I have a business in the cycling industry. As a way for us to connect with fans, I would like to start rides and races where prizes will be offered, etc. I reached out to Zwift directly and didn’t get satisfactory answers (none) so I am reaching out on the forum. Does anyone know how to start doing this? Please and thanks!
Doug
Cycling-Love
Firstly I would ask Zwift if they are happy with you giving out prizes using their platform.
Then you can either form your own race series and publish what you are offering or find an established well supported series and speak to the race organiser and come to an arrangement with them.
I can give you a few leads on that if that is the way you want to go.
I did this for several seasons through our kit sponsor but we found although we published winners quite a few never got in touch with us.
Via what method? Maybe it went to the wrong email address?
I used to see someone on a group ride doing exactly this, person who wins sprint gets pair of socks, etc. I haven’t seen it recently.
I cannot remember the group or the user in question. Socks I have plenty of so that kind of thing I ignore.
We did socks / arm warmers for a while… then the sponsor wanted us to switch to vouchers which makes sense as the postage was pricy and it worked out better for them.
We stopped about 4 years ago, there were a few series at the time who did the same. There are a few who still do it but I’m not sure who.
Zwift Terms of Service would cover this:
PROHIBITED CONDUCT AND CONTENT
You will not violate any applicable law, contract, intellectual property right or other third-party right or commit a tort in connection with your use of our Platform, and you are solely responsible for your conduct while using our Platform. Further, you will not:
Sell, resell or otherwise commercially use our Platform by (i) displaying the Platform in a commercial setting (like a cyber cafe, gaming center or other commercial establishment) (which is encouraged with the right display and synergies and with Zwift’s prior written authorization), (ii) selling, licensing or renting any in-game virtual items or access to your account to any third party; (iii) performing activities on the Platform for others for compensation; or (iv) using the Platform for any “esports” or group competition sponsored, promoted or facilitated by any commercial or non-profit entity (which may also be encouraged depending on the circumstances and with Zwift’s prior written authorization).
Seems like the hard bit is getting Zwift’s prior written authorization as they seem to have made it particularly difficult to be able to talk to anyone in any position of authority.
Yeah, you got that part right. It’s very difficult to talk to a human there. I was never super impressed with companies that have dead ends for people trying to reach out.
Getting somebody to speak to on that could be tough. Looking at the description I can think of quite a few organisers breaking that rule but I suspect Zwift turn a blind eye to it as its fairly small scale. The rule is probably more so to force large event organisers (UCI as extreme example) to engage them before using Zwift to host their events.
Maybe try email events@zwift.com as a starter or we can play tag bingo on the forums and see if any Zwift employee replies.
Might be worth a DM to Mark_Cote