Who is actually looking at these sponsor me videos? Kids send them in non stop, but who is judging what the send in?  I know from my perspective, its usually mediocre at best of kids filming themselves at park with no knowledge of the brand it is sent to.  Some brands pay people to watch these in hopes of the next big thing.

I introduce you to a man known as “Joeface”, the TM for the Dickies skate program.  Now, Dickies insn’t your average core brand, they are huge throughout the workforce industry, and have been worn by skaters for over a decade.  Let’s see what he has to say about the “sponsor Me” kids….

 

 

SMDM:OK, lets start off with the basics… who are you and what do you do?

Joeface: My name is Joe Monteleone, and I am the team manager for Dickies Skateboarding. I do more than just team management, but that’s the title people care about most.

SMDM:Define “Team Management”?

Joe face:Well, for me it meant building on the current team when I got the job, looking for new riders, providing product for the team, looking for “new talent”.  Filming them for projects, organizing the team together for special events.  Organizing photographers to shoot ads, booking flights, organizing social media content, etc….Then I have a lot of responsibilies passed to team management and have a lot of responsibility in helping develop the team branding.  I also have to handle the international level as well….

SMDM:You handle social media as well?

Joe face:Yes, i run the social media for @dickiesskate.

SMDM:Is every day a new adventure with that?

Joeface:I mean, it’s challenging.  Social media is weird because people need something new every day.  I can’t be everywhere, so a lot of it is reposting and research.

SMDM: You mean you haven’t figured out how to teleport yet? 

Joeface:No, not yet. Hopefully sometime this year…for now i have to rely on the guys sending me stuff, or save stuff that i have filmed.  Ive done a lot of research on growing social media, and it’s insane how much people are “supposed” to post.  From podcasts I’ve listened to its 4-6 times a day.

SMDM: I’ve heard that 4-6 times a day thing….Its like corrupting minds. It’s like aiding their little brains for this social media generation.

Joeface:That’s considered “ideal”  I try to do one or two.  It’s defnately a job, that and answering kids Dm’s and scouring the web.Haha

SMDM:Jesus, so on top of doing all this work, you have to deal with the “DM kids”.  How many sponsor me DM messages do you get a week?

Joeface: Yeah, I get a bunch.  I kind of started to run how i would hook kids up a little differently, more of how it used to be.  Someone showing me soneone, or hearing about someone, or finding them myself.  It’s hard to answer all of the “Sponsor Me” messages because these kids don’t see the big picture.  They’re like “oh i have followers”, ” I can do a few tricks, some of the trendy Ones!”, which is usually a body varial trick followed immediately by a half cab or 180 trick.  The thing is, you don’t want to discourage kids from skating, or trying to get better, but sometimes these kids are clueless.

SMDM:It’s as if they don’t understand they are asking for stuff, especially in the case of Dickies, thats the people on the team are “of a high level, like Jart”. Sorry, SMDM inside joke….

Joeface:Sometimes these kids are delusional, and think they are on par with Jake (Johnson) or Vincent (Alvarez), and it’s just not the case.

SMDM:Sometimes i feel these kids live in a bubble…

Joeface:When I was 16, it took me one day of skating with Brian Clarke to realize i was never going to be able to make it in skating.  He was 14 and doing fakie shuvit to fake  5-0 pop out on a ledge.  Kids can grow into incredible skateboarders, but most of the DM’s I get, I don’t see any potential.

SMDM:Yeah, and you don’t want to be the one to lose the next big thing….

Joeface:I don’t want to be the one to send them a message telling them “You aren’t good”.  I don’t like to sugarcoat, so that is how it would come out.

SMDM:So back to the 4-6 instagram posts a day…How does that work? I know coming up with 1 post a day is difficult at times.  You also have a larger budget to work with than i do.

Joeface:4-6 is just because kids are always on their phones.  They need it.  For me, I have a job to do, so i have to handle that to some extent, but i don’t think its healthy to drown kids with content.  Nothing is special to them anymore. None of these kids re watch videos like we used to, its almost as if its “white noise” now.

SMDM:The have short attention spans, thanks to the 4-6 posts a day they see.  Why re -watch a video? A new one will be out tomorrow.  Times have changed, it’s a “NOW” generation.

Joeface: Yeah, it’s sad for me.  I don’t think kids view skating the way the older generation grew up watching it.  4-5 years were put into making a video, and it would change your outlook on skating until the next one came out.

