Catching Up With Jagermiester’s Rick Zeiler
swapmoto
- November 03 2008
- 7,156 views
- 6 comments
Shortly after hearing the news about the new partnership between Jagermeister and the MDK KTM factory team, we tracked down Rick Zeiler of Sidney Frank Importing, the company responsible for the exciting new outside-the-industry sponsorship.
What attracted Jagermeister to motocross, and how did you end up choosing MDK KTM?
Jagermeister has been interested in motocross for many years. We actually looked at sponsoring the Moto XXX team about seven our eight years ago through Jamie Grosser, but the timing wasn’t right for us. I’d say for the past 10 years or so we’ve really been putting our focus on music promotions for the brand, and in order to extend our reach we took another close look at Supercross and it was a perfect fit for the brand. Supercross has a much edgier crowd compared to other sports like NASCAR and the graphics were perfect for the brand, so we decided it was a good fit and the timing was right.
A few years ago I recall seeing the Metal Mulisha guys with Jagermeister logos painted on their helmets. Was there some sort of official sponsorship with them at the time?
Actually there was. We did sponsor the Metal Mulisha about six years ago, and I guess our claim to fame is when Brian Deegan did the Mulisha Twist at X Games and won the gold medal wearing the Jagermeister helmet.
I understand that there is a requirement for the riders on the team that they need to be over 21?
They need to be 21 or over, but if we decide to use them in any marketing materials then they need to be over the age of 25. I believe Charles Summey is under 25 and Travis Preston is over 25. I know you asked me how we ended up working with MDK and KTM, and I guess the answer to that is when we started showing some interest in Supercross we had a lot of people approach us for various sponsorship opportunities, which I am sure you can imagine. We saw that a lot of teams were already associated with drinks: Monster Energy Kawasaki, Rockstar Suzuki, and Red Bull Honda. We then realized that KTM did not have any major brand affiliation and it just seemed like the total package for us because we had KTM, which is from Europe like our brand, but also it came with Mark Kvamme of MDK and everything he brings to the table. He is a huge asset to the team and has a great understanding of business and marketing. So, being able to link up with Mark just felt like the perfect partnership.
Where exactly is Jagermeister produced?
Wolfenbuttel, Germany.
Is this the only sports affiliation that Jagermeister has?
We are actually getting into an area of Rodeo (laughs). We’re sponsoring something that is called The Toughest Cowboy; it is kind of unrelated to any motor sport, but we did do an NHRA sponsorship a couple of years ago that was good the first year and then we decided to discontinue the program during its third year. The Supercross and motocross series is something that we’ve been looking at forever and the time is right, it couldn’t be better. The sport is growing, and I really believe that Jagermeister is going to be a perfect fit out there. Everybody that I’ve spoke with in regards to Jagermeister being involved in the Supercross and motocross events is surprised that we didn’t think of this before (laughs). It’s not that we haven’t, but the timing was just not right.
This is the first time that you’ve mentioned motocross, so is it going to be a Supercross-only contract or will it be Supercross and motocross?
It is for both Supercross and motocross. Our team will be doing both Supercross and motocross, and I am trying to work with Davey Coombs to cut a deal to do the outdoor series as well. That’s work in progress, but the Supercross deal is in inked and ready to go.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see some righteous Internet message board bandits say that it’s a bad idea to bring an alcohol sponsorship into our sport. Have you encountered anything like this and if not, how do you plan to counter it?
People are always going to have their opinions and we certainly respect those opinions, so we subscribe to a council which oversees our sponsorships as well as the entire business. For Supercross, the demographic information that has been given to us meets the criteria. Honestly, if we do encounter such a problem we’ll just address it when we need to. We hope that we have a smooth transition into the sport and that people will see us as something positive in this sport. I can’t speak for Bud Light, but I think we’ll end up bringing a lot more to the table than just Jagermeister, you know? People have their own opinions and we’ll address them when they come up, but we’re very comfortable with our decision and we’re excited about it.
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November 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I am all for outside major sponsors, but Jager?? Our sports core is 10-20 year olds! How is that podium gonna look? Instead of Stewie takin a swig on the monster can he takes a shot of Jager!? Maybe thats how the Mains can go, after each lap you must take a shot…. that would certainly tighten up the racin!
JMO
TM
November 6th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hey I have a new game when Ktm(jagermiester) and Honda (redbull) finish one and two in that order will do a JagerBomb shot. That gives me another idea the FMF pipe should be called the jagerbomb. And if it is just KTM crosses the line it’ll be Jagermiester, can’t wait to get wasted!!!!!!!
November 6th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Magoo137: If you look at the Scarborough statistics (available through Feld/Live Nation) from previous years, the “Mean age” of the sport is actually 37.5, not 10-12. In fact, most of the people attending- 70% - are OVER 21 and 80% are over 18 and actually employed. I am ecstatic that a big name company is stepping up to the plate to promote themselves through our sport. It will help the privateers like Warthog, SVM and others get money to keep the series more competitive from peace of mind alone.
I do agree with you, however, that unless James hits a few shots of Jager after winning his heat races, the mains will be a bit predictable.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Gotta go with Magoo on this one. Underage drinking is a huge problem at supercross events. Over in San Diego, they have hundreds of arrests every year for minors caught drinking in the parking lot. They had two stabbings there last year..and a few years back, a drunk woman (25 years old) left the race and died in a wrong-way freeway crash. Anaheim’s even worse as far as drunken antics in the parking lot…but the cops don’t seem to care (”What happens at the stadium stays at the stadium.”)
I know many parents who won’t let their kids go to supercross, much less buy a dirt bike for their kid. Why? Because they see dirt bikes as an activity for a bunch of drunks, whether it’s spectating at a supercross race, or going off-roading in the desert. I know that’s not the case…but affiliating with any alcohol brand is just going to fuel that association. This may bring in some bucks to the sport in the short term…but it’ll alienate some potential buyers of bikes, and of supercross tickets.
What do you think of when you hear the word NASCAR? Yeah, me too. Buncha drunken rednecks hollering for their favorite beer-sponsored car to turn left 400 times and win the race. Yawn. But at least the beer sponsorship money helped support a few teams.
OS2S
February 21st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
you are all idiots. Why do you care? They are doing what they gotta do and you’ll always have people who think thier input will make a difference. But it DOESN’T. Boo Hoo! Somebody got drunk and did something stupid…. None of this even has anything to do with you. You guys are just doing what they want you to do (any publicity is good publicity). When will people wake up and see that it’s all marketing that leads to merchandising that leads to you watching SPEED T.V. every weekend, wearing a FOX t-shirt, drinking PEPSI, and talking about JAGERMIESTER. Like em’ or hate em’, thier smater than you and now you know it…
October 26th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I have seen jagermeister motocross helmet and other cool jagermeister racing stuff (t-shirts etc.). So anyone know webshop or place to buy these stuff??? http://www.vitalmx.com/photos/features/Vital-MX-P...