Alena Kostornaia leaves Tutberidze

Pantsu said:

Anna doesn't need any titles to gain sponsorship. It is not rocket science.
All you have to do is to watch her perfomances and understand her character.

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This is a good point. Companies look for spokespeople who are the type of person that they want the public to associate with their product.

lesnar001 said:

LET ME EXPLAIN....
I don't think there are many (if any) companies and sponsors that are obsessed with pre-rotation and lutz edges like you are.
And the topic being discussed here was why Anna has endorsements.

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I'm neither her biggest fan nor a hater.

In her Skate America interview, she came across as a young ingenue. She was very charming. A talented young gun with a sweet smile.

It's no surprise that she would garner corporate interest.

TontoK said:

I'm neither her biggest fan nor a hater.

In her Skate America interview, she came across as a young ingenue. She was very charming. A talented young gun with a sweet smile.

It's no surprise that she would garner corporate interest.

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Plus she gave that Skate America interview in English, which is not something we've seen of the new upcoming seniors from Russia, most of the Russian ladies stars speak through an interpreter/translator - the fact that Shcherbakova was in the US a predominantly English speaking country and so confidently gave an interview in that language certainly adds to her marketability.

McBibus said:

It make sense for Sasha to have multiple sponsors.
Zenya has it, Alina has it, Anna has it.
The anomaly is Aliona not having any.
It leaves me very curious
I'm not thinking of plot of schemes I'm just wondering about the process of brands searching a testimonial

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You have to consider the skaters' popularity in their own country. Generally, in the FS world, I believe there are almost no skaters' with sponsors from outside their own countries (I can only think of Alina and Yuzu).
Yes, Adidas, Puma and Nike are international brands, but the sponsorship is offered by the russian office of the brand and that's the market they focus on in their campaigns.

Now, Sasha caused a major splash in the international FS scene by starting the quad revolution and being JWC twice.
Anna is two time Russian National champion, which holds a lot of weight for russians.
Aliona, while being apparently the more popular one out of the 3 abroad, might not be that popular in Russia, compared to Anna and Sasha.
I believe with her international success this season and even more if she had been WC, it was only a matter of time before she got a sponsor anyway.

ETA: Of course, titles are not the only reason for signing someone, but I believe those achievements I mentioned are important reasons why Anna and Sasha got their sponsorships.

flanker said:

Sarcasm? What is it?

Nice new avatar, BTW :agree:

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Really liked the photo that was just posted here

lesnar001 said:

Your 2nd statment makes no sense at all. Alina is the Olympic Champion (not to mention World Champion). Of course it makes sense she would be getting endorsements, publicity, etc....

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Yes, it does make sense, you just don't see the parallel. katymay does not realize that Sasha did not get her Adidas contract because of her performance this year. She got it earlier because of earlier accomplishments. Therefore katymay's comparison is simply completely pointless.
In the case of Trusova even more senseless than in the case of Zagitova. For brand advertising, nothing is more valuable than uniqueness and things that have never existed before. I firmly believe that it is more valuable to advertisers than anything else. From this point of view, Trusova is actually(!) priceless for Adidas (actually, because figure skating is a relatively unpopular sport), because there are no other women who land three (probably soon four) jumps that no other woman has ever landed before. There is no such thing every year or every four years. The question is whether it will ever be this again (I'm wondering if there has ever been anything like it, whether it's for women or men).
I don't want to downplay a medal, but when it comes to value in advertising, NO ONE can outdo Trusova.
I mean, how many people have been in space, how many on the moon? Who knows their names? A few freaks. Everyone still knows the names Juri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong.
Advertising has to memorize. "First woman who land Quad Toeloop, Quad Lutz, Quad Flip (and Quad Rittberger?) in competition" is simply more unmistakable and unique than European Champion, World Champion or Olympic Champion 20xx. This is how advertising works. And it works particularly well here, because there are no other women who do the same.

lesnar001 said:

would have made much more sense if you had used Anna in your second example. Almost directly comparable to both Sasha and Aliona.

