Disclaimer: I do not represent any organisation. I am your average fan. This is not a marketing campaign, it's a private initiative. I am not asking you to be dishonest with sponsors, nor to attempt to artificially inflate the currency of Starcraft eSports, nor do I see this as an alternative to buying products/clicking links/watching ads, just an added bonus. It's a friendly encouragement to extend some gratitude to the sponsors if you actually mean it. Feel free to criticize this is any way you want. This is not a complete list of teams nor sponsors. If you want to help out or spot anything wrong, please let me know.
Hello everyone!
With many people on Reddit contacting the sponsors with only negative feedback, I've decided to make it a point to actively thank them because I genuinely appreciate what they do for eSports. Remember, watching hours and hours of Starcraft is a privilege, not a right. Since there was recently a campaign contacting EG's sponsors after the Stephano controversy I decided to contact a few of them with positive feedback, but there are many other teams and I have listed a few.
The sponsor details are taken from Liquipedia. If you find anything that is wrong or missing, please let me know!
This was the original list I saw on Reddit that made me want to start this thread, but with a positive goal instead. I've kept the original addresses because these are the exact addresses that have received a lot of negative mails.
More is coming in time. If you're missing a team, please help out with the list.
Please note This is not a comment on the Stephano controversy. I don't take a side. It's not my place. I'm just worried that too much negative feedback will scare away the sponsors who keep eSports alive, and I want to do something positive.
Whichever side you take in whatever controversy, make sure you show appreciation to the people who keep the scene vibrant.
This is the letter I wrote to RaidCall, it's all true and might serve as an inspiration. If you write them, don't lie or copypaste something generic, but if you appreciate what they do, let them know.
Thank you for supporting eSports in general and EG in particular! Personally, I never tried RaidCall before I heard a lot of good things about it in EG's Starcraft 2 Master's Cup. I'm using it now and I'm very happy with it. For me, knowing that a company supports the scene I love makes me much more likely to choose their products. I know that there are people who contact you for negative reasons, but please remember that they are a vocal but small group. Speaking for the silent majority, I thank you for sponsoring the things I love and developing a great product!
On October 14 2012 19:58 Tppz! wrote: Why dont we thank all sponsors instead of only EGs?
He was just giving EG's sponsors as an example I guess, probably he likes EG a lot and in context with the Stephano thing.
Ontopic, I usually contact sponsors immediately after I learn about them sponsoring a team I like or some big event or are new to the scene. Either it's via something like some social media like Twitter or direct-mail or their customer support.
People/Companies need the feedback, they need to hear directly that they are wanted and welcomed here. Make them feel this way guys.
On October 14 2012 20:18 InDesconrowl wrote: How about we help teams that actually need help? ROOT, NSHS, etc
I singled out EG because there was recently a campaign contacting their sponsors about the Stephano controversy. It's just an example though. Many companies (like RaidCall) sponsor several teams. If you want to thank Root's and NSHS's sponsors, please do. I'm glad you point it out, because the point of starting this thread was just to make people think "Oh right, I can do that", it's not "Thank EG's sponsors now or else!!!"
You are noble hearted but misguided. Teams sponsors want profitable returns and no matter how many polite messages they receive it will not have as great an impact as filling in that registration and under "Where did you here about our product?" putting Starcraft Team/Tournament XYZ.
They want purchases, bottom line. Very heartfelt idea though. Best of luck with it.
On October 14 2012 20:18 InDesconrowl wrote: How about we help teams that actually need help? ROOT, NSHS, etc
How about people help teams they like to support? :o
How about we just help everyone and try to grow E-sports? :O
Don't make everything into growing e-Sport. e-Sport will grow with increasing viewer numbers. Contacting sponsors in a positive manner is about making sure they know we appreciate them supporting a brand / player we (as individuals) like. If people start blindly contacting any e-sports sponsor out there it will give them a false level of positive feedback. Growing an e-Sports bubble ftl!
On October 14 2012 20:31 Probe1 wrote: You are noble hearted but misguided. Teams sponsors want profitable returns and no matter how many polite messages they receive it will not have as great an impact as filling in that registration and under "Where did you here about our product?" putting Starcraft Team/Tournament XYZ.
