boost and a lot of motivation as well, I do love to make videos and create the combos for the week, I am a year doing that weekly plus videos, now some tutorials on the way and why not some contest as well and is very rewarding and I am making many friends along the way.
If you check on instagram, sponsored players from C3 release videos every week and many of them go to contest, so this is pretty much your goal if you would like to enter C3, is gonna take long time to be done (also depend from your actual skills) but believe in yourself keep practicing and this is gonna happen.
About have fun, you obviously having fun if you yoyo or probably you will spend your time doing something else, I never get why people confuse have fun with the drive to get sponsored, it is the same thing, for example in the skateboard world is pretty common to find people grinding to get sponsored, does this mean they not having fun? Absolutely not they having a blast but at the same time they are ambitious and want something more, there is nothing bad in it.
If you feel like this is your way, get ready to live all the emotions known by humans, there will be happiness, frustration, delusion, satisfaction, fear and everything you can imagine and mostly if someone tell you that you are not enough, show them a proper middle finger, if you believe in what you doing the results will come!
2 Likes