Ideas on how to give more exposure to sponsors

On June 25 2012 20:22 Hens wrote:
I know Warcraft III had specific maps where the Sponsor names were written on the ground on expo spots or certain creep camps, that could be viable in Sc II too.

On June 25 2012 20:23 Xpace wrote:


Yeah they do that now, don't they? Like how Metropolis has a huge "ESV" on it.

On June 25 2012 20:26 archonOOid wrote:
How about a commercial break every 5 minutes? Pausing is already common in games due various reasons.

On June 25 2012 20:26 archonOOid wrote:
How about a commercial break every 5 minutes? Pausing is already common in games due various reasons.

On June 25 2012 20:37 FreudianTrip wrote:
Dude you don't work for them. Don't do their advertising for them. This 'lets help advertisers' shit boggles my mind. Of course TB has an opinion on it, he makes a very good amount of money from them. Of course EG cares about how to get sponsorship out there, they're being paid millions of dollars to do so.

You, you are not.

So here's my idea. The Protoss are replaced by Coca-Cola, Zealots are Sinalco bottles, Stalkers are Coke-Zero cans and Carriers are Chupa-Chups (because they suck, geddit?).

Zergling Speed is renamed 'Just Do It' and the lings gain little Nike shoes, you can choose what brand of Nikes in the custom decal section like this is NBA2K12.

For Terran, Marines are removed and replaced by 'Marlboro Men' who have a constant stim (due to being super cool because they smoke cigarettes) but lose health over time. Not only is this great advertising but it's a gameplay mechanic as well! We can sell that spot for HUNDREDS OF CENTS!

On June 25 2012 20:47 skeldark wrote:

i dont understand it. I saw this more and more on tl in last years. Can you explain it to me because i just dont get it.
Why do so many young people ask themself how companys can take their money? They think they own them the money or they do something "good" by helping other people get their money? Its like up site down world here on tl. Costumers dont try to get the best product for lowest price they think about how company can sell them worst product for highest price.

Im not kidding right now, i really don't understand it and i want to understand what going on in this peoples mind.
For me it just look insane but there are so many of them...

On June 25 2012 20:47 skeldark wrote:

i dont understand it. I saw this more and more on tl in last years. Can you explain it to me because i just dont get it.
Why do so many young people ask themself how companys can take their money? They think they own them the money or they do something "good" by helping other people get their money? Its like up site down world here on tl. Costumers dont try to get the best product for lowest price they think about how company can sell them worst product for highest price.

Im not kidding right now, i really don't understand it and i want to understand what going on in this peoples mind.
For me it just look insane but there are so many of them...

On June 25 2012 20:25 skeldark wrote:
You are kidding me?

You ask yourself how sponsers can annoy us with more advertise?
You also ask yourself how company's could get more money from you and how you are able to buy a product for more money than they want?
You know what i have a solution.
Because you are so worry about them making money, you just give them all your money and we dont see shit advertise ingame!

On June 25 2012 20:50 unbaal wrote:
You are familiar with concept of capitalism right? I dont know in what world you think esports could stay afloat without sponsors...

On June 25 2012 20:47 papaz wrote:
What does a person has to do to get away from ads nowadays?

I already get enough exposure of ads through TV and different sites (although I use adblock). Let me have a relaxing ad free experience with at least Starcraft 2.

No, I don't think sponsors should get anything in the game at all!

On June 25 2012 20:58 Jockmcplop wrote:



How does a company's name being everywhere mean that they are taking our money? I have confidence that most people in the SC" community would not just go and blindly buy every product they see advertised, Instead, this is a thread about how to grow esports by attracting sponsors and keeping them happy. That's how the real world works. Its fine being anti-capitalist, in fact i am in a way, but esports is trying to grow in a capitalist world, so it has to play by the rules.

On June 25 2012 20:59 AmericanUmlaut wrote:

Calm down, man. No one's goal is to expose themselves to more advertising. The issue here is that sponsorship dollars are the resource that makes it possible for players, casters and tournament organizers to work full time providing us with the content that we consume. To sponsors, the only incentive to invest that money is in exchange for exposure, and the question is how we can satisfy that need so that the professional SC2 scene can continue to receive that support.

If you think you have an alternative model that allows players, casters and tournament organizers to work as full-time E-Sports professionals, then you should absolutely do it, but the only options that have been discovered so far are sponsorship and PPV, and PPV hasn't demonstrated itself to be sustainable as of yet.

On June 25 2012 20:57 FreudianTrip wrote:


I think it's basically a mixture of conditioning and naiveté. They like Starcraft, they've been told Starcraft and eSports doesn't exist without Sponsors, so they support the sponsors and go out of their way to do so.

You've got to remember that the majority of the audience is very young which will lead to this sort of 'Doing something for nothing so they'll be my friend' thought path.

