I have a chance to go bigtime now, somewhat bigtime as in ... making (edit:goodmoney) this year doing Parkour alone this year... More if I played my cards right... One of the ways I would have to get there is something im not entirely too happy doing, but I wanted to know your opinions on this matter.
The first week of Feb. Rogers is coming out with a whole new campaign; commercial, billboards, posters, signs in the stores... etc etc.... As I posted before I took part in this and they payed very well and its been the biggest thing ive been involved in personally.
But now Rogers stepped it up a notch...
They want to sponsor me as an athlete, and fly me around Canada with a few of my friends from city to city to city talking about Parkour, wearing and flashing their phone line while doing so.
Cell phones play a part outside when we meet up, when someones late for a meet, when someone cant find where we are training...... But beyond that its a stretch!
I dunno if I feel right... Im basically becoming a coporate whore like I see and laugh at on TV all the time... :/ Granted this is where Parkour is going, its following the footsteps of skateboarding, only, in the medias face much faster and much harder. If I dont participate in media things, someone else will do it, so I could be sitting there the rest of my life saying... Wow that coulda been me flying around having all that fun.
Im really lost.... I wish it was a better company then Rogers right now... Im in talks with shoe companies but nothing has come through yet.... and then this comes out of the blue....
What do you guys think. In my shoes would you do it?
Hmm, Sounds like a tough call. Is there a deadline on the deal perhaps try to wait it out for a bit for the shoe companies to get back to you.
otherwise, i'd say go for it. seems like a great way to see canada and do what you love doing. in a few years its not like ted rogers wont own the country anyway :P
I should write that... since scooba wrote this....
I have about 2 weeks to decide. And, this deal with Rogers wouldnt effect any clothing/shoe deals at all.
Unless you have a fundamental problem with their product, their image, their corporate morality / citizenship or the way they do business ...
and as long as their product and average customer doesn't conflict with the image you want to portray for yourself -- I'd say go for it.
It sounds like an excellent opportunity and I don't think anyone who doesn't know you would call you a whore for it. At least I wouldn't.
lol
Dan.....go for it man.
I also laugh at "sellouts" and "Coporate puppets" but then I also say to myself, If I was in the same postiion and get paid for what I love, I would probably do it in a heartbeat. Its like Jesse James and his monster garage getting all sorts of corporate sponsors....I'm sure he thought the same but who the hell cares what others think???
Are you going to lose sleep over this? Probably not.
Again, go for it man. You'll be happy you did when you look back....plus I know the whole using "corporation to upsell parkour" is not your thing, but at least your getting it known out there.
Plus its cool to say to my freinds..."I know who started all this stuff here" :P :lol:
EDIT: And now I'll be able to say "I know him" when I see Rogers posters with your ugly mug on it. :wub: :fag:
do it...
you only live once [according to most people] :thumbsup: !!!!
take the money and parkour all the way to the bank!
I don't really know you all that much, but if it was me in this situation I would jump on it! Everyone needs to start it off somewhere, and well this could be the deal that may lead to bigger and better things!!
Do what you love and get paid for it!!!
Do it, you have nothing to lose by the looks of it.
You said, you go from city to city promoting the rogers stuff and TALKING ABOUT PARKOUR...if you dont want to do it for the money (but you should), think of the exposure you are getting for parkour.
Isnt that what you want, to grow this thing as much as you can. More exposure will get you more oppurtunity, and more deals, bigger deals more $$...
DO IT!! or ill cut your face...
I'd do it if I was in your "shoes", Dan :P
Seriously. As Phil and others have noted, you're getting Parkour "out there"... making it the next big thing.
The whoring of yourself? No different than racecar drivers. They get paid to attract attention to themselves, doing what they love. Why should Parkour be any different?
In the words of the Steve Miller Band...
"Go on, take the money and run!"
At least you'll be promoting a useful product.
If you start promoting useless stuff like smokes, soft drinks, and Liberals (ZING!), I'll officially call you an ad whore. :lol:
"DuMaurier Extra Light - The choice of parkour playa's."
:lol:
you are doing something you love, right.
i'd say that an opportunity like this, get them to sponsor you for a short period of time like 3 years max. and see how you like it. just go over everything with a lawyer to make sure everything is fair.
if you decline, they'll just find someone else
I'd say go for it!
Twenty years from now they'll be making a 'Lords of Dogtown' movie about your character and its role in the emersion of Parkour into the mainstream. You can make a cameo appearance! :lol:
go in make your money and get out. How hard could that be? in the end it's just a job and no one really loves their company or job persay. You may never have a chance at something like this again so I say do it... you get to travel and get paid for it hah
you lucky SOB
scoobasteve,Jan 26 2006, 01:43 PM Wrote:Hmm, Sounds like a tough call. Is there a deadline on the deal perhaps try to wait it out for a bit for the shoe companies to get back to you.
otherwise, i'd say go for it. seems like a great way to see canada and do what you love doing. in a few years its not like ted rogers wont own the country anyway :P
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Exposure, as long as it's not blatantly cheesy, is better than no exposure.
Doing work for a national company like Rogers (like or dislike them) will accelerate the chance that someone bigger like Reebok or Nike sees you.
Look at some of the actors in commercials that have done well (the one that comes to mind is the one in the Peek Freans (sp?) commercial ("Oh, did you want any?")), I'd seen her in a few older commercials. If she held out for a bigger gig she might not have been doing as well as she is now.
[BTW: I researched her out of curiosity -- her name is Jenifer Baxter, she's from BC.
http://imdb.com/gallery/hh/0062752/HH/0062...ter,%20Jennifer
http://imdb.com/name/nm0062752/ ]
Flofocus,Jan 26 2006, 08:31 PM Wrote:"DuMaurier Extra Light - The choice of parkour playa's."
:lol:
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Thats funny! Redbull is actually trying something similar .... they got turned down in Canada.... There was no way I was going to stage parkour competitions and claim that redbull helps me jump off higher things! ha ha ha ha ha. 1 day of work though for redbull was, 10,000 cash. :o
Thanks for the responses so far guys... Really appreciate them. I have to worry a bit on how my fellow members will think of me, since Parkour really is underground and alot of people like it because of that, I would be essentially killing that in an instant.
It is though an opportunity of a lifetime, and because of it many other things will come my way ... mmaaanyy. From a career/business perspective theres no negatives at all, from a personal standpoint I guess im just afraid what people will think.
Ah so much to think about lately.
Its gone from like EVERYONE laughing at me for training for this weird thing... to everyone eating their own words in an instant... Its still not clicking in my head that its actually happening and my work has paid off....
Its really f***ing weird!
tdot-zx3,Jan 26 2006, 09: Wrote:Flofocus,Jan 26 2006, 08:31 PM Wrote:"DuMaurier Extra Light - The choice of parkour playa's."
:lol:
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Its gone from like EVERYONE laughing at me for training for this weird thing... to everyone eating their own words in an instant... Its still not clicking in my head that its actually happening and my work has paid off....
Its really f***ing weird!
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they laugh at you cause they are jealous :)
on a lighter note... hows that knee doing?
scoobasteve,Jan 26 2006, 09:47 PM Wrote:on a lighter note... hows that knee doing?
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Its good actually. Surgery was a huge success and it ended up being only minor where as the doctors thought it was big. Aparently thats what usually happens, they over diagnose to be on the safe side.
I finished rehab in the fall... and over winter ive been training my whole body pretty good. Im in 'decent', not where I could be, but decent shape right now. My leg is fine though, and obviously im back at what I do 100%.
=)