They want purchases, bottom line. Very heartfelt idea though. Best of luck with it.
It can't hurt, it takes very little effort and might have a positive impact even if it's naïve and optimistic. For me, it beats sitting around being frustrated. It's not like I'm going to buy less stuff and ignore that registration form.
well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
4000 e-mails mean that some time, in the near or later future, when an individual will have to make a purchasing decision, he will be inclined towards their product
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
If you think about it, sometimes it's hard to notice improvement on their sales because they have many products, and target is like 70% of the world, not really one country so it's even harder to track, e-mails on the other hand are very easy to be noticed.
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
4000 e-mails mean that some time, in the near or later future, when an individual will have to make a purchasing decision, he will be inclined towards their product
i.e. standard advertising
you missed this part but sees no improvement on their sales
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
hmm.. i dont know how to respond to that exactly. maybe with this here:
"well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?"
If they say it's good and very useful, than i trust them. And as long as they keep saying exactly that, i believe it.
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
This is a little one-sided. Sure, bottom line is money, but when they receive a lot of emails, they can be pretty sure the senders are aware of their brand and view it favorably. That's pretty much all advertising can ask for. At the end of the day being viewed favorably only counts when it translates to sales, but that's always a matter of probability. The probability of sales increases with the number of consumers that view a brand favorably.
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
4000 e-mails mean that some time, in the near or later future, when an individual will have to make a purchasing decision, he will be inclined towards their product
i.e. standard advertising
you missed this part but sees no improvement on their sales
Actually i think the idea that sponsors support teams for sales increases is slightly misguided. Say steelseries sponsors and MLG, and then the next week they see a 2% increase in sales. Maybe that's people watching MLG and thinking "hmm yes i want to buy steelseries gear" or maybe it isn't. Steelseries has no way to tell.
Sponsoring stuff is about brand awareness and about controlling how the public perceives your company. This is why energy drinks sponsor stuff like gaming, F1 racing etc. It's not just people seeing the logo and wanting to buy the thing, it's about creating an image of a company that's appealing to your target demographic.
What this means is that the positive effects of sponsoring something like a gaming team are very hard to quantify, and are probably based more off gut feeling than anything else. In that case, i expect companies who sponsor gaming teams would appreciate emails saying thank you for sponsorship.
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
This is a little one-sided. Sure, bottom line is money, but when they receive a lot of emails, they can be pretty sure the senders are aware of their brand and view it favorably. That's pretty much all advertising can ask for. At the end of the day being viewed favorably only counts when it translates to sales, but that's always a matter of probability. The probability of sales increases with the number of consumers that view a brand favorably.
Yep, but if the number of consumers doesn't increase when I've spent X amount on advertising for an event then I'm going to invest that X elsewhere next time as I'm more likely to see a return on it, I can't take emails to the bank
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
4000 e-mails mean that some time, in the near or later future, when an individual will have to make a purchasing decision, he will be inclined towards their product
i.e. standard advertising
you missed this part but sees no improvement on their sales
I'll rewrite it because I feel like giving and you sure sound like you can take it.
I was saying that, regardless of sales now, 4000 e-mails does mean that sales might improve in the future. Sales in "niche" sectors (mice, headsets) might not necessarily skyrocket now because of the frequency at which they're generally replaced, at the same time it does let the manufacturer know that their future models might will sell better. Which in turn, means that sponsoring current events becomes a good idea, even if sales haven't necessarily improved visibly.
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
This is a little one-sided. Sure, bottom line is money, but when they receive a lot of emails, they can be pretty sure the senders are aware of their brand and view it favorably. That's pretty much all advertising can ask for. At the end of the day being viewed favorably only counts when it translates to sales, but that's always a matter of probability. The probability of sales increases with the number of consumers that view a brand favorably.