On June 25 2012 21:34 kafkaesque wrote:
Marketing these days sure seems to do a splendid job when consumers ask themselves how they can help companies.

I can relate to liking a product. My guitar is the most awesome piece of wood I ever held, my cell is super convenient.
However, I don't kid myself into believing Fender or Samsung are altruistic philantrophists who just care about me being happy. They make sound business decisions, financially valid and prudent measures to sell their products.

Why would I care about making them more money, giving them more exposure, even at the expense of my viewing pleasure?

On June 25 2012 21:34 kafkaesque wrote:
Why would I care about making them more money, giving them more exposure, even at the expense of my viewing pleasure?

On June 25 2012 20:57 FreudianTrip wrote:


I think it's basically a mixture of conditioning and naiveté. They like Starcraft, they've been told Starcraft and eSports doesn't exist without Sponsors, so they support the sponsors and go out of their way to do so.

You've got to remember that the majority of the audience is very young which will lead to this sort of 'Doing something for nothing so they'll be my friend' thought path.

capitalism works both ways. You and most people here use the term capitalist as something strange. I have the feeling you dont even understand this word.

The point is: thats not my job thats theirs. I dont give a shit how they make their money. Thats their problem not my.
I care to get sc2 without tons of ads. We stand on opposite site here not on the same!

I think your right. They think they have to be on the site of a company if they like sc2 and the events. They are to young to understand that looking at the same point dont have to mean being on the same site.

? So the sport has the money to continue to grow, and so the content can remain free or almost free. Is why.

On June 25 2012 22:03 Zorkmid wrote:
Two words:

Sponsored Decals

On June 25 2012 22:07 AmericanUmlaut wrote:

Nothing gets a sponsor's message out there like five 10 pixel wide pictures that are visible for five seconds at the beginning of the game.

On June 25 2012 21:34 kafkaesque wrote:
Marketing these days sure seems to do a splendid job when consumers ask themselves how they can help companies.

I can relate to liking a product. My guitar is the most awesome piece of wood I ever held, my cell is super convenient.
However, I don't kid myself into believing Fender or Samsung are altruistic philantrophists who just care about me being happy. They make sound business decisions, financially valid and prudent measures to sell their products.

Why would I care about making them more money, giving them more exposure, even at the expense of my viewing pleasure?

On June 25 2012 22:07 AmericanUmlaut wrote:

Nothing gets a sponsor's message out there like five 10 pixel wide pictures that are visible for five seconds at the beginning of the game.

On June 25 2012 21:34 kafkaesque wrote:
Marketing these days sure seems to do a splendid job when consumers ask themselves how they can help companies.

I can relate to liking a product. My guitar is the most awesome piece of wood I ever held, my cell is super convenient.
However, I don't kid myself into believing Fender or Samsung are altruistic philantrophists who just care about me being happy. They make sound business decisions, financially valid and prudent measures to sell their products.

Why would I care about making them more money, giving them more exposure, even at the expense of my viewing pleasure?

On June 25 2012 22:16 SupLilSon wrote:


Do you have any idea how much money companies pay to have their logo or brand name flashed for a split second in a movie? Subtle doesn't mean ineffective, especially in marketing.

On June 25 2012 22:17 lorkac wrote:




I'd understand you not understanding this if your still in high school, but I'm assuming that you at least could afford your own guitar if you wanted to use it as an example of product/cost/sponsorship. Because let me tell you, there's a reason that you know what company made you guitar. And there's a reason you understand what I mean when I say that my friend loves his gibson. It's all advertising. Please be smart enough to understand that the reason you're able to say "I don't kid myself into believing Fender or Samsung are altruistic philantrophists" is because their advertising worked like a fucking charm on you. You being able to say that you don't want to support fender or samsung is exactly their goal. That you can look at your fender and its the same exact thing as saying that you're looking at your guitar.

That's what esports needs.

On June 25 2012 22:29 kafkaesque wrote:


So your point is that just because I'm able to say which company made my sweet ass Strat, I tend to prefer their products?
I know little about marketing and less about economy, but that doesn't seem sensible to me.

Buying stuff, I look at a specific product, try to analyze its properties as objectively as I can and try to compare it to others in the same price range. I prefer a Strat over a Les Paul because of its sound, neck and fretboard, not because (predominantly) one is made by Fender, one is by Gibson.

I think it is kind of interesting and a bit funny about the huge negative backlash in this thread about ads.

Ideas:
In watching other sports there is typically a sponsor for the "best" of the day.
For example there could be a sponsor for best play of the day in a baseball game, or MVP player.

So at a big event we could have the Kingston Hyper X high speed micro of the day winner.
Best match of the day
Or the best comeback sponsored by ....

On June 25 2012 22:56 toiletCAT wrote:
How about we quit theorycrafting and let the professionals do their job?

