There are several different ways to promote a product. The people at Strictly BMX in Australia send out a newsletter on a regular basis and they come up with some original stuff like the Vander T-shirt for instance. Their latest mailing had some nice shots of the new VANS shoe arrival that they received. The kicks can be used for self defence as shown in the three photos that came with the mailing. In your face, on the floor and in the nuts. Good stuff. 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.