Yep, but if the number of consumers doesn't increase when I've spent X amount on advertising for an event then I'm going to invest that X elsewhere next time as I'm more likely to see a return on it, I can't take emails to the bank
In theory true, of course, but in practice advertising is hardly an exact science. It's usually not possible to attribute a sale to an ad directly. Even if the sale comes via a website referral, that customer's willingness to buy from that company might have been established earlier. But we don't know the facts here. Theoretically speaking, if sponsers in some way come to the conclusion that e-sports fans are just a bunch of slackers that are all words and never buy anything, you're right, emails won't mean anything. I find that unlikely though. Computer nerds buy computer stuff obviously.
On October 14 2012 20:47 Hardigan wrote: well, if every pro/manager etc. said that it really really helps giving the sponsors some love, contacting them and writing them E-Mails, why shouldn't we think that way?
if a company receives 4000 emails saying how nice it was they sponsored an event but sees no improvement on their sales then they will stop sponsoring that event or they will continue to invest in flawed investments to their own detriment
4000 e-mails mean that some time, in the near or later future, when an individual will have to make a purchasing decision, he will be inclined towards their product
i.e. standard advertising
you missed this part but sees no improvement on their sales
Actually i think the idea that sponsors support teams for sales increases is slightly misguided. Say steelseries sponsors and MLG, and then the next week they see a 2% increase in sales. Maybe that's people watching MLG and thinking "hmm yes i want to buy steelseries gear" or maybe it isn't. Steelseries has no way to tell.
Sponsoring stuff is about brand awareness and about controlling how the public perceives your company. This is why energy drinks sponsor stuff like gaming, F1 racing etc. It's not just people seeing the logo and wanting to buy the thing, it's about creating an image of a company that's appealing to your target demographic.
What this means is that the positive effects of sponsoring something like a gaming team are very hard to quantify, and are probably based more off gut feeling than anything else. In that case, i expect companies who sponsor gaming teams would appreciate emails saying thank you for sponsorship.
Yeah, ROI is hard to track and ascertain but it's easier to track when there is no improvement as opposed to some, most of your points I agree with but all the work companies do in building brand awareness etc is useless if they only get a bunch of emails for their troubles,
Even you are trying to do something positive, mentioning only eg sponsors makes it look like an advertisiment/eg promotion stuff. You should remove it or put other team's sponsors too while you are at it. I know it's just an example but that's the first impression I got and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
On October 14 2012 20:55 Fandango wrote: I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
I remember Incontrol talking on EG Master's Cup about Kingston HyperX. He specifically said that the marketing people who received positive tweets showed it to their bosses as a justification for investing even more into eSports. It's another thing to point to, in conjunction with sales numbers. I don't see a reason to doubt Incontrol, why would he lie about it if it's completely meaningless?
I'm not giving positive feedback to sponsors to replace watching and paying for products. It's an additional effort that takes very little effort and I don't see how it could possibly hurt. How does it create a "false economy"?
You're free to call it dumb though and feel free to hate it, but I haven't seen any argument against it in this thread that is more convincing than Incontrol's remark.
On October 14 2012 21:15 ibo422 wrote: Even you are trying to do something positive, mentioning only eg sponsors makes it look like an advertisiment/eg promotion stuff. You should remove it or put other team's sponsors too while you are at it. I know it's just an example but that's the first impression I got and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
On October 14 2012 19:49 Vaftrudner wrote: Hello everyone!
With many people on Reddit contacting the sponsors with only negative feedback, I've decided to make it a point to actively thank them because I genuinely appreciate what they do for eSports. Remember, watching hours and hours of Starcraft is a privilege, not a right. Since there was recently a campaign contacting EG's sponsors after the Stephano controversy, I've decided to make those sponsors a priority. This is a list copied straight from Reddit:
Please note This is not a comment on the Stephano controversy. I don't take a side. It's not my place. I'm just worried that too much negative feedback will scare away the sponsors who keep eSports alive, and I want to do something positive.
Whichever side you take in whatever controversy, make sure you show appreciation to the people who keep the scene vibrant.
This is the letter I wrote to RaidCall, it's all true and might serve as an inspiration. If you write them, don't lie or copypaste something generic, but if you appreciate what they do, let them know.
