UKTerrorist
To you and me Counter-Strike is a game, something where we can channel our aggression, meet with friends or play for pure entertainment value. To companies such as Intel, Coca Cola, Gainward, AMD, Plantronics and many more corporations, Counter-Strike and online gaming is the doorway to a certain demographic market (Generation Y as the marketing strategists have named you all).
Most of the above corporations have a turnover in excess of $20,000,000 worldwide, so why do they look at our small grass-roots community to market goods and services and why do more teams not have sponsorship? The reason for this is simple; they look at the people who play and the teams that operate the players and they cannot see where they get some/any return for their investment!
Why do they not see how they can make a return? This is because they, the corporation, do not/can not see who they are dealing with. A bunch of guys with a Counter-Strike team asking AMD for some chips is going to get laughed at. AMD sit there and say “OK… So this sponsorship is going to cost us $2,000+, what benefit do we get from the relationship?” and the team does not know how to respond. This is the true reality of why teams do not get “true” sponsors.
So what should online gaming teams do to get sponsors?
For a start you should:
In my limited experience of online gaming, I have seen interest in marketing via sponsorship gain momentum and I feel that it will not be long before online gaming, CS, Q3 or what ever will be next, will come of age and become the biggest explosion in digital entertainment ever seen. WWF (wrestling) and that silly X-fire paintball game on the TV are tame and at best boring compared to the speed and graphics of Q3 and the pure teamwork of CS. Once the online gaming sport gets a break to the masses via TV and the vultures see the merchandising opportunities… The sport will be away.
IDTV (Interactive Digital TV) suits the HLTV system (like the bit they do with swapping camera views in the footy, but with footy you can’t do in eyes view). The players in online gaming have colorful names (like in wrestling, ish) and you have seen how the WWF guys have become superstars. I see that the corporations are edging their bets and know this explosion could happen or could not.
Fully sponsored teams in other countries are not rare and we are always slow to catch on but my advice is; get your house in order, give the sponsors what they want and you may get the support that only a few teams in the UK get, when there is much more to be had!
I hope that this helps in some way and you achieve sponsorship; I am not the expert, but I have gained contracted sponsors for my team and the team's new look web site will promote itself and the sponsors who support us in a unique way never done before in gaming.
One word of advice – Once you have the sponsor, look after them… They take a long time to get and they can disappear within weeks if you do not deliver your promises!
If anyone wants advice or help… Even help with documents or how to make the steps to become a team a sponsor can work with, I am more than willing to lend a hand.
Good Luck.
Paul
Nocturne
Comments
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Official Capybara Herder
UKTerrorist
18:41 16/7/2002
Editor
UKTerrorist
18:41 16/7/2002
18:51 16/7/2002
shame my clan isnt good enough to get sponsered
jk my clan
18:54 16/7/2002
19:24 16/7/2002
Paul really knows how to talk :>
i reckon in a previous life he was a cars salesman [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
19:51 16/7/2002
but I have progressed a little...
something you said a few nights ago prompted me to write this...so thanks :))
U know, I think ONE have great sponsor potential :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Official Capybara Herder
UKTerrorist
19:59 16/7/2002
He'll get you one for £500. £400 if you pay in cash - £600 for all the extras. He also knows a mate of a mate that will cover your insurance cheapo pronto. :D [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
20:19 16/7/2002
20:42 16/7/2002
20:42 16/7/2002
20:49 16/7/2002
I know what you mean about making time for it all...especially the drinking :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
21:04 16/7/2002
Clan ONE
21:59 16/7/2002
23:09 16/7/2002
well as you say when online gaming hits TV every company will be around like vultures
i would just love cs on tv "let's look at that hs again" hehe [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
23:37 16/7/2002
23:38 16/7/2002
n1 article !! [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Game2XS.Monkey Magic
23:39 16/7/2002
Nocturne
23:41 16/7/2002
Nice article Paul, but i dont need to know this, u do it for me :x [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
meatyballs
23:44 16/7/2002
Nocturne
23:47 16/7/2002
23:47 16/7/2002
Infinity-eSports
01:56 17/7/2002
It needs television coverage to kick off. If television gets involved, so will the sponsors. Hopefully, the guy that wrote that column Cal, has his way in sky sports, and maybe we can move along the road.