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I think I no longer have to explain why I have a completely different opinion. And a big sponsor would definitely see it like I do.

Not always marketability goes with results. I will give one example, Anna speaks English. This by itself for a company can be more important than the colour of a medal, since it can be used for the companies purposes more directly. You can find other parameters too but it's offtopic.

As for Aliona leaving Eteri, nice move. It's a bit unfortunate the way it come but that's life.

Oh, wow, hope it is a start of interesting collaboration and that Plushenko puts heart into his new star students

It's strange how people think that a figure skater in their very first senior season MUST already have endorsements/sponsorships.. especially in a country where the sport is also funded by the government and the expenses are not that high, as in comparison to the US/Canada. Until now, I always thought that the main goal for a 15-16-year old superstar is first, to win most if not all big competitions and to get selected for the Olympics, and then to aim for the Olympic podium. This alone requires so much work and many many hours on and off the ice, that I can't see how engagements for diverse advertisements etc. can really be helpful for the training program. And it's obvious, that once they come at least close to this goal, the money will follow on its own.

If I am not mistaken, Alina got her Shiseido and Puma contracts only after going on a strike in her debute season and winning it all straight to the Olympic Games. Even after that season, I still had the impression that it took awhile for her to get the expected coverage from the media and the companies. Also, let's not forget that she was actually coming from a family with rather not that much money and still managed to "survive" in Moscow and to establish herself as one of the most successful female skaters in the last decade.

Even Evgenia needed to be on the top for 2 seasons, going into the Olympics as the favourite, to get the Nike contract.

That's why I rather consider the fact that Anna and Sasha got their endorsements that early in their careers is really something exceptional. But as some other users already mentioned, those contracts are not based only on their achievements in this past season. Anna got the attention of the public with a random viedo on YT of her Dreamcatcher program and was hyped eversince. People were just waiting for her to get recovered from her injuries and to compete on the junior, and now on the senior level. And she didn't disappoint. Afterall, she's 2 times National Champion in a time where the field is so deep, that this is kind of equal to winning the Worlds. Sasha, on the other hand, made her name with her quads (which Anna also has, so there's another explanation for the interest around her). And if we look at the time frame, you can also see that it took at least 2-3 years for those girlst to get some sponsorships despite their huge achievements. That's why I dont find it strange that Aliona doesn't have any sponsorships yet. At the end of the day, she got her 3A only last summer and just started to shine above everyone else, by winning most major competitions (GPF, EC).

I’m still in a state of recovery from reading someone post “who’s Julia” a few pages back

Sam-Skwantch said:

I’m still in a state of recovery from reading someone post “who’s Julia” a few pages back

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Sic transit gloria mundi.

Sam-Skwantch said:

I’m still in a state of recovery from reading someone post “who’s Julia” a few pages back

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Maybe we have 3 years old members writing here.

The one thing I thought Alena (sort of) lacked was a passion and fire in her performances. She’s always like a peaceful butterfly flowing thru the breeze. I can’t think of a better coach to address that aspect of her skating.

I absolutely loved the programs Nastya T. got under his tutelage. I also enjoyed It when Eteri was low-man on the totem pole and faced an uphill battle full of non believers and vocal opposition from CSKA and CSKA supporters. I think watching the Plushy School of Knife Boots could be equally fun to watch build into a stronger force in Russian Figure skating.

Sam-Skwantch said:

The one thing I thought Alena (sort of) lacked was a passion and fire in her performances. She’s always like a peaceful butterfly flowing thru the breeze. I can’t think of a better coach to address that aspect of her skating.

I absolutely loved the programs Nastya T. got under his tutelage. I also enjoyed It when Eteri was low-man on the totem pole and faced an uphill battle full of non believers and vocal opposition from CSKA and CSKA supporters. I think watching the Plushy School of Knife Boots could be equally fun to watch build into a stronger force in Russian Figure skating.