Thank you for supporting eSports in general and EG in particular! Personally, I never tried RaidCall before I heard a lot of good things about it in EG's Starcraft 2 Master's Cup. I'm using it now and I'm very happy with it. For me, knowing that a company supports the scene I love makes me much more likely to choose their products. I know that there are people who contact you for negative reasons, but please remember that they are a vocal but small group. Speaking for the silent majority, I thank you for sponsoring the things I love and developing a great product!
Best regards, Jonathan Jonsson
Great idea, Vaftrudner. Giving the sponsors some love makes it easier for them to continue supporting the scene. The scene needs more people with your mindset as opposed to those who are apathetic or downright negative. I will most definitely be writing to various companies via emails and tweets.
i am going to mail the sponsors and thank them, great thread.
im also going to let them know that i dont care about what pro-gamers say, i care about the game. i feel like we need to outweight the damn asshats that go straight to sponsors as soon as they hear something they dont like.
i was looking forward to see Stephano play GD Invitational and DreamHack Bucharest
Ooooh, this is one of the better threads I've come across in recent times. It's an intelligent idea. Ideally though, you want to tell the sponsor that you've bought their product. That will be really meaningful.
But a nice thread with positive energy.
As to those who are asking themselves if just thanking the sponsors is a good idea; it is. At the moment I'm quite happy with the mouse I've got. Same with the keyboard. However in the future you can bet your butt I'm going to be giving Steelseries products a nice hard look when my mouse dies or something. Just because someone who saw an advertisement doesn't need a certain product right now, the advertising will bring that product to the person's mind when they'll be looking to buy.
Like many have said, a bump in sales is nearly impossible to track. Things like twitter, fb, and email response are great alternative metrics for tracking customer engagement. This thread has the right idea, and creates an easy path for people to show their support to the companies that support our scene. Great post.
It would be helpful if you added the Twitters to the OP for each company. Also like others have said, EG maybe shouldn't be the community's top priority; they are flush with cash.
On October 14 2012 22:30 creamyturtle wrote: Like many have said, a bump in sales is nearly impossible to track. Things like twitter, fb, and email response are great alternative metrics for tracking customer engagement. This thread has the right idea, and creates an easy path for people to show their support to the companies that support our scene. Great post.
It would be helpful if you added the Twitters to the OP for each company. Also like others have said, EG maybe shouldn't be the community's top priority; they are flush with cash.
I'm working on it I've added most larger American teams and some European teams and tried to deemphasise the EG focus, I'm watching Asus ROG now though so I'll add more later.
On October 14 2012 22:30 creamyturtle wrote: Like many have said, a bump in sales is nearly impossible to track. Things like twitter, fb, and email response are great alternative metrics for tracking customer engagement. This thread has the right idea, and creates an easy path for people to show their support to the companies that support our scene. Great post.
It would be helpful if you added the Twitters to the OP for each company. Also like others have said, EG maybe shouldn't be the community's top priority; they are flush with cash.
yes, EG should be the primary focus right now at this moment. It's moment like these where sponsors get emails from angry little nerd creatures and then ask themselves: "we are we even sponsoring esport??"
It makes me incredibly sad how many people see a need to tell the OP and every reader of this thread that this idea is somehow flawed. There is not a single negative idea in this post, it is someone trying to do something positive for a game they love and allowing anyone who wants to do the same to help out. What possible reason is there to attack someone who wants to show sponsors support? Who cares what motivates sponsors or what the overall effect these messages have! Working to do something positive to help grow a community you love should be lauded not attacked.
One last point, is that sponsors/companies are made up of people as much as we would love to think otherwise. The reason the Little App Factory, Twitch, Intel, and other large companies got into sponsoring esports is because of the personal connection many of their employees/owners feel toward it. Even if our emails do not change their bottom line, they certainly let the people who are working inside those companies to support esports know that what they are doing has meaning. Making someone else feel like the work they do has value is worth more than a negative post on an online website.
On October 14 2012 20:55 Fandango wrote: I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
I second this. I love this forums but i really don't give a fuck (anymore) about esports, especially not about sponsors.