And vip is completely right btw, noway would i put gaming ahead of education, cause no matter how big gaming gets, im sure i could earn a lot more through getting a very good degree and city job :P [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
02:25 17/7/2002
WWF has millions of VIEWERS
who sees YOU playing? [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
03:04 17/7/2002
I would definitely take a few years out of my life (come on it isn't exactly much in the grand scheme of things) to win lots of cash and prizes like they do. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
06:16 17/7/2002
Official Capybara Herder
UKTerrorist
09:19 17/7/2002
Not sure about the others but I read in some article that Sujoy actually has a degree from Cambridge, did the whole high-paying city job before what he does now...
So like everyone is saying education is pretty much essential. Plus it's a damn nice saftey cushion if you actually want to try and earn money from gaming and crash and burn. :D [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
10:32 17/7/2002
11:58 17/7/2002
heh, I thought qw ruined his chances of getting that? [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
13:03 17/7/2002
13:40 17/7/2002
15:39 17/7/2002
16:33 17/7/2002
16:34 17/7/2002
16:42 17/7/2002
event.The actual events are not put on tv and most people watch the demo's.Only thing ive seen of the events is a few pics ;> and also from the picture i saw of NiP a while back of the clan with the medals they didn't have special t-shirts on just all looked diffrent. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Kirby-eSports
17:38 17/7/2002
17:59 17/7/2002
I think its totally different when it comes to RTS's though, since most top broodwar/wc2 players were able to convert their skills to wc3, and you will see that none of the top wc3-ers are new to the genre. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
19:19 17/7/2002
just one question.... well why can not any clan be sponsorde`?? the only thing the companys actually want is there publicity ... I can give them that.. eaven If i am not in a pro-clan.. so how good are my chances if I am not in a pro - clan to get such stuff as better connections.. or anything else?? [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
19:26 17/7/2002
les den scheiss doch net
#darulaz @ quakenet [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
19:38 17/7/2002
20:40 17/7/2002
I'm not exactly looking for clan sponsorship but there is something you might be able to help me with. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
23:40 17/7/2002
do u know how many years it takes to learn the skills of being a wrestler ?
how much time ?
how much dedication ?
and no CS isnt more fun than wrestling :]
wrestling has the best thing in the world...... unpredictablity...
ps. it aint WWF, it is WWE :] [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
23:42 17/7/2002
dnt even try to argue about wrestling with me btw :]
trust me i gurantee i know more about it than every1 here combined :] [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Game2XS.Monkey Magic
23:57 17/7/2002
01:15 18/7/2002
best regards [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
01:30 18/7/2002
Oh also, comments on saying "you're only good at one game" applies to very few people.. most of the top gamers you'll find have come from previous years of experience in other games. But yes there are some exceptions, as there is in anything.
I also don't think taking a few years out to earn some money by gaming sponsorship or winning tournaments is by any means a 'waste of life' or ruining your future for education. Some people don't even get their degrees until 30+.. and they still turn out to be very secured later on in life.
Put it like this..
If you have the option to go to the next 4 CPLs (I don't know how many there are a year, just a fictional example here) with NiP, well knowing you're definitely going to come at least top 3 and you're going to win $25,000+ in cash and prizes (fictional example), or missing out on your first university year and going next year, what would you choose? [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
01:33 18/7/2002
Some guys come on TV and roll around the floor, chat abuse to each other and everything else the script says, then lose or win like the script says, then wins the belt or trophy like the script said well over a year before it happened.
Exciting? I think not.
Rather watch paint dry, thanks. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
01:49 18/7/2002
Croydon
01:50 18/7/2002
02:23 18/7/2002
I just love Paul coz he has such a positive attitude about everything :S [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
10:24 18/7/2002
12:27 18/7/2002
good thinking!
