Race car drivers do it.
Downhill racers do it.
So do rodeo riders.
These days, sports advertising is on everything but the bull.
Reno entrepreneur Eddie Floyd and Reno-based bull rider David Hansen comprise such a rodeo riding sponsorship team but the ad that Hansen carries on his back for a Web site is anything but traditional.
Hansen, a six-year veteran of the rodeo circuit, rides in about 50 rodeos a year throughout the West.
That translates into drives of 500 miles in a day; sometimes 3,000 miles in a weekend, says Hansen.
Sponsors pay entry fees, which range from $100 to $300 per rodeo."With outrageous fuel costs, it's the only way we can get down the road," says Hansen.
But while other riders wear cowboy duds emblazoned with chug and chaw brands Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Copenhagen and Skoals Hansen wears chaps and a red riding shirt embroidered with an Internet web site.
"Other riders ask:What's americanemall.com?" he says, having worn the brand in about 25 rodeos this year.
Before each rodeo, announcers broadcast to the crowd the names of each rider and his sponsor.
"We are trying to spread the word as much as possible," says Floyd about his Reno-based Web site."Our purpose is to promote American-made products, especially those of small manufacturers."
In future, Floyd plans to display americanemall logos on a pro bass fisherman, and an off-road rock crawler.
"Our goal," he says,"is guerrilla marketing."