The people on EG are the ones who plug their sponsors the hardest compared to any other team except perhaps Liquid. Maybe they do deserve that spot, after all they are an exemplary team.
Perhaps I'm an EG fan boy, but even objectively it's hard to say they don't manage their shit well.
On October 14 2012 20:55 Fandango wrote: I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
If we never e-mailed them positively, then they'd already have gotten the impression the only people who watch are the self-centered spot-light whoring drama mongers who only e-mail them to bitch every single time they can create drama out of the next most benign controversy. Then -that- props up the illusion that the community boycotts any and everything because they're hyper-sensitive and just want to shit on anything decent -- which represents a very, very vocal minority who are probably full of bs.
So, at least for the sake of offsetting these sad people, you could e-mail them your praise.
On October 14 2012 23:31 jax1492 wrote: I don't see why we need to suck up to sponsors, if i like the product ill support it ... i don't think being fake to sponsors is helping anything.
I specifically said in the OP not to lie or make stuff up. It's not about being fake. A lot of these companies make great products, I'm not gonna lie to those who don't and suck up to them. It's just an encouragement to express support for those who do things you consider good.
Some days I log onto TL and read super positive posts. Then I scroll down and read a select few people spouting some of the most negative retarded crap responses I've ever seen.
Yes, emailing sponsors is a nice thing to do and shows that their sponsorship doesn't go unnoticed. Even if it is at the prompting of a thread such as this. Will 4000 emails go through? No wtf how many people do you think will actually be bothered? Maybe 50, maybe 100, maybe even 500? It could happen.
Ok great, this sends a positive message to some sponsors and helps counteract some of the internet trolls that email sponsors about negative attitudes. I applaud the intention of this thread .
Now to those criticising, It's not going to be many thousands of false messages that are trying to "trick" sponsors. Just a handful, or maybe a couple hundred at most. This won't trick them or change the entire state of e-sports. The OP never said anything like this. Anyone that started implying that has successfully derailed a thread that was simply a positive thread trying to garner support for an expression of thanks to sponsors. Is this thread here to you to FORCE E-SPORTS into something it's not? No. Sit down and shut the fuck up.
Thanks PIG. I'll add TT Esports for sure, but I'm a bit confused. Does it function as a team or as personal sponsorships of tournaments/players?
On October 14 2012 23:56 Cinquedea wrote: what about the Korean teams?
I'll get to them too Sorry, I'm watching Asus ROG at the moment. I realise I should have done a lot more preparation before starting the thread and I've apologised for it. But I'll fix it up and add as many teams as possible. If you want to help out, check teams and their sponsors and try to find especially any social platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
On October 15 2012 00:06 Vaftrudner wrote: Thanks PIG. I'll add TT Esports for sure, but I'm a bit confused. Does it function as a team or as personal sponsorships of tournaments/players?
On October 14 2012 23:56 Cinquedea wrote: what about the Korean teams?
I'll get to them too Sorry, I'm watching Asus ROG at the moment. I realise I should have done a lot more preparation before starting the thread and I've apologised for it. But I'll fix it up and add as many teams as possible. If you want to help out, check teams and their sponsors and try to find especially any social platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
Tt sponsor a few players individually such as myself and WhiteRa as part of their what I guess you would call the "International Tt pro team" (meaning they help manage and fly us around and organise stuff for us exactly like a team would do), but also sponsor hundreds of teams around the world as a hardware/Primary sponsor. Teams such as TtApollos in Taiwan are pretty much purely sponsored by Tt I believe (I could be wrong here I'm not too filled in on the taiwan scene) and function as fully Tt teams. Many other teams such as Infused, LighT e-Sports and PRIME are have Tt as a major hardware sponsor.
So I guess in summary it functions as both a team and as personal sponsorships of tournaments/players streams/teams.
I've said this before but I will say it again: This actually matters.
Is that silly? Yes. Does it make sense? Kinda.
They absolutely LOVE when they get ANY kind of contact about them/theirs as long as it is positive. Unfortunately this works both ways. When they receive negative emails this too works to get their attention.
I appreciate this directive and I can promise you it actually matters.
