A few months ago, my friend and IronTEAM teammate Elisabeth, introduced me to Active Ambassadors, which is a program for athletes and brands to be matched for sponsorship. All I had to do was fill out a profile of my photos, race history, planned endurance events, and social media links. It’s like an online dating service for brands. I didn’t know what to expect because initially, I saved my profile, and just played the waiting game until I received a response. Weeks passed, then I got an email requesting that I ask to apply for “Team Wheaties.” I was so excited that I think I filled it out within 10 minutes of receiving it! About a month later, news of acceptance into the program fell into my e-mail inbox, and the rest is history.
So then earlier today, my “Starter Kit” arrived! One box was full of brochures and coupons to give out during the campaign, then another box was full of Wheaties boxes with Muhammad Ali, white visor, and an orange tech tee. It was awesome! The best part? It was all free! There will be more to come too!
So what does it mean to be an Ambassador for Wheaties? First off, all the free stuff will be in exchange to wear their brand while I train and race. Done! You don’t have to ask me twice! It’s not a paid sponsorship, but out of many applicants, I do know they selected only 100, so I feel pretty lucky to be chosen.
I actually love Wheaties. I used to ALWAYS eat it growing up because of Michael Jordan on the cover, honestly. There was a gap of not eating it because for a while, I didn’t even eat breakfast, but being chosen to be on Team Wheaties rekindled the love for that brand. I will be pretty picky of what brands to promote because I know my friends, family, social media followers actually listen to what I recommend, and it would be a disservice to promote if deep inside I didn’t believe in the product. I’ll tweet the hell out of it (check out the hashtag #TeamWheaties for current conversations), post it on Facebook, post on this blog, and tell all my friends about it. I’ll try not to make it so spammy either so I’ll try to be creative with it! Stay tuned!