I'm sure there's more to it than "just adding a bunch of decals"

Sure we can argue day and night about whether or not ads is a good or bad idea, but money speaks for itself, and you don't. It won't matter how much of a StarCraft fan you are, money over your dead body, my friend, and money will find its way, one way or another.

On June 25 2012 23:02 mechavoc wrote:


Well that would be a pretty boring TL if we left all the discussion, analysis and idea generation to the professionals. There is a diverse and talented group of members on this site and I bet there a few brilliant ideas sitting in some non-professional's head at this very moment just waiting for them to see the right thread of idea to expand upon.

..I'm sure there's more to it than "just adding a bunch of decals"

On June 25 2012 21:00 FreudianTrip wrote:

Yeah but my concept of capitalism involves me getting paid to do something for someone. Not sit around spit balling idea's for a PR department somewhere.

On June 25 2012 20:57 FreudianTrip wrote:


I think it's basically a mixture of conditioning and naiveté. They like Starcraft, they've been told Starcraft and eSports doesn't exist without Sponsors, so they support the sponsors and go out of their way to do so.

You've got to remember that the majority of the audience is very young which will lead to this sort of 'Doing something for nothing so they'll be my friend' thought path.

On June 25 2012 23:54 Fyrewolf wrote:
So............. having the decal be over the ui of the game, thus being displayed 100% of in game time, and then logos on casting desks and the like cover the rest, and people think they need more exposure time? How much more exposure can you get? Putting sponsor tags in players nicknames? Seriously? Is there any better definition of a sellout than someone who puts sponsor tags (of which they may have many) in their (1 change only) name?

On June 25 2012 20:25 skeldark wrote:
You are kidding me?

You ask yourself how sponsers can annoy us with more advertise?
You also ask yourself how company's could get more money from you and how you are able to buy a product for more money than they want?
You know what i have a solution.
Because you are so worry about them making money, you just give them all your money and we dont see shit advertise ingame!

On June 25 2012 22:56 toiletCAT wrote:
How about we quit theorycrafting and let the professionals do their job?

I'm sure there's more to it than "just adding a bunch of decals"

Sure we can argue day and night about whether or not ads is a good or bad idea, but money speaks for itself, and you don't. It won't matter how much of a StarCraft fan you are, money over your dead body, my friend, and money will find its way, one way or another.

On June 26 2012 00:24 Theovide wrote:

Discussion on TL might show acceptance or non acceptance of the idea which might in turn make teams/tournaments okay or not okay to sell inside game sponsor exposure to sponsors.

If everyone here went "FUCK NO, I'D NEVER SUPPORT A TEAM WHO DID THAT, NOR EVER BUY FROM A COMPANY THAT SPONSORED IN THAT WAY" then it's quite possible that teams and/or sponsors wont be so enticed to do it, meanwhile if people are like "That sounds great, more cash for e-sports, more exposure for sponors, that's win/win!" the opposite might happen.

Sponsors wants exposure, that's why they sponsor things, the more exposure they get, the more money they will be willing to give. So for example, if MLG changed their map pool to have Dr. Pepper written on the ground on all their maps, they'll probably get a nice chunk of extra money for that, which could increase the prizepool or give place for additional tournaments.

On June 26 2012 00:27 TheLOLas wrote:
I don't know that it would be possible to have sponsors show up as decals as that is entirely controlled by Blizzard. I feel that they should just repeat the names or logos of sponsors more often if they want to get more exposure. Adding stuff in game seems a little severe.

On June 25 2012 22:25 FreudianTrip wrote:


Ugh, my head hurts. Using sponsors that are already there and visible (which they should be if they're doing it right) and having their logo brandished for an extra half a second every 30 minutes is worth absolute peanuts.

On June 26 2012 00:01 Equity213 wrote:


Those people in the PR department were paid to do that for someone....

On June 25 2012 20:20 Daimai wrote:
I just saw an excerpt of the real talk with TotalBiscuit where he mentioned that sponsors aren't happy with the amount of exposure they get in-game, and have had players incorporate their sponsors name in their ingame nicks because of this.

You can see the clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wIKv9hYNF5w#t=6103s

I agree with his point and think that we should think of something that gives more exposure to sponsors, since they would want to sponsor sc2 players more then. I was thinking something in style of custom decals with the sponsors name, which would appear on every building the player built.

Have no more ideas at the moment but thats why I started this thread.

What can we do to help ESPORTS?

On June 26 2012 00:52 caradoc wrote:


Saying 'sponsors aren't happy with the amount of exposure they get' is a blanket statement that sounds like all sponsors are unhappy. Not knowing how many/how unhappy/which sponsors are pretty significant gaps in information that severely hampers productive conversation.

