Nikita Nevidimov: how to become a brand ambassador and what is expected of you

Guest

Useful from the issue

1. Show what kind of audience you bring

   It is important to the brand which new people it will reach through you. A narrow but inaccessible audience for a brand can be more valuable than large reach.

2. Good content increases the chances

   If you make high-quality photos and videos yourself, you are closing one of the main needs of the brand.

3. Behave like an ambassador in advance

   Buy and natively show the product that is close to you, even before the contract. This is how you get into the field of view of a marketer.

4. A contract is a job

   The partner's form on the podium, regular publications and the product in the frame are obligations, not a gesture of goodwill. Their violation is the main reason for the disappointment of brands.

5. Do not collect all partners in a row

   Overlapping and competing brands of one athlete sooner or later create a conflict. Choose those whose philosophy coincides with yours.

6. Rejection is not forever

   Budgets and tasks of brands are changing. Keep performing and filming — next time you may hit the right moment.

7. The announced training disciplines

   A regular public schedule works even when no one has come: at least you train yourself, and the community tightens up over time.

8. To the organizers: gravel attracts different brands

   Many people go to the gravel race as if on a hike, so it is interesting not only for sports, but also for tourist and food brands.

From volleyball to triathlon to Tel Aviv

Until 2018, Nikita played volleyball semi-professionally, then in St. Petersburg he learned about triathlon and learned to swim from scratch and love running. He always considered the bike to be his favorite kind, but in triathlon he turned out to be the weakest: Nikita pulled up what was worse, and at first they laughed at him at cycling races. Now, in different years, he calls himself a runner, a triathlete, a cyclist and aims at a marathon faster than three hours and about 4 watts /kg per hour effort.

He lives in Tel Aviv. In Israel, according to him, amateur cycling is not bad: the race in Tiberias, the grand prix in December, the criteria, about 500 people go to major starts. On Saturdays, on Shabbat, when there are few cars, the Russian-speaking cycling club travels 80-90 km towards Jerusalem. Drivers, according to Nikita's experience, generally behave adequately — as in Abkhazia, where he spent the previous winter.

Your community from scratch

After moving, Nikita started simply by searching for his people: he created a runner chat and began to publish training schedules regularly. At first, no one often came to training, but he realized that at least he had trained himself, and it turned out to be an excellent discipline: it was easy to negotiate with yourself, but not with the people to whom you announced the time.

Gradually, the community has grown, it has cells in other cities of Israel and a clear plan for preparing for the marathon. Visitors to the Tel Aviv Marathon write to the chat, and local people help them with logistics and housing.

How he became a sports marketer

In 2018, Nikita moved to Moscow, lived with Krylatsky and was preparing for an extreme triathlon in Armenia with a bike stage around Sevan. When he returned, he met the founders of the healthy bars brand and went on sale to them: I wanted to work in a startup with a clear product and philosophy.

Three months later, he heard that the company had been wanting to enter the sport for a long time, although the product was not purely sporty, but rather an everyday snack. Nikita offered to assemble a team of ambassadors from friends in triathlon, then according to recommendations, and so took over all sports marketing. He continues this work remotely, and in the summer he comes to Russia for starts.

What does the brand expect from the ambassador

The first question is what kind of new audience a person brings to a brand. Nikita gives an example from Israel: about 20% of residents speak Russian, and it is difficult for many local brands to reach them. The second is content: if an athlete makes good photos and videos himself, he closes an important need for the brand. The third is the coincidence of values: for a premium product, the ambassador should look accordingly — neat photos, a well-groomed bike, appropriate marks of other partners.

The most frequent problems are that ambassadors forget about the agreements: they didn't wear the partner's uniform to the award ceremony, disappeared in the off—season, won five races in a month, but never showed the product. Because of this, some of the audience even thinks that the brand produces equipment. Strong athletes, he admits, can be very capricious in small things like shape sizes.

For a budget that does not pull the whole team, Nikita advises keeping two or three strong athletes in each sport - running, cycling, triathlon, skiing — in order to reach more communities. According to his observations, there are fewer participants in triathlons, and cycling, and especially gravel, are growing: road riders, MTB riders, and triathletes are moving there.

How to get into ambassadors

The main thing is perseverance and the right moment: brands' strategies and budgets are changing, and failure today does not mean failure forever. Keep practicing, performing and filming — you have already come into view. Nikita noted people who bought the product themselves for six months and shot it as if they were already ambassadors, and often ended up in the team.

The content should be native: not an advertisement in the forehead, but a product in real life — in the car, in your pocket during training, in the transition from a bike to a run. And there is no need to gather partners indiscriminately: if you have twenty brands, and some of them compete, it will come up sooner or later. Choose those who match your lifestyle and understand their philosophy.

What races does the brand choose

For a brand that is not sporty, sports marketing is only part of the job, so during the season he chooses several big bike races, cross-country starts and triathlons, as well as padel, beach volleyball and tennis. The target audience also decides how organized the team is: when different people are responsible for partners, distance and the rest, it's noticeable.

Nikita finds gravel races particularly interesting for such brands: many people go there not to compete, but for a cycling trip, and they need not sports nutrition, but normal energetic food — like on trail runs, unlike the road, where everyone rides on gels. He praises Tsar Grader for the combination of a big event and an intimate atmosphere and plans to come there as a partner.

At the end, he talks about another way to reboot: two months in India without a bike and sneakers and a ten-day vipassana meditation course, which he recommends to everyone. Nikita trains now by himself, sometimes consulting with a coach: in his opinion, a coach is especially needed at the beginning and when you hit the ceiling, and if the discipline is in order, you can work independently between these stages.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Living in Tel Aviv
2. 01:39Who is Nikita
3. 05:41The team of brand ambassadors
4. 06:31Running community in Israel
5. 10:39Where to ride in Tel Aviv
6. 15:33How he got into marketing
7. 19:37What brands expect from ambassadors
8. 25:16Difficulties with ambassadors
9. 30:54Trends: triathlon, cycling, gravel
10. 38:57How to become an ambassador
11. 47:04Coach or independent training
12. 50:16India and Vipassana
13. 53:31How the brand chooses events
14. 59:07Tips for future ambassadors

Mentioned in this episode

Tsar Grader · Fury Road · Tel Aviv Marathon · Krylatskoye · Vipassana