Kinetic, the cycling trainers brand, has seen strong growth in international sales, resulting in the expansion of their athlete sponsorship efforts for 2014.

“It is very important for us to be involved in road and mountain bike racing, and riding at every level from enthusiasts to pro teams as we continue to grow,” said Kinetic Marketing Manager David Simpson. “With a range of well-established markets and smaller emerging markets to serve, we've worked closely with our European distribution partners to find the right balance of teams and individuals to support.”

Sponsorships are a viable and effective tool for getting product into the hands of  Kinetic Trainers 2014 Sponsored Teams influencers as well as getting great product feedback from in field-testing. However, sponsorship is simply another cog in the wheel of a well-executed marketing plan.

For Kinetic, team sponsorship presents an opportunity to put Kinetic in front of a broader audience. Race-day warm ups provide an exciting outdoor environment for what's typically an indoor product and allows the company to reach consumers in a relaxed festive atmosphere.

“The hero worship surrounding professional teams and their athletes is hard to quantify, but it is definitely there with race fans and strongly corresponds with a brand's image,” said Bruce Fina, Kinetic's European sales and marketing manager. “We've all done it, when we first got into the sport, checking out what the pros used to see what was cool and what we should buy. Unless you're pretty jaded, a lot of us still do it even now as experienced cyclists.”

With those factors in mind, Kinetic chose to sponsor three UCI professional women's road teams, one UCI professional continental men's road team, five UCI continental men's road teams, two cyclocross professional men's teams, a Spanish UCI Elite U-23 development team, two professional mountain bike teams, and one Latvian top-10 ranked UCI world MTB marathon racer. The company also recently announced its sponsorship of two world champion triathletes.

Kinetic's team list is as follows:

UCI Pro Women's Teams

USA: Team TIBCO Women's Pro Cycling

Italy: Astana BePink Women's Team

Spain: Team Lointek

UCI Pro Continental Men's Teams

Team Novo Nordisk

UCI Continental Teams

USA: Jelly Belly

Austria: Team Vorarlberg

Germany: Team Stuttgart Pro Cycling – Stuttgart and KED Stevens Cycling Team – Berlin

Slovenia: Adria Mobil Pro Cycling Team

Other Professional Teams

Belgium: Telenet-Fidea Pro Cycling Team (Cyclocross)

USA: Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com (Cyclocross)

Spain: Construcciones Paulino Cycling Team (UCI Elite U-23 team)

Mountain Bike

USA: Team Topeak-Ergon and LUNA Chix Pro Team

Latvia: Dana Rozlapa

Professional Triathletes

USA: Kevin Collington

Europe: Frederik Van Lierde