On June 26 2012 00:55 Sejanus wrote:
Judging by the majority of posts, a sponsor is someone who should just give loads of money for cool events for us and then GTFO quickly or else they start to annoy us. Also it's up to sponsor to figure the ways to profit from their sponsoring, but better not to at all. Profiting from the Holy Esports is somewhat bad manners. And God forbid anyone of Us, The Community, trying to find a way to make sponsoring more appealing to sponsors like the silly OP just did. Pfff what a newb, it's sponsors job, not ours. They should thank us for taking their money in the first place. Sponsors must learn their place.

On June 25 2012 22:12 FreudianTrip wrote:


Bro don't you get it? If we don't send them a tweet every time we send a text saying "Just told @MollyIsACunt that she is awesome with my @Samsung Galaxy Nexus #txtin" then Samsung will stop making phones. It's that simple.

The idea that you're on the same side as a multi-million multi-national company because they threw some pocket change at you in the street is retarded.

edit: By the way if you really want to artificially inflate ROI (which is what Logos on maps is as it doesn't create extra awareness, just creates more of the same awareness) then just set up a bunch of fake Twitter and Facebook accounts with some Indian dudes face as a pic and just tag the sponsors in it saying how awesome they are.

On June 26 2012 01:02 FaZe wrote:


There are dozens of relevant metrics that are involved in marketing, and believe me, a corporation with 43 Billion+ USD in assets (In the case of LG), isn't just writing down a number in some "ROI" column in an excel spreadsheet.

On June 26 2012 00:57 IdrA wrote:
hey you companies who support esports
how dare you want something in return
you fuckers.

On June 26 2012 01:03 Oproer wrote:
Do you want to whore out e-sports even more for exposure for the sponsors?
They are already everywhere. I only need one mouse. I don't need a Steelseries one, a Razer one and a Thermaltake mouse. Just one will do fine. I think there's too much exposure for sponsors for now. I don't need to hear/see this marketing everywhere.

The problem is that the E-Sports demographic is such a niche and small market. It's no use to diversify the sponsors since we only buy computer related stuff anyway. And it's the same brands that sponsor everything...

On June 26 2012 01:08 Oproer wrote:


You get all your sponsored stuff for free. Good for you.

What do you think these companies want in return? They want for us to buy their stuff.
Do I need an Eizo monitor, a Epson projector, a Razer mouse, Kingston HyperX memory and all the other stuff they're advertising? Not really.. So I can't offer those companies anything other than my money.. I like my money. I'd rather not spend it on something I already have "for ESPORTS".

The sponsoring market is too saturated.. It's like 6 drones on 1 geyser.. The ROI is too low for these companies..

On June 26 2012 00:02 DJFaqU wrote:


You've never played any other games than SC2, right? In the FPS scene this is very common.

On June 26 2012 00:48 FreudianTrip wrote:

I seriously presumed you didn't speak English when you replied to my post because I couldn't understand how someone could not comprehend that sentence. Then I saw you have Canada as a location and my face locked into my palm so hard I've spent the last 10 minutes prying it from there. I'll try spell this out for you.

I don't work for the PR for this imaginary company, you don't work for the PR of this company, the guy starting this thread, just guessing but unless he's super shitty at his job and his only idea was to start a thread on TL. I'm guessing he doesn't work PR for the company either.

So why are you, I or the guy that started this thread trying to help these companies get a larger ROI? "So they'll put more money into eSporthz!" Please...

On June 26 2012 01:03 Oproer wrote:
Do you want to whore out e-sports even more for exposure for the sponsors?
They are already everywhere. I only need one mouse. I don't need a Steelseries one, a Razer one and a Thermaltake mouse. Just one will do fine. I think there's too much exposure for sponsors for now. I don't need to hear/see this marketing everywhere.

The problem is that the E-Sports demographic is such a niche and small market. It's no use to diversify the sponsors since we only buy computer related stuff anyway. And it's the same brands that sponsor everything...

On June 26 2012 01:14 Fueled wrote:

Its more towards the players sponsors. In a tournament enviroment once the players go into the game you can't tell who their sponsors are. Sure there might be a giant Pepsi sign on the tournament stream, but you can't see the players sponsors.

Like I said earlier, Totalbiscuit got it right with the player banners. Have the banner have all the players sponsors logos on it and what not. Its a win win for everyone.

On June 25 2012 20:37 FreudianTrip wrote:
Dude you don't work for them. Don't do their advertising for them. This 'lets help advertisers' shit boggles my mind. Of course TB has an opinion on it, he makes a very good amount of money from them. Of course EG cares about how to get sponsorship out there, they're being paid millions of dollars to do so.

You, you are not.

So here's my idea. The Protoss are replaced by Coca-Cola, Zealots are Sinalco bottles, Stalkers are Coke-Zero cans and Carriers are Chupa-Chups (because they suck, geddit?).