This thread is great not because we can write positive feedback to those companies, but because we get to know which company's product to buy. Giving positive feedback is fine, but more importantly, make sure to buy their products if you really appreciate their support. This list really helps for that purpose. As far as I know from my own experience in a company etc., companies care Profit>>>>>>Negative Feedback>>>Positive Feedback. Personally, I am considering buying EIZO monitor next time around both because their product is great and because they support tournaments. It would be nice if major tournament sponsors could be listed as well. Nice work OP.
This is a great thread! Definitely add more and more sponsors as you get the chance, I'll definitely be sending feedback whenever I buy a product or watch a sponsored tournament and I'll probably come back to this thread for an easy way to get to the sponsors!
The sad part is, it isn't even the Starcraft Community that are contacting sponsors with complaints.... It's the subreddit called ShitRedditSays (SRS for short), they are literally the ones that got Stephano suspended
Edit: Their attempt to sabotage the petition is pretty much all the examples you need... They pretend to support freedom of speech, but whenever feeling threatned they turn to... well.. this... If they TRULY supported freedom of speech, they would just ignore the petition.
Actions like this support the scene. We all want the SC2 pro scene to continue and grow, right? This helps that to happen, so how can people complain about that is beyond me. Let the sponsors know you appreciate their support and have bought or will consider buying their products as a direct response to their sponsorship of a tournament/team/player.
In the spirit of that i actually started on a GIF just recently of infinity sevens sponsors to help make them more visible in game for the player's streams.
This is a revolving door. This is what started the spree of contacting sponsors for negative feedback, a great portion of the scene begging people to contact sponsors to show support.
You show people what is important to you, you also show them what matters the most to you and where it hurts the most to get hit. The ultimate support that truly matters to these sponsors is you actually buying their products. Facebook likes and friendly e-mails build rapport and help grow a relationship, but it can only be sustained by money flow.
IF anything this thread is going to give more steam to the idiots who constantly message sponsors. Now they just have a bigger arsenal. I suppose the question is rather if we can out msg the minority of sponsor messaging imbeciles. I'm sure that people messaged EG's sponsors even after they put Stephano off 1 month pay, nothing is ever good enough for these self righteous few.
WHERE LGN AT MANE? lol. Glad to see that people are actually thanking the sponsors though rather than crying to them about how humans are horrible and progamers need to have generic personalities.
On October 14 2012 20:55 Fandango wrote: I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
You good sir will be the fall of many great nations.Compared to the rest of the sports industry, e-sports basically is 5 people in a basement trying to get something going. Whenever you disrespect the sponsors of those 5 people, they begin to think "Well why am I investing my money into something so terrible? It seems the people who play the game don't even like it."
Just enjoy the thread bro and be happy that someone is doing something positive in the sc2 community for a change. Im sick of hearing the crying and complaining.
On October 14 2012 20:31 Probe1 wrote: You are noble hearted but misguided. Teams sponsors want profitable returns and no matter how many polite messages they receive it will not have as great an impact as filling in that registration and under "Where did you here about our product?" putting Starcraft Team/Tournament XYZ.
They want purchases, bottom line. Very heartfelt idea though. Best of luck with it.
What you say isn't entirely accurate or false. Do they want more sales, sure who doesn't. Do they pay a team to use their products and promote their products purely to get more sales? not exactly.
If a sponsor just wants more people to stumble on their site and buy something, they can run random ads on any numerous sites related to their product. With the hopes someone clicks on a link and buys something.
When a sponsor pays a team to promote their product, via using it, and by mouth saying to use it, they are looking for something a little different. They are looking for brand awareness, and to make their product your preferred product because they sponsor the guy telling you to buy it.
So if like the OP you decide to use X product because Y team or player said to. Then you go and send a letter telling them that, that means a great deal to the sponsor. Even if you don't buy their product but you thank them and say you'll recommend their stuff to other people, that means a great deal to them.
When sponsors give money to a mouth piece, rather then running a basic ad, they want to build that relationship with their target demographic. So long story short while they do want sales, they don't pay a team to promote their product purely just to see sales stats go up.