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Though Eteri was literally nobody and after three years of coaching she definitely wasn't in the situation to invite the main stars of figure skating into her team. She had to prove herself hardly, to build everything by her own will and she is damn proud about what she achieved (maybe too much for some). Which is probably part of the problem why she never was a FFKKR favourite coach, "not one of us" (just like nussnacker described it).

flanker said:

Though Eteri was literally nobody and after three years of coaching she definitely wasn't in the situation to invite the main stars of figure skating into her team. She had to prove herself hardly, to build everything by her own will and she is damn proud about what she achieved (maybe too much for some). Which is probably part of the problem why she never was a FFKKR favourite coach, "not one of us" (just like nussnacker described it).

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Praise be to Julia

That was the first flake of snow in what has become a very impressive blizzard. I still respect Eteri very much but am always willing to see new talent sprout. Be it through coaching or on ice talent.

To be fair...Plushenko has put in a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to where he is. His career was pivotal for his own success and maintaining Russian figure skating in general for an impressive time. I’m not salty if he cashes in on his well deserved and notable career.

I wish he could have gobbled up Gubanova

lopsilceci said:

You have to consider the skaters' popularity in their own country. Generally, in the FS world, I believe there are almost no skaters' with sponsors from outside their own countries (Alina, Yuzu).

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Errr... do you mean almost none except Alina and Yuzu? Because as I understand it, both Alina and Evgenia have some in Japan - which could be very much where Alena is eying as well as Russia, Plushy has contacts there - and Yuzu has at least one whacking big Chinese one and his autobiography is being printed in other countries, so the market could be there for those who could grab it.

I do take the point, they don't have many outside their home country (Yuzu restricts his number anyway and doesn't profit from the autobiography, so is a probably-aggravating-to-less-fortunate-skaters outlier) and I can't think of anyone else who currently has any. Maybe Marin Honda, but I don't think so, and it's hard to disentangle her skating and media popularity anyway.

Marketing is a funny beast, and especially when they are too young to market physical appeal (and don't yell at me, I am not approving, I am merely acknowledging, especially given Alina's current inroads into the beauty market).

esteticlove said:

It's strange how people think that a figure skater in their very first senior season MUST already have endorsements/sponsorships.. especially in a country where the sport is also funded by the government and the expenses are not that high, as in comparison to the US/Canada. Until now, I always thought that the main goal for a 15-16-year old superstar is first, to win most if not all big competitions and to get selected for the Olympics, and then to aim for the Olympic podium. This alone requires so much work and many many hours on and off the ice, that I can't see how engagements for diverse advertisements etc. can really be helpful for the training program. And it's obvious, that once they come at least close to this goal, the money will follow on its own.

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That used to be true. Even for Evgenia and Alina (and Shoma?) that was true. But the increasing speed of the spinning wheel and the timing of these girls' rise to senior means that they may not be able to wait till 2022, because the harsh fact is - even without covid creating chaos and depriving at least one of them of a WC and maybe all three of half/most/all of this season - by 2022 it may be too late.

TallyT said:

Errr... do you mean almost none except Alina and Yuzu?

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That's what I took it to mean. These are two skaters with appeal beyond national borders. It is amazing that Hanyu has reached the pinnacle of fame and fortune while steadfastly refusing to march to any drummer but his own.

As for Zagitova, she has the IT factor that marketers of any product covet, however unrelated to figure skating.

Well, when Alena took the ice this season, everybody noticed. She is a skaters skater. She had the complete package: jumps and artistry. She was the break out star of the season. People from countries outside of Russia fell in love with this young girl from Russia that was different than the rest. It wasn’t just about the jumps and tricks, and the judges and fans noticed. She won the international competitions, so it seems very odd the breakout and unexpected star of Eteri’s team was not given any sponsorships or endorsements. There is also much talk surrounding Anna being Eteri’s new favorite. Anna won RN, yes, but the only thing she was talked about for was her costume change. It just seems odd that she got sponsors before the #1 ranked and most successful of the season.

Based on what we saw of Alyona's new programs, I am actually relieved that Alyona apparently didn't think much of them. At least people can't use the "maybe this is the kind of thing she wants to skate" excuse any more. A skater like Alyona deserves good programs. No guarantee of that with the new team but let's hope.