Zergling Speed is renamed 'Just Do It' and the lings gain little Nike shoes, you can choose what brand of Nikes in the custom decal section like this is NBA2K12.

For Terran, Marines are removed and replaced by 'Marlboro Men' who have a constant stim (due to being super cool because they smoke cigarettes) but lose health over time. Not only is this great advertising but it's a gameplay mechanic as well! We can sell that spot for HUNDREDS OF CENTS!

In which way would esports benefit from having more sponsors with better exposure? Would it benefit the audience, or would it benefit the sponsors and the players/organizers/etc? And then we get back to the age old question of a mutually beneficial relationship between the audience and the sponsors.

On June 25 2012 22:50 Fueled wrote:

This is actually a really good idea.

The local MLB team for my area is the NY Yankees. They have stuff like, "Land Rover Drive of the Game, Chevys Player of the Game, Cadillac Scoreboard", etc...


Yep. All good ideas.

On June 26 2012 01:14 mechavoc wrote:


So FTrip since most of us are not professional casters or player why would we dare give our view on how a pro match went, or the strengths and weakness of a particular build in the strategy forum, or the good and bad parts of a cast.

Reason is you don't need to be a pro to have a good idea. Some people want to provide something positive and perhaps someone who is a professional and in a position to act on the suggestions in this an other threads will find some good ideas to use. Those good ideas turn into more money for players/teams/events which turns into more great SC2 for all of us to watch and enjoy.

Other people prefer to play the role of a rain cloud. If you are passionate about being a rain cloud you and the others go start a DIFFERENT thread where you talk about how the evil corporations are ruining esports, and silly TL users are trying to do the work of professional marketing people, casters, players and commentators.

On June 26 2012 01:24 SimDawg wrote:
How does protecting your wallet have anything to do with sponsorship logos? People who think this way I don't think have any clue how endemic advertising is to the entire western culture.

Do you get so angry when you watch 2 minutes of commercials? No, you get up and make a sandwich and come back. You ignore the coca-cola billboard behind home plate, because you've seen 10 others like it. If you're trying to remove yourself from advertising then you need a time machine.

Let these guys get their logos on the screen, and you can choose whether to look at them or not.

On June 26 2012 01:38 Oproer wrote:


I wish I had a time machine.. There's a threshold for the amount of advertisement I am willing to endure before I tune out of a tournament/tv-show/etcetera.. I think that threshold is different for everyone of course but mine is quite low.

I watch SC2 for entertainment, right? Sponsors don't always entertain me (except the ones from EG since they're awesome and Machine is awesome as well) and they bring the enjoyment factor down. Can you actually argue against this?
Advertisement is something you usually have to endure, and not something that entertains you?

I am not the party "directly" benefiting from sponsors and advertisement and I have no wish to give them a bigger exposure.
However, I do benefit from these sponsors indirectly, since they're making these tournaments possible, like the IEM tournaments from Intel or the Zotac cups.

Why not sponsor an event and call it after your company? That's plenty of advertisement in my opinion.

On June 26 2012 01:46 Absentia wrote:
You know you've got consumers by the throat when THEY are the ones thinking about how to advertise for you.
Companies have their own advertising departments...they don't need consumers to be doing the work for them.

I watch SC2 for entertainment, right? Sponsors don't always entertain me (except the ones from EG since they're awesome and Machine is awesome as well) and they bring the enjoyment factor down. Can you actually argue against this?
Advertisement is something you usually have to endure, and not something that entertains you?

On June 26 2012 01:49 Fueled wrote:

Almost every single form of entertainment has some sort of Sponsor related ad. Whether it be watching TV, going to the movies, going to a pro sporting event, you'll always see some sort ad/commercial promoting the sponsors.

On June 26 2012 00:55 lorkac wrote:

Razer sponsoring esports is not as omgwtfhalleluia as Nike or Gucci or pringles sponsoring esports.

On June 26 2012 01:53 Oproer wrote:


Isn't it tragic?

On June 26 2012 01:56 Fueled wrote:

Tragic? No. Boring? Yes. But the sponsors are whats keeping these forms of entertainment going. If I have to watch a few ads/commercials so my favorite form of entertainment is still going then so be it.

On June 26 2012 01:08 Oproer wrote:


You get all your sponsored stuff for free. Good for you.

What do you think these companies want in return? They want for us to buy their stuff.
Do I need an Eizo monitor, a Epson projector, a Razer mouse, Kingston HyperX memory and all the other stuff they're advertising? Not really.. So I can't offer those companies anything other than my money.. I like my money. I'd rather not spend it on something I already have "for ESPORTS".

The sponsoring market is too saturated.. It's like 6 drones on 1 geyser.. The ROI is too low for these companies..