thx for that [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:48 18/7/2002
12:47 19/7/2002
15:19 19/7/2002
15:21 19/7/2002
02:34 20/7/2002
Well heres my 2 cents, i just finished my first year at uni, and looking back at it, there is no way i would ahve changed it for the world no even for £25k. I heard from alot of people that your first year at uni is possibly one of the best years of your life and having been thru it i agree. All the people you meet, friends you make, interesting s*** you find out and amount of alcohol consumed you cant buy :/
But having said all that, i personally DO want a degree in 4 years time so i suppose if you aint too fussed about your future then hell do your sponsoring thing, make it big in the world of eSports innit :F
I do have a clan thats been round since '97, playing all sorts of games, but i tend to study/rave/chillout with m8s more than i play cs. At nights if i'm not doing anything i'll have a qwart at cs and maybe do some clan admin stuff, but i wouldnt let it consume my life
It depends on what u value better
anyways ggpldthxbye
#puk-kai <--- advertising [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
03:12 21/7/2002
17:55 21/7/2002
but issit really easier to get sponsorship if followed the ways u listed? [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
09:25 22/7/2002
I think to begin to take CS to the next level all players from the CS 'community' need to come together to provide the TV industry with evidence that would give them proof that CS TV would benifit them. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
23:56 22/7/2002
The Rock [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
01:30 23/7/2002
01:49 23/7/2002
this is a extract from a online commentry by WWE wrestler lance storm,
February 13,2002
With the winter Olympics under way my comment board and mailbox is filling up with Olympic question. I figured it would be easiest if I gave you my take on the whole thing here. Truthfully I’m not much of a fan of the Olympics. They’ve gotten too far away from their roots and have, at least for me, lost their appeal. To me the Olympics are Track and Field. There are a few other events that I like but it’s Track and Field that I consider the heart and soul of the Olympics. In an effort to grow and perhaps please everyone Olympic events have gotten ridiculous. You can win medals in damn near anything now a days.
You can be an Olympic champion in pistol shooting, synchronized swimming and even ice carving, for crying out loud. Okay I’m not positive about the ice carving but I did see a piece on the news about a local ice carver who was going to the Olympics to compete and was hoping to win gold. It might just be a demonstration sport. Either way it’s ridiculous, ice carving is art not a sport. Come on Synchro-Swimming? They do hair and makeup and actually get graded on whether they are smiling or not. If this were a real sport smiling and makeup wouldn’t enter into it, would it? (And this isn’t just my prejudice against events that require smiling (LOL)). People always try to justify Synchro-Swimming by pointing out how difficult it is and how athletic you have to be to compete, but that just doesn’t cut it, in my books, for the Olympics. Changing your socks while standing on your head is hard as hell but it isn’t an Olympic event!
Team sports create problems as well. It is actually possible to make the Olympic hockey team, go to the Olympics, sit on the bench, never actually compete, and be an Olympic Gold Medallist. Wassup Wit Dat!!!! Olympic Gold is suppose to mean you are the absolute best, yet I could win hockey Gold as long as I was part of the right team, and I suck!!!
I also have a big problem with judged events, because it becomes subjective and inaccurate. This could be no more apparent than in this year’s Pairs Figure Skating. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up on your Olympic news, the Canadian pair skated what was widely considered a flawless program yet placed behind the Russian duo, who had a few minor bobbles in their program. There is a huge investigation going on and it seems there was some type of arrangement made between a few judges to protect their own countries interests. As far as I’m concerned this destroys all the credibility in this event and, quite frankly, any other judged event. This isn’t just a black eye on the Games; it makes the entire Olympics seem like a big joke and a waste of time.
The winner of an Olympic Gold medal was predetermined, arranged, WORKED. WHAT! I said, “WORKED” WHAT!! I still enjoy watching Figure Skating but after these recent events, it raises the question could Pro-Wrestling be added as an Olympic event. WHAT! I said “Olympic Event! WHAT!!
This may sound crazy, but look at it this way. Pair’s figure skating is an athletic endeavor in which two people go out and perform a predetermined sequence of athletically challenging maneuvers. Sound familiar? The two people out there are not competing against each other they are working together to put on a routine, which is then judged on degree of difficulty, technical execution, and artistic presentation. Would this not be the same as putting on a wrestling match, which is performed, judged and scored on technical execution, difficulty of the moves performed, and the over all heat and entertainment created (artistic impression).
You would not crown an individual winner but award the Gold to the pair who put on the best match. If you consider one a legitimate sport I don’t see why the same can’t be said about the other. It’s not as strange of an idea as you would think.
I’d be willing to compete with Benoit as my partner against anybody. Get Bret Hart to coach and help choreograph. I say Team Canada wins GOLD!!!!!!! [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
09:09 23/7/2002
thanks to the author!