I like this initiative. The sponsors wanna see ROI, but positive feedback and PR helps them better track this ROI. And it shouldn't be with a charity-like mindset: I'm sure everyone has a team, player, media or event that they sincerely endorse and wanna see growing.
and no, thats just not one of a kind, that's how every single company is thinking. All companies care about is profit and how to maximize it. (note: Im not saying that companies are evil or that we should stand up and fight them or something, this is how the western modern world works)
As somebody else said, youre noble hearted but misguided :>
At the same time, I enjoy esports and Im going to keep paying for events I want to watch and I will keep on following my fav teams, which means that I'm still going to get affected by all the ads and promotions of the sponsors, Isnt that enough?
and no, thats just not one of a kind, that's how every single company is thinking. All companies care about is profit and how to maximize it. (note: Im not saying that companies are evil or that we should stand up and fight them or something, this is how the western modern world works)
As somebody else said, youre noble hearted but misguided :>
At the same time, I enjoy esports and Im going to keep paying for events I want to watch and I will keep on following my fav teams, which means that I'm still going to get affected by all the ads and promotions of the sponsors, Isnt that enough?
Of course companies are all about profit, and if people tell them they buy their stuff because they sponsor certain teams they are obviously gonna be happy.
and no, thats just not one of a kind, that's how every single company is thinking. All companies care about is profit and how to maximize it. (note: Im not saying that companies are evil or that we should stand up and fight them or something, this is how the western modern world works)
As somebody else said, youre noble hearted but misguided :>
At the same time, I enjoy esports and Im going to keep paying for events I want to watch and I will keep on following my fav teams, which means that I'm still going to get affected by all the ads and promotions of the sponsors, Isnt that enough?
Some organizations ask you to go out there and help them by thanking their sponsors.
and no, thats just not one of a kind, that's how every single company is thinking. All companies care about is profit and how to maximize it. (note: Im not saying that companies are evil or that we should stand up and fight them or something, this is how the western modern world works)
As somebody else said, youre noble hearted but misguided :>
At the same time, I enjoy esports and Im going to keep paying for events I want to watch and I will keep on following my fav teams, which means that I'm still going to get affected by all the ads and promotions of the sponsors, Isnt that enough?
Re-read the entire thread and then come back to this post. There have been many posts explaining why this actually is a good idea.
It's one of the better thread ideas that has been posted here in quite a while. Much better than the drama threads which have been popping up almost every month or something.
This thread is a horrible, horrible idea. Now whenever pitchforks get raised, there's a convenient, well-formatted channel for people to express their rage.
On October 15 2012 02:01 EggYsc2 wrote: Saying please and thankyou doesnt make the world go round.
Buying shit does.
END OF STORY. We are a market driven globalized civilization. Money matters when it comes to investing not thankyou.
Instead of wasting 20 mins writing "omgbbqthanksfordasponsor" BUY SOMETHING
Shit, its that easy. I did.
Actually you also have to inform them that you buying/have bought something due to their support. Otherwise the sale cannot be directly attributable to their sponsorship.
On October 15 2012 02:05 revel8 wrote: Actually you also have to inform them that you buying/have bought something due to their support. Otherwise the sale cannot be directly attributable to their sponsorship.
and no, thats just not one of a kind, that's how every single company is thinking. All companies care about is profit and how to maximize it. (note: Im not saying that companies are evil or that we should stand up and fight them or something, this is how the western modern world works)
As somebody else said, youre noble hearted but misguided :>
At the same time, I enjoy esports and Im going to keep paying for events I want to watch and I will keep on following my fav teams, which means that I'm still going to get affected by all the ads and promotions of the sponsors, Isnt that enough?
Qua? why would it be bad to to tell sponsors that you are glad they are sponsoring e-sports, there aren't many companies doing this and it should be encouraged by fans.
To the folks saying it's not what the companies care about, keep a couple things in mind:
1. It can be very difficult to statistically separate the effects of a single advertising campaign from all the other events going on at the same time. This is especially true in smaller companies selling that sell smaller quantities and don't employ armies of analysts. Although survey and direct feedback methods are not as good as real sales numbers, they can serve as a proxy when the real sales numbers are not possible to obtain.