On June 26 2012 01:53 Oproer wrote:


Isn't it tragic?

On June 26 2012 01:36 FreudianTrip wrote:


Never implied any of the stuff outside of it either but I guess you could have taken a couple of my arguments that way so I'll extrapolate. I never meant to imply that you cannot or should not discuss these things. I simply asked myself rhetorically (at least I thought) WHY you would want to. I've done PR (well less PR and more Sales), I spent a year trying to find new ways we could spin our shit so that people would switch to nPower instead of our competitors. It's boring, it's hard work and 99.99999999999999% of the time your ideas suck ass and work in the real world about as well as a QWOP runner.

On June 26 2012 02:16 Oproer wrote:
My conclusion:
Advertisement is a necessary evil. There's no reason to embrace it..

On June 26 2012 02:34 mechavoc wrote:


Let me put this a little different way, Companies have many many options on where to spend their marketing dollars.
Companies are risk adverse and do not like wasting money, so they tend to stick with established proven areas.

Given that esports has a way to go before it becomes an established advertising outlet there is a challenge in convincing companies to spend money at events, and there is a challenge in figuring out how to get the most out of the available screen time and screen real estate that is available.

If I work in the marketing dept. of a potential sponsor I probably want to spend a little time visiting a place like TL.net the central mecca of SC2. Maybe I look at a thread about advertising(since this is my Industry) and I see one of two things.

1. A thread with a bunch of ideas on marketing, some good, some bad but maybe there are a couple gems in there that this marketing person can run with one or two. Either way it is nice that the community is spending some time thinking about how to make the marketing person's life easier even if it bears no fruit. Maybe it is the little thing that tips the balance and makes the decision to take a chance on SC2. It doesn't hurt.

2. A thread about how marketers are the devil, how we will never spend any money on any of these products we don't buy anything we don't want to pay for anything we don't want to look at adds, and we shouldn't try to help those marketing ghouls. This doesn't help.


So if you enjoy the countless hours of free entertainment we have all received through streams, tournaments and TL forum chat suck it up and don't complain about adds, or at least go complain about adds in a different forum thread so those who wish to throw some ideas out there can do so in peace.

On June 26 2012 02:34 mechavoc wrote:


...

2. A thread about how marketers are the devil, how we will never spend any money on any of these products we don't buy anything we don't want to pay for anything we don't want to look at adds, and we shouldn't try to help those marketing ghouls. This doesn't help.

On June 26 2012 02:39 FreudianTrip wrote:


God fucking damnit. This is like the 8th time someone has quoted one of my posts and said this. Do you people just not read or are you trying to twist my point of view to make it sound like I'm some crazy belligerent outlier that smells weird and walks around wearing a tin-foil hat? Because it's definitely one of the two.

On June 26 2012 02:36 Oproer wrote:
What came first, the community or the sponsors?

Alright, let's say we embrace the sponsors and be grateful for their sponsorship and for keeping this community alive with their tournaments and pro-players like our beloved IdrA. Does the sponsor have any obligation towards us, or do we just have an obligation towards them?
Can we ask those sponsors to not go overboard and stay away from advertising inside the game like in-game billboards, or rotating Pepsi logo's on a battlefield? Can we ask the sponsors to limit themselves to a specified percentage of stream-screen estate in a specified banner, so we can keep enjoying the game, or is that too much to ask for?

Advertisers will keep pushing the limits of good taste and I think this has been proven over time, right? They will want to keep expanding their influence, but should there not be a force that pushes them back?

On June 26 2012 02:36 Oproer wrote:
What came first, the community or the sponsors?

Alright, let's say we embrace the sponsors and be grateful for their sponsorship and for keeping this community alive with their tournaments and pro-players like our beloved IdrA. Does the sponsor have any obligation towards us, or do we just have an obligation towards them?
Can we ask those sponsors to not go overboard and stay away from advertising inside the game like in-game billboards, or rotating Pepsi logo's on a battlefield? Can we ask the sponsors to limit themselves to a specified percentage of stream-screen estate in a specified banner, so we can keep enjoying the game, or is that too much to ask for?

Advertisers will keep pushing the limits of good taste and I think this has been proven over time, right? They will want to keep expanding their influence, but should there not be a force that pushes them back?

On June 26 2012 02:17 IdrA wrote:
its what provides most of the money that supports our community. you should embrace the shit out of it.

On June 26 2012 02:36 Oproer wrote:
What came first, the community or the sponsors?

Alright, let's say we embrace the sponsors and be grateful for their sponsorship and for keeping this community alive with their tournaments and pro-players like our beloved IdrA. Does the sponsor have any obligation towards us, or do we just have an obligation towards them?
Can we ask those sponsors to not go overboard and stay away from advertising inside the game like in-game billboards, or rotating Pepsi logo's on a battlefield? Can we ask the sponsors to limit themselves to a specified percentage of stream-screen estate in a specified banner, so we can keep enjoying the game, or is that too much to ask for?

