SC Clan Economies - How do they work?

jimbob615

Uruguay455 Posts

April 27 2011 11:05 GMT

It seems like a lot of starcraft 2 players are members of clans, such as Mousesports, EG, dignitas, etc. Also, a lot of players from countries in Europe seem to be often flown out to MLG's in the USA to compete.

What i am wondering is, how does this work economically? Why does it make sense for a team dignitas to send their best players to the USA for these tournaments? Because it seems like the prize money is not nearly enough to justify the 1-2k it might cost to send someone. And i also don't understand what the big incentive is for the owners of the clans to do this. If anyone can enlighten me i'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Beforrrr

Belgium94 Posts

April 27 2011 11:24 GMT

Maybe its connected with sponsors? All costumes of clans, clan T-shirts include sponsors logos, or smth like that. And when player plays somewhere on tourney, everybody will see the sponsors' logos and buy some products. ^^

merz

Sweden2760 Posts

April 27 2011 11:25 GMT

You're missing one important thing.

These teams are getting funded by tons of sponsors, in return, the sponsors want exposure. In order to secure exposure, these players needs to attend events where they'll be filmed/streamed/interviewed. So, let's take Naniwa for an example.

Naniwa goes to MLG, wearing the dignitas shirt & playing with hardware from various sponsors. He proceeds to win the entire thing, and while doing so, he's sporting a shirt displaying all the sponsors backing dignitas up (Razer, Alienware, Intel, to mention a few) also he's using some of their hardware (Razer mouse, razer keyboard, creative headset etc.)

All in all, in the end, Dignitas players gets to attend events while the sponsors paying it gets tons of exposure, ensuring that more people are likely to buy their products.

Beforrrr

Belgium94 Posts

April 27 2011 11:25 GMT

And sponsors pay for the trips themselves.

Beforrrr

Belgium94 Posts

April 27 2011 11:27 GMT

nice post meRz xD

sVnteen

Germany2238 Posts

April 27 2011 11:46 GMT

insiderpost xD

i consider that hidden advertisement for the dignitas sponsors (at least if its the real merz) xDD

Beforrrr

Belgium94 Posts

April 27 2011 12:08 GMT

free advertisement ^^

jimbob615

Uruguay455 Posts

April 27 2011 12:16 GMT

ok thanks... hmm yea i guess that makes a lot of sense. i thought of that idea, but then thought that there wouldn't be that much exposure at these events because not many people will be there.

but i guess MLG and similar events will have thousands of people tuning in world wide and so maybe it makes sense as marketing dollars if they invest in a pro team as part of their marketing budget.

thanks ^^ and no i dont know about any hidden advertisement, i only know about dignitas because of select and naniwa, i just said them as an example cos i know naniwa won the last one.

Atlare

Australia893 Posts

April 27 2011 12:44 GMT

On April 27 2011 21:16 jimbob615 wrote:
ok thanks... hmm yea i guess that makes a lot of sense. i thought of that idea, but then thought that there wouldn't be that much exposure at these events because not many people will be there.

but i guess MLG and similar events will have thousands of people tuning in world wide and so maybe it makes sense as marketing dollars if they invest in a pro team as part of their marketing budget.

thanks ^^ and no i dont know about any hidden advertisement, i only know about dignitas because of select and naniwa, i just said them as an example cos i know naniwa won the last one.

Advertising is a funny thing, and marketing flys over our heads alot but you'd be pretty suprised how profitable it is for alot of companies that want expsosure.
For example:
Steel series sponsers alot of tournaments/LAN's/teams,
What would be more profitable for SS:
-Spending their budget on many, many events/teams that have constant exposure to their most reliable market (gamers, 16 - 30 I would say) while also increasing PR showing they have faith in their community
-Buying some other sort of advertising with things such as TV advertisements/other endorsements.

Its actually really smart by the companies and its why Pro-teams are doing okay at the moment even if the prize pool makes little difference (most english clans that I know of let their players keep their prizes as incentive/a bonus for their effort)

Flaccid

8836 Posts

April 27 2011 14:46 GMT

#10

Depending on your country, marketing is also a good money-dump if you want to save money on corporate taxes. So it's much more than just a dollar-for-dollar type of spending which can help one rationalize the kind of money we see companies putting into something still somewhat obscure.

Ipp

United States456 Posts

April 27 2011 16:02 GMT

#11

It's mainly sponsors, players area walking billboards essentially. There are some kids out there that don't know anything about gum but because Liquid`Tyler chews Stride they chew Stride.