Kolohe Andino - No longer on O'Neill

menobrah

Gerry Lopez status
Feb 28, 2021
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kolope cant win a heat in a 1star qs in morro bay...his career as a contest surfer is kaput. Cant wait to see all the clips of knee high t street he is going to post for the next decade. Why on earth would a brand sponsor this guy at this point?
 
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r32

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 1, 2005
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Cambria
Do any of these companies benefit at all from sponsoring the pros anymore? What's the ROI in this ever-dwindling, super saturated market of surf lifestyle brands?

And when last time Kolohe won? He's been through a lot, showed serious frustration early on his career. Absolutely shreds but so inconsistent in comps. He probably trying hard to avoid the real-job route and I don't blame him for trying to keep it going long as possible.
 

StuAzole

Duke status
Jan 22, 2016
28,755
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whaaat! It was in STAB's "how surfers get paid". I guess his contract with Hurley was up and he signed a deal 4 Year deal with O'Neill for 1.2MIL ($300k a year). I think that was only a year or two ago?

I wonder what he's going to do now?

Point being... what is going with O'Neill? I heard their marketing team is jacking everything up over there.
Lucas Owston is about as good as Kolohe these days and probably gets 1/10 of what they were wasting on Kolohe. Seems like the marketing team got this one right.
 
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EastCoastBrah

Legend (inyourownmind)
Nov 16, 2020
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O’Neill doesn’t need to pay Kloe $300k a year to sell suits. Who the fuck goes to the shop and says I want an O’Neill because Kloe Albino wears them?
there's AT LEAST 3 to 5 people a year who do this.

I doubt any of these pro surfer contracts have a good ROI
 

GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
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West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
O’Neill doesn’t need to pay Kloe $300k a year to sell suits. Who the fuck goes to the shop and says I want an O’Neill because Kloe Albino wears them?
The brands would be better off to sponsor the best teens and local pros in each region if they want to move core surf goods like wetsuits and boards. At this stage in the pro surfing game they have as much or more buying influence than WSL 2nd tier pros. There are very few WSL surfers today that have the genuine star power to drive buying decisions based on a sticker on the nose of a surfboard in a WSL webcast.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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The brands would be better off to sponsor the best teens and local pros in each region if they want to move core surf goods like wetsuits and boards. At this stage in the pro surfing game they have as much or more buying influence than WSL 2nd tier pros. There are very few WSL surfers today that have the genuine star power to drive buying decisions based on a sticker on the nose of a surfboard in a WSL webcast.
For established brands, I doubt there's any ROI for sponsorships or for the WSL at all. Guys tend to buy whatever their friend is buying in the lineup. Even if a local shaper sponsors the local ripper, he might be a dick.
 
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GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
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West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
For established brands, I doubt there's any ROI for sponsorships or for the WSL at all. Guys tend to buy whatever their friend is buying in the lineup. Even if a local shaper sponsors the local ripper, he might be a dick.
Nobody is suggesting sponsoring anyone who is a dick. Surf brand loyalties start in the grom years and I'd be sponsoring the surfers the groms are looking up to at the local and regional level. That's where good brand account reps come into things, being engaged with the local shops they sell to in order to find out who they should be sponsoring.
 

ChaseTMP

Michael Peterson status
Apr 6, 2014
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S. Redondo
Pretty shocked they'd drop Kolohe so soon after SITD when his profile was at an all time high. I would assume there was some sort of breach of contract with his involvement selling/promoting/wearing 2% merch.

Some sort of launch of 2% Union on April 19th at noon. I doubt they'll be able to sell enough hats and t's to compensate for KA's lack of O'Neill coin. He can probably make the world go around with his Red Bull and FCS deals. I would hope he squirreled enough away during the Nike/Hurley/Target big money days.
 
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PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Pretty shocked they'd drop Kolohe so soon after SITD when his profile was at an all time high. I would assume there was some sort of breach of contract with his involvement selling/promoting/wearing 2% merch.
Could be. O'Neill is owned by private equity in Luxembourg and likely has little understanding of the market. Private equity are kind of trust-funders playing with daddy's money, so it's possible they're not doing a very good job, are short on cash, and needed an excuse to cut costs. 2% is some sort of "bro" clique with no real storefront I could find with a Google search. Dan ran "Summer Teeth" for awhile with Quik's blessing because it was no real threat to the brand.
 

frontsidegrab

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 4, 2014
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The brands would be better off to sponsor the best teens and local pros in each region if they want to move core surf goods like wetsuits and boards. At this stage in the pro surfing game they have as much or more buying influence than WSL 2nd tier pros. There are very few WSL surfers today that have the genuine star power to drive buying decisions based on a sticker on the nose of a surfboard in a WSL webcast.
I get what you're saying in theory but how much money is in that tiny market segment? Targeting local groms? Not enough for even a mid-size brand to notice.