Advertisers will keep pushing the limits of good taste and I think this has been proven over time, right? They will want to keep expanding their influence, but should there not be a force that pushes them back?

On June 26 2012 02:41 Grumbels wrote:

I don't like this way of thinking. No negativity about sponsors allowed because we might hurt their feelings?

I have nothing against finding ways to increase exposure for sponsors, but for instance having an entire industry dependent on e.g. sponsors money from unhealthy snackfood companies isn't the greatest thing also.



All your posts in this thread are weird, so maybe that's why.

On June 26 2012 02:41 Grumbels wrote:

I don't like this way of thinking. No negativity about sponsors allowed because we might hurt their feelings?

I have nothing against finding ways to increase exposure for sponsors, but for instance having an entire industry dependent on e.g. sponsors money from unhealthy snackfood companies isn't the greatest thing also.

On June 26 2012 02:17 IdrA wrote:
its what provides most of the money that supports our community. you should embrace the shit out of it.

its what provides most of the money that supports ME. you should embrace the shit out of it.

On June 26 2012 02:48 skeldark wrote:

You have a spelling mistake in there. You wanted to say "ME" not "our community".

On June 26 2012 02:45 Fyrewolf wrote:


Support them? Sure. Embrace them? Maybe. Bend over and let them make my their bitch by forcing me to put their sponsor tag in my Sc2 name? No. Emphatically No.

As a fan of starcraft for well over a decade, the last thing I want to hear/see when I open a tournament is "Spawning in the bottom left we have Coca-Cola's champion, Coke'Idra, and over here in the top right we have Pepsi's champion Pepsi'Huk."



This is why there needs to be a line somewhere. Advertisers don't give money because they love you and want you to watch Sc2. They give it because they want you to watch their advertisements and buy their stuff. I do think they need more exposure than they are currently getting though.

On June 26 2012 02:53 Tantaburs wrote:


I think Most people would jump for joy if Coke or Pepsi either had Sc2 teams or personally sponsored players. That would be huge.

Having a tag Coke'Idra is no different from having a tag EGIdra.

We aren't talking about changing the name of stim pack to monster or zergling speed to redbull but putting primary sponsors in a tag name is a great way to add advertising in a very non intrusive way.

Correct me if im wrong but didn;t they used to announce TL players as TLAF-LiquidX

On June 26 2012 03:04 Weebem-Na wrote:
Players should be forced to type in all the sponsors at the beginning, then again for each 5 minute interval.

On June 26 2012 02:46 FreudianTrip wrote:

Yeah? Well you smell weird. Thanks for the critique though bro. Very informative.

Sponsors could do the Red Bull and sponsor their own events. You aren't going to get Blizzard to agree to put any type of logo in game. Pausing the game to run an ad isn't going to work either. The only real option would be the overlay which is usually already used for sponsor spots.

On June 26 2012 03:12 Fueled wrote:

This is all true, but then again it comes down to the players that are in that tournament/s sponsors.

Lets say you have a tournament sponsored by Pepsi and the finals is between someone from EG and someone from TL. The Pepsi logo is all over, yes, but where are EG and TLs sponsors being shown? Exactly. Totalbiscuit is addressing this issue by adding the players sponsors to the overlay banner so not only are the tournaments sponsors being shown, but also the players sponsors.

And the overlay doesn't have to be cluttered with ads either. It can be as simple as having small logos of all the players sponsors at the top next to their names.

They get shown in player cams, interviews etc

On June 26 2012 03:27 HeeroFX wrote:
Blizzard has to approve it regardless of the ideas being thrown around. While it would be cool to give teams there own special logos for there players. There is no incentive for blizzard to do this.

On June 26 2012 00:02 Josh_rakoons wrote:


Don't blurt out statistics when you have no clue what you're talking about, the majority is not "young"

On June 26 2012 03:27 Fueled wrote:

This is true, but can you really see and name every single sponsor just from looking at the player cam?

Plus the huge spike in views will be coming from the actual game, not interviews.

On June 25 2012 20:47 papaz wrote:
What does a person has to do to get away from ads nowadays?

I already get enough exposure of ads through TV and different sites (although I use adblock). Let me have a relaxing ad free experience with at least Starcraft 2.

No, I don't think sponsors should get anything in the game at all!

On June 26 2012 03:44 Grimmyman123 wrote:
Some are confusing the different between a Series sponsor, and with a Team or Player sponsor.

There really is no issue wtih exposure on the Series standpoint. MLG has a massive amount of commercial breaks, has worked their sponsor logos into the webpages and viewer consoles, etc etc.

However - the question, is how does the player sponsors Off of the player's Team Shirt, and into the game for the player to see?

