there are different levels of sponsorship, usually: pro-form (discounts), product (where you get free or greatly discounted product), and pro (you get paid to ride their shit and they pay for travel and photo incentive, etc).  there are different levels of each, too.  some companies will give you product and photo incentive, or just give you pro-form so you'll stop bugging them.  they usually thow proform around some what losely, mostly because they get so many stupid kids who only want a free pair of skis so they can tell everyone they're hooked up.  said kids give no indication of providing anything for the company, so they toss out pro-form if they're good enough to get them off their back. the ski industry is not the snowboard industry...everything is business, you can't just send in a video and expect free shit, you have to pretty much put together a full on resume/proposal to porve to them you can do something for them, not just them doing something for you.
''Some say hope floats, my crew sunk their battleships.  Seattle shit, the Northwest assassinate your catalyst.''