Super celebrity sponsorship: What are the benefits of deals with superstars like Manu Neuer, Màrquez & Co.

The basic idea behind sports marketing is simple: people trust people more than traditional advertising. When an athlete uses a product, it automatically comes across as more credible than a poster or advert. Brands "borrow" the trust, performance and image of an athlete and transfer these characteristics to their own product.

Athlete sponsorship is therefore less about victories and more about stories: Discipline, comebacks, passion and personality. For a long time, bike brands primarily engaged the most successful, charismatic and high-reach professionals to give a brand a clear image. Just think of spectacular deals like when the Franconian start-up YT Industries signed the superstar and daredevil Andreu Lacondeguy, or Hans Rey, who shaped GT Bicycles like no other brand in the industry.
And so it was established for many years.

Thinking outside the box

However, bike brands are now increasingly looking beyond the scene and are also focussing on mainstream icons. A player like Manuel Neuer, for example, stands for reliability and mental strength - qualities that brands like Canyon specifically associate with their products.

The exciting thing is that good sponsorship deals don't work like traditional advertising. If the collaboration is authentic - i.e. the impression is created that the athlete actually uses the product - the concept works. If this authenticity is lacking, the audience immediately realises this, which can also damage the image.

Ultimately, sports marketing is an image transfer game:
The athlete receives money, reach and often access to top equipment.
The brand gains credibility, emotion and attention.

What's the point of a Canyon brand Manuel Neuer, Ben?

"Both athletes and ambassadors fit into our overarching mission to inspire people to cycle...
... In some cases, these ambassadors also work with our partners, particularly in the case of Manuel Neuer, who is a co-owner of RadRace.

As in all areas of marketing, it's difficult to link a brand partnership directly to sales - but that's not the point.

We work with ambassadors to create awareness and desirability and to inspire those new to cycling."
Ben Hillsdon, Director of Communications at Canyon

Prominent examples

These superstars ride for bike brands or have had collaborations in the past.

Moto GP superstar Marc Màrquez (Mondraker)

He is world champion in three categories: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. He is also the youngest rider ever to have won the overall title in MotoGP. The young Spaniard is to his nation what Sebastian Vettel once was to the Germans. With 8.1 million followers, he has an enormous reach. The Spanish label Mondraker from Alicante managed to secure a super deal with the national hero in 2021. It is not known how high the financial compensation was or whether he was simply given a bike or two in his garage.

Football World Champion Manuel Neuer (Canyon)

Nobody needs to explain this guy. The 40-year-old FC Bayern goalkeeper is an ambassador for Canyon. "I can switch my head off on the bike. I just ride off and enjoy this time for myself. Everything else fades into the background," says the superstar in an interview on the Canyon website. His passion began in 2017 after breaking his metatarsal. He mainly rides racing bikes from the Koblenz-based mail-order company.

As a marketing layman, this also begs the question: How much can Canyon pay Manuel Neuer, who is estimated to earn around 20 million euros gross per year at FC Bayern alone? As expected, Canyon did not want to provide any information when asked.

Professional basketball player Rui Hachimura (Cannondale)

The Japanese is an NBA player who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. His mother is from Japan, his father from Benin. Hachimura discovered his passion for bicycles as a child. The US brand Cannondale has a deal with the 28-year-old and benefits from his reach in a bubble outside the industry.

TV entertainer Kai Pflaume (Canyon)

Kai Plum has been a Canyon brand ambassador since 2022. The collaboration is part of Canyon's strategy to involve not only professional cyclists, but also well-known public figures. Pflaume fits well into the picture, as he stands for an active, sporty lifestyle and has a wide reach on social media.
The main motivation behind the deal is to position cycling as a modern lifestyle suitable for everyday use and to appeal to a broader target group outside of traditional cycling.

UFC fighter Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone (Yt Industries)

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is a former American mixed martial arts fighter and one of the UFC's best-known veterans. In addition to the Octagon, he is also known as an outdoor enthusiast and cowboy lifestyle figure, which earned him his nickname "Cowboy". He ended his active MMA career in 2022 after a long career with over 50 professional fights.
In 2019, the Franconian direct-to-consumer company YT equipped the UFC fighter with the YT Capra enduro bike in a custom design. It is not known whether money was actually involved or whether YT merely staged the gift for marketing purposes.

Supercross Ken Roczen (Canyon)

Ken Roczen is a German motocross and supercross pro and one of the most successful riders of his generation, known from the UFC of off-road racing? (Correct: AMA Supercross/Motocross, not UFC). He has won numerous titles in the USA and internationally and is regarded as one of the fastest and most spectacular riders of his era.

He has a close relationship with the Canyon bike brand: he has been a brand ambassador there for several years and even has his own signature e-mountainbike model ("Canyon Torque:ON CF Roczen"). The collaboration is primarily based on the fact that Canyon uses him as an authentic face for performance, training and off-bike fitness - in other words, exactly what professionals like Roczen do outside of motorsport.

NBA Star LeBron James (Canyon)

LeBron James is one of the most successful and best-known basketball players in the world and is considered by many to be one of the best players in the history of the NBA. He is not an ambassador, but LeBron James joined Koblenz-based bicycle manufacturer Canyon in 2022 together with his business partner Maverick Carter and SC Holdings.
The group of investors invested around 30 million euros and together hold around four per cent of the shares, with James himself being a minority investor. The aim of the partnership is to strengthen Canyon's growth, particularly in the US market and in the e-bike segment, and to further expand international brand awareness. LeBron has 157 million followers on Insta - sick!