Good ole Wiener Races, Corporate Sponsorship, & Design

What do these three things have in common?

Rule29 just sponsored their second athlete (for the first mention, see here). Our athlete was Kona, Cheech’s mini Dachshund. Although this was a much smaller affair, the wiener races (or formally known as the Dachshund Dash) of Rochester, MN offered us the perfect opportunity to study three things: 1) corporate sponsorship, 2) uniform design, and, of course, 3) how to race a dachshund (or, maybe, how NOT to …)

It’s no secret that celebrities sell. When a famous person or athlete signs a contract with a company to promote their goods or services, it’s supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship. Take Lance Armstrong for example. His slew of sponsors including RadioShack, Nissan, Nike, among others, benefit from his winning streaks along with his heartwarming story of cancer survival that align customers with their products. Nike launched several products and commercials during their partnership with Lance. And Lance benefits from the royalties that come in.

This can work the opposite way, too. Take Tiger Woods. He lost many sponsorships due to the scandals in his life. His sponsors did not want to be aligned with that type of morality, even if it didn’t affect his golfing skills. Customer perception is everything.

When it comes to perception on race day, however, the uniform is also key. Our little racer, Kona, turned out to be the only dog with an official uniform. This earned her some bonus points and lots of extra attention. People noticed the Rule29 on her uniform and chatted amongst themselves about this professional looking athlete. Design does catch eyes, even during crowded competitions.

However, when it came time to run, we learned that looks aren’t everything. There were about 50 wiener dogs participating that day, running in heats of 5 at a time. The crowd was surprisingly large, and Kona was startled by, or maybe terrified of, the noisy people and dogs surrounding her. Although in training things seemed to be in her favor, as you can see below, she didn’t display quite the same speed on race day. Maybe the Rule29 athlete didn’t come out on top that day, but it was fun. We’ll see if we’ll be able to continue our sponsorship of our little athlete, but we think we can give her another chance. I mean, what could be cuter than a bunch of wiener dogs racing to a finish line?

Food for thought or just for fun.

Click here for a couple quick clips of the race