SMDM:I remember when 20 Shot Sequence came out, and Trilogy was a few years later.  Those were like the bible.  They were so important to my friends and myself. They had meaning.  Now its just web parts, with no continuity.

Joeface: There are 4 new video parts a day that come out on all the major mags alone.  I hardly ever watch them, unless it’s someone I know.

SMDM:So do you watch every DM?

Joeface:I’ll check their instagram, if there is a clip and they seem like they might be good, ill answer. If they don’t seem good, ill ghost.

SMDM:Any kids ever get your personal email?

Joe face:Yes, and they send footage that I don’t want to see.  That one trips me out.

SMDM:Do you have people coming out of the woodwork, who knew you before you had your job that hit you up for free stuff(Not including me, since i would never do that…)?

Joeface: Haha, yeah almost everyone. People love Dickies, and they know they can hit me up. I’d rather people wear them than not, especially if its a bigger name pro. My pro flow list is pretty insane. I won’t blow em up because some of them ride for other companies, but they love the pants.  I’ll never say no.  The people who call me that are “friends of a friend”, trips me out.  The 14 year old me would have been fanning out!

SMDM:So, basically you don’t need any kids to sponsor, you have pros sending you requests.  Have you ever denied a pro? Like, has the revive team hit you up for pants?

Joeface:I have pros/ams hitting me up weekly to get on the team, and lots of them would make sense, but budgets are budgets.  I won’t deny people, but i will definitely fuck with people, thats my personality.  I had a pro once ask me how to get on the flow list.  I told him I needed a sponsor me tape, and an essay of sorts where he would describe how he would support the brand.

SMDM:Did he follow through?

Joeface:Nah, i told him i was kidding after a few sentences.  I’ve done that a few times.  And no, the Revive team hasn’t hit me up.  Those guys blow my mind.  The youtube world blows my mind….

SMDM:Mine as well.  I don’t know how they sleep at night.  So, back to the sponsor me DM’s, have you ever sponsored a kid from one?

Joeface:For sure, I’ve hooked up a few people from the DM.  With that said, it’s like a needle in a haystack.  There’s a few dudes who hit me up through DM that are amazing.  Michael Pulizzi is a good example, I’m pretty sure he sent me a DM. He is one of my favorite people to watch. He is insane.

SMDM:Never heard of him.  You probably need to jump up to the 6 posts a day, since i missed that one. The DM makes sense, i just think most kids abuse them.

Joe face:Kids just go fishing. They try and see if anything sticks.  This one kid, and he is really good, sent me a DM.  I hit him back when i saw it and he said, “Oh, RVCA put me on”, but he was getting Altamonte before that. The kid is too young, no loyalty.

SMDM:Guess you slept.  Have to strike while the iron is hot. RVCA is awful btw…kid deserves it.

Joe face:There is no more mailing a tape an waiting a week or two. The DM gets sent and its instant. Just link a youtube edit to every company in the industry, and if there is a buzz, someone is going to watch.

SMDM:No loyalty. It’s just whats free.  And the kids don’t even have to have talent to think this way. Do they ever offer to do unboxing videos for you?

Joeface:Ha, no.  Nobody has ever hit me up to do one of those. Kids love that shit, which is insane.  I’m watching a documentary show right now on these social media kids. They don’t do anything, but they are famous.  The new generation of kids baffles me, seriously!

SMDM:I always use Revive as an example.  Aside from laughing at it, I don’t get why anyone wants to watch it.  If that was my outlet for skating when i was younger, I would have quit.

Joeface:Revive is an anomaly.  They have their own industry within an industry, which most people in the industry have no idea about. And they succeed, and leave the rest of us wondering “How?”.

SMDM:I think its because the new generation is so lost, they are all on the same level.  

Joe face:It’s not for me, but kids somewhere love it, and gravitate towards it, and skate because of it. It’s so weird. There are kids who skate and love skating, but are a youtube generation and watch revive videos, but may not ever know who Andrew Reynolds is.

SMDM:Yes, because Andrew Reynolds doesn’t wear size medium red shirts.  It’s insane that guy can prosper but you have real pro skaters who have paid dues and struggle to make ends meet. 

Joeface:Agreed.

SMDM:So, can I get a box?

Joe face:You know the criteria. Hit my DM up with a youtube link and an essay…..

 

 

Check out the 1-2 posts a day Joe makes on Instagram @Dickiesskate