15:14 23/7/2002
15:50 23/7/2002
17:58 23/7/2002
It is instersting reading some of the follow-up comments in this thread. VIP is absolutely correct regarding education and not forsaking it for the dream of playing computer games professionally. It is always a good idea to have a good education behind you so you can get a job should thing's not work out in computer games. Many of you will not take heed of this advice simply becuase you hear it said to you time and time again from your parents no doubt (more fool you if you choose to ignore it). You will have no-one else to blame except yourself when things go pear shaped.
Professional gaming is still very much in it's infancy and the money floating around really isn't anything to get excited over yet. Yes it is true that you can make money but HOW MANY PEOPLE? answer is only the very best in the WORLD. So we are talking a handful that make maybe £300,000 + in their lifetime through prizes&sponsorship deals. What about the rest?
You can only think about really thinking about going professional when you're own national tournaments can give sufficiant money to make it worth your while. How many tournaments are there in the UK that offer cash prizes? I honestly can not think of any tournaments that can make it worth your while. So you have to cling onto CPL and WCG as your main income.
The next point mentioned was the cross over of gaming skills to new games. The basic skill of movement and aiming will always be transferrable between FPS's. The question that should be asked is which 'type' of FPS game will grow. Will it be the Q3 style of deathmatch/1v1 or will it be the CS style of team game. These are 2 different skill's which are arguably hard to transfer between the 'types' of FPS (although on a side not Sujoy and Silent were capable to adapt to CS from Quake scene so i can't see why it's impossible for the likes of Heaton to be able to do the same if the case should arise).
Lastly someone mentioned about RTS players from broodwar/wc2 being able to transfer their skills very easily to WC3. What he failed to mention was all 3 games are made by Blizzard. All 3 games are very similar in interface both in menu's,keyboard shortcuts and general game layout. Could these player transfer their RTS skills to say the westwood word of Red Alert?
03:32 26/7/2002
Talking about sponsorship and stuff- you gotta make your clan a worthwhile investment. Get a website up, get a community going with forums and the likes. Make people want to visit your site. A good example would be 6Ks website, looks nice, got good forums etc...(with hits per month to match) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
01:19 27/7/2002
20:27 28/7/2002
wrestling isnt Just WWE u know......... [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:46 29/7/2002
Jay429 said:
do u know how many years it takes to learn the skills of being a wrestler ?
how much time ?
how much dedication ?
and no CS isnt more fun than wrestling :]
wrestling has the best thing in the world...... unpredictablity...
I say: Do you know how many years it takes to learn the skills of being a top cs player? Most of the top players will have been playing since since beta 1 and they play/played it one hell of a lot.
CS has unpredictibility, unlike WWF/E which is all fake. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
15:01 29/7/2002
think that is more time than CS takes up iam afraid..
who cares if it is fake, it is entertaiment...
pls dont argue about wrestling with me, like i said i know more about it than any1 here :] [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Game2XS.Monkey Magic
17:29 29/7/2002
00:01 30/7/2002
It's nothing like saying films are for silly people. Plus wrestling is for silly people. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
13:46 31/7/2002
Errm...he is right it does take years to become a top wrestler. Just think all those damned acting classes, the perfection to slam your foot on the floor and make it vibrate soooo much that your opponent flies back in dispair.
once again LOL!!! Jay m8 your obviously 10 or something.
Wrestling, pfft it hardly required skill now, oh and incase you neva understood, the top bit is all sarcasm [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
02:26 1/8/2002
10:43 4/8/2002
some people would rather start arguments on irc (mostly involving me)
i think the point im trying to make (if there is a point) is that why would major corporation ant to sponsor 5 teenagers that could fold/split (uk cs scene summed up to one) at any time i mean look at X3 they had lots of sponsors and they just folded to make exactly the same clan again under a different name whats the point? there isnt much u can flame me about here but before u do you could be playing c instead of wasting time here:D () <--- another pair of speechmarks for effect (i love speechmarks) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
10:44 4/8/2002
some people would rather start arguments on irc (mostly involving me)
i think the point im trying to make (if there is a point) is that why would major corporation ant to sponsor 5 teenagers that could fold/split (uk cs scene summed up to one) at any time i mean look at X3 they had lots of sponsors and they just folded to make exactly the same clan again under a different name whats the point? there isnt much u can flame me about here but before u do you could be playing c instead of wasting time here:D () <--- another pair of speechmarks for effect (i love speechmarks) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:50 6/11/2002
14:16 5/12/2002
07:08 2/4/2003
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