On June 26 2012 03:44 Grimmyman123 wrote:
Some are confusing the different between a Series sponsor, and with a Team or Player sponsor.

There really is no issue wtih exposure on the Series standpoint. MLG has a massive amount of commercial breaks, has worked their sponsor logos into the webpages and viewer consoles, etc etc.

However - the question, is how does the player sponsors Off of the player's Team Shirt, and into the game for the player to see?

Basically there would be a sponsor logo/name next to the names of the players at the top of the screen. Since teams usually have more than one sponsor, the logo would phase out and be substituted by the logo of the next sponsor every x seconds.

On June 26 2012 03:44 Grimmyman123 wrote:
Some are confusing the different between a Series sponsor, and with a Team or Player sponsor.

There really is no issue wtih exposure on the Series standpoint. MLG has a massive amount of commercial breaks, has worked their sponsor logos into the webpages and viewer consoles, etc etc.

However - the question, is how does the player sponsors Off of the player's Team Shirt, and into the game for the player to see?

On June 26 2012 03:56 Irave wrote:

It is in no way the responsibility of a tournament to publicize sponsors.

On June 25 2012 20:23 Xpace wrote:


Yeah they do that now, don't they? Like how Metropolis has a huge "ESV" on it.

On June 26 2012 03:59 toiletCAT wrote:


It is once the two have an agreement, which they will in 9/10 of the tournaments.

On June 26 2012 04:00 Irave wrote:

I must ask where did you get this information?

On June 26 2012 04:03 toiletCAT wrote:


Better yet, ask yourself why DreamHack is called Eizo Open, why AMD, Sapphire and Logitech are featured on their websites, on their Streams and on banners at the LAN.

On June 26 2012 04:07 Irave wrote:

You missed the point of this entirely. Its because they sponsored the tournament, not the team.

However - the question, is how does the player sponsors Off of the player's Team Shirt, and into the game for the player to see?

On June 25 2012 20:22 Hens wrote:
I know Warcraft III had specific maps where the Sponsor names were written on the ground on expo spots or certain creep camps, that could be viable in Sc II too.

On June 26 2012 04:08 toiletCAT wrote:




Same reason - because they have a t-shirt.

If I am still missing the point, then I have literally no clue what you're trying to write.

On June 26 2012 04:31 Irave wrote:

Its not the same reason of having a shirt. The companies you listed spent money to make Dreamhack possible. They bought the rights to have their brand published all across the LAN. Why would Logitech want to sponsor an event where Razer/Steelseries would be gaining an over abundance of publicity on their dollar?

People wanting to help sponsors by hurting others.

On June 26 2012 04:51 dUTtrOACh wrote:
That's really weird. I almost feel like I'm inundated with advertising the whole time while watching SC2. Just because this isn't TV is no excuse for sponsors to create a clusterfuck of logos all over the cast. I think they get more than enough exposure, and if they want more, they should sponsor more events.

On June 25 2012 20:37 FreudianTrip wrote:
and the lings gain little Nike shoes

On June 25 2012 20:25 skeldark wrote:
You are kidding me?

You ask yourself how sponsers can annoy us with more advertise?
You also ask yourself how company's could get more money from you and how you are able to buy a product for more money than they want?
You know what i have a solution.
Because you are so worry about them making money, you just give them all your money and we dont see shit advertise ingame!

On June 26 2012 10:49 Chicodog wrote:
This thread makes me so sad. How about you just let sponsors worry about this?

Helping ESPORTS????? I could not disagree anymore. I don't want more pauses or stupid sponsor signs in the middle of the maps. If it means fewer tournaments and less prize money, so be it.

On June 26 2012 10:11 OuchyDathurts wrote:
Maybe someone suggested it already but would be pretty easy and relatively quick to do.

Just before a game throw up an overlay that goes through a given player's sponsors. 5 seconds a sponsor, generic voice over.

EG Demuslim is sponsored by;
Intel logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
Monster logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
Steelseries logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
etc running though all companies with a full screen logo, every company gets the same 5 seconds.

Liquid Hero is sponsored by;
The Little App Factory logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
Razor logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
Twitch.tv logo (voice over guy with company tagline)
etc.

Quick and dirty, gets the sponsors exposure before every game. Can be thrown up with an overlay so no ad block sniping them. They do the exact same thing after like every commercial break for real sports.

On June 26 2012 13:32 VirgilSC2 wrote:

This is a great idea actually.

I support this.

You don't even have to have the voiceover guy or anything, just say "Player A is sponsored by" and then show each sponsor logo individually for a few seconds.

On June 26 2012 07:23 Corvette wrote:
people need to realize that if you want something for free or at the very least cheap.

You are going to get advertisements.

Its a fact of life. Few good things can be done cheaply without advertising dollars.