How Long Will Supplement Companies Support Contests?
As some of you might know, I write copy for many supplement companies across the globe to help them sell their line of products. That being said, a common topic keeps coming up, and that is the place of supplement companies in the sport of bodybuilding. Most of these supplement companies aren’t truly associated to the sport, and their line doesn’t even cater to a bodybuilder. Yet, each year brands from across the nation come to places like Columbus, OH and Las Vegas, NV for the Arnold Classic and the Olympia. But, what exactly do these brands get out of it?
Exposure for Supplement Companies
The heading pretty much says it all. But at what cost? I’ve seen and heard supplement companies dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to these types of events. And we are talking about only one or two shows, that’s not even counting some of the smaller IFBB or NPC shows they are contractually bound to be at. But why? I understand the industry is a multi-billion-dollar book of business, but many of these brands aren’t even a blip on the radar. Dropping so much money on a booth at these events, in my opinion, is a waste.
A Decent Return on Investment
Talk to any supplement company and ask them what their return on investment is, to be at the Arnold Classic or the Olympia. Their answer? “We can’t measure it.” Meanwhile, they dropped a ton of coin on the booth space, travel, food, people working for them at the booth, and then had to give away free samples on top of it. Do the samples translate into sales? Not necessarily. And if you are a retailer in Columbus or Vegas following a show, your sales drop considerably for the next few weeks or even over a month due to the number of samples everyone picked up at the show. So, giving out samples not only hurts the retailers, but if the retailers aren’t buying product from the manufacturers, then they aren’t making money either.
Samples
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Brands give out thousands of dollars of samples at events. And if you know me or have been around me at these shows, you’d know I absolutely hate the Arnold and the Olympia from an expo standpoint. All you have are a bunch of mooches walking around in what smells like one big protein fart taking free samples. They don’t ask about the product, they don’t look at the profile, heck, they don’t even look at what they are grabbing. Their main focus is to go there, fill up a bag or backpack, go out to their car to dump everything, and then go back in to start all over again. Leaving the event with hundreds of samples which generally they showcase on social media.
Where do many of these samples end up? On eBay. The week after any of these shows, check out eBay and you’ll find samples, swag, and just about anything else given away at major shows. Heck, when I was working for supplement company, I had a guy ask me for a bottle of product that he could use and then give a review on his YouTube channel. So, I mailed him a bottle and a week later I was told by a friend in the industry that he has my product for sale on eBay. WTF?! Mooches are one thing, but trying to profit off of a brands willingness to give you FREE samples or product to hopefully have you enjoy the product and come back to buy it is complete BS.
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