Vulto Brazil released a basic yoyo guide to help promote yoyoing in the country. The guide is part of a Promotional Package that also contains some gifts and cards.

First I want to thank all the yoyo players that sent me their suggestions and critics. It was really helpful.

Vulto was founded by yoyo players. Our main objective is to promote the sport and represent the players. I know most companies wouldn’t dare to publish the results of a research like this, but I think gathering your opinion and assuming the mistakes we’ve made is the first step to change.

Here are the critics we received:

• Vulto hasn’t released videos recently. We want good, stylish and funny yoyo videos.
• Vulto needs to sell strings worldwide again.
• What about the Vero and other yoyos? Vulto should release a line of great, cheap, all around yoyos.
• There should be an international team to represent the brand.

Last year I dedicated my time to help players in other countries. Vulto sponsored contests in Germany, Canada, Hungary, US and so on. We’ve sent so many packages we had to increase our sponsorship stocks twice. But it’s still not enough.

As you said, Vulto didn’t produce any new videos or released new products outside of Brazil. And despite helping a lot of players Vulto still doesn’t  have an international team. Well, it’s time to change that.

Here is the actions we are going to take in 2010 and how you can collaborate:

Produce new videos

I had a 40 minute video edited, ready for post production. It was going to be released in DVD and online, worldwide. But then the worst happened… I took the computer to a friend to install Windows 7 and make some changes on the system. I could do it at home, but I didn’t have time for that so I decided to pay a couple of bucks for someone to do it. He installed Windows, but forgot to backup our files.

I always keep a backup with all Vulto files in a safe place. But the video folder was incredibly large so I asked him to save it for me. I let a note on the computer and wrote it down on the invoice. I called him twice to make sure he wouldn’t forget to backup my files. And yet he deleted everything.

I managed to recover some of the files, but most of them are corrupted. So basically I lost around 10 years of yoyo videos and I will have to start all over again.

This year I will produce short videos for Vulto until I have enough footage to make a full length DVD. My goal is to release at least 7 shorts this year, let’s see how it goes.

How can you help: I’m thinking about a collaborative project with other players. Send me an e-mail if you have nice videos or great ideas. We will gather footage  from all around the world and produce it together.

Reactivate international relations

In 2005 Vulto stopped negotiating with international retailers. Yoyoing was growing fast in Brazil and we felt we needed to  focus all our energy here. It worked: back then it was extremely hard to find good equipment in Brazil and the local players had a hard time organizing events and contests. Vulto brought Yoyojam, YoyoFactory, SPYY and H-Spin to Brazil and sponsored all the events.

Last year I started slowly to take Vulto to the international level. First by creating the international site and blog, then by contacting players all around the world. Vulto has connected players from Czech Republic to Canada (this is better than Nokia). We represent these players and we all work together.

This year Vulto will give more energy to international players. We are starting to work on an international sponsorship program and we are finally going to reactive international sales. Vulto strings will be available all over the world again!

How can you help: Are you organizing a yoyo contest? Do you need help to promote yoyoing where you live? Would you like to be sponsored by Vulto? Send me an e-mail!

Release new products

Yes,  I know. I published a lot of information about the Vero last year but in the end we had to pause the project because it was causing a delay in other releases. The project Vero is more haute couture than mass market. Vulto is not worried about quick profits, but about long term relationships with the players and stores.

The Vero project was resumed in December and have had a great progress. In the following weeks I will keep working on the final details and I will let you all know when it’s ready.

And I have more great news: Vulto will create a brand new line of products dedicated to the lifestyle of yoyo players. Yoyos, accessories, clothing and design products. And, like the Vero project, we are going to work with the players.

How can you help: All players can collaborate with this project with ideas and suggestions. From initial sketches to final products every step is taken with the help of everybody. Do you have great ideas for products? Drop me a line and let’s start working together.

Final thoughts

This is an important time for Vulto and yoyoing in general. When I founded the company I did it for passion. Yoyoing is more than a sport for me, it’s part of my life. And if it wasn’t for passion I’d have quit a long time ago.

Vulto is not an ordinary yoyo company. Our sponsored players are not the yoyo addicted guys, the  perfectionists that practice their freestyles like robots. We are conceptual players. Yoyoing for us is not about competition, but about the lifestyle. We turn anything into a skill: pens, balls, keychains, knifes, hats, fruits. We are constantly looking for new things to create and new ways to entertain ourselves. We are authentic.

I changed a lot of things at Vulto last year and there are more things to be done. I want your help for these projects. You can find me through all the links below, and I promise I will read and reply every single e-mail.

E-mail: vulto.com/contact-us/

Twitter: twitter.com/vultobr

Or leave a comment below.

Once again, thanks for the support!

Mario

Review by Fernando Ferreira (Alucard).