2. The action reflects upon the mentality of the community and more importantly, actually affects the mentality of the community. What I mean by that, is it actually makes the community a little bit "nicer" when someone gets people together to do something like this and that actually increases the value of advertising to the community.
This is amazing. How can anyone be hating on this OP?
I'm so sick of the "complain to sponsors" people. ewwww a pro gamer said some bad words, or ewwww a pro gamer raged out, or ewww a pro gamer killed someone. STFU and stop trying to sandbag people's careers and ratting people out like a little bitch. Makes me feel ill. I can't help but think it's some sad sad power trip for people who have nothing better to do with their time, and also have no one in the world who gives a shit what they say.
I did the "thank Red Bull" feedback thing for the lans they put on, and I think this is a wonderful idea. Not because it needs to be done in itself, but just to counter all the negativity that seems to spew out of the community despite the fact that these advertisers GIVE it money. ugh
On October 15 2012 02:01 EggYsc2 wrote: Saying please and thankyou doesnt make the world go round.
Buying shit does.
END OF STORY. We are a market driven globalized civilization. Money matters when it comes to investing not thankyou.
Instead of wasting 20 mins writing "omgbbqthanksfordasponsor" BUY SOMETHING
Shit, its that easy. I did.
Actually you also have to inform them that you buying/have bought something due to their support. Otherwise the sale cannot be directly attributable to their sponsorship.
On October 15 2012 02:39 CursOr wrote: This is amazing. How can anyone be hating on this OP?
I'm so sick of the "complain to sponsors" people. ewwww a pro gamer said some bad words, or ewwww a pro gamer raged out, or ewww a pro gamer killed someone. STFU and stop trying to sandbag people's careers and ratting people out like a little bitch. Makes me feel ill. I can't help but think it's some sad sad power trip for people who have nothing better to do with their time, and also have no one in the world who gives a shit what they say.
I did the "thank Red Bull" feedback thing for the lans they put on, and I think this is a wonderful idea. Not because it needs to be done in itself, but just to counter all the negativity that seems to spew out of the community despite the fact that these advertisers GIVE it money. ugh
couldn't agree more. why does everything have to be dissected so much on this site... like who are these ppl? Lets take something positive and complain about it lol.
On October 15 2012 01:58 Jormundr wrote: This thread is a horrible, horrible idea. Now whenever pitchforks get raised, there's a convenient, well-formatted channel for people to express their rage.
This is the only real criticism that has made me seriously question the idea. But in the end, it's not like this information is hidden somewhere, and there are already hate campaigns directed at sponsors, they seem to be doing fine without me. I want to offer an alternative and encourage people to do something positive. People like me who are grateful but lazy. I'm not saying that this is a great idea, but I don't think it's a horrible idea neither, and some people in the business that I do respect and listen to seem to like the idea.
Also, I refuse to let my choices be dictated by assholes.
A very large part of advertizing is to increase brand awareness, which is not meant to increase their sales the next month or quarter. It's a more longterm relationship.
Steelseries sponsors EG, and I'm happy for that. Am I going to buy a new keyboard today? No, I've already got a razer keyboard. But, I have decided that the next keyboard I get is going to be steelseries, because I've been [very] unhappy with the quality control razer has proved to me, with the 3 mouses I went through in less than 2 years, headset that sucks, and keyboard that has some problems.
Steelseries is going to get an extra sale because of their sponsorship from me (2, since I ordered a siberia a few days ago), which I wasn't even considering before I grew very fond of EG.
On October 15 2012 02:39 CursOr wrote: This is amazing. How can anyone be hating on this OP?
I'm so sick of the "complain to sponsors" people. ewwww a pro gamer said some bad words, or ewwww a pro gamer raged out, or ewww a pro gamer killed someone. STFU and stop trying to sandbag people's careers and ratting people out like a little bitch. Makes me feel ill. I can't help but think it's some sad sad power trip for people who have nothing better to do with their time, and also have no one in the world who gives a shit what they say.
I did the "thank Red Bull" feedback thing for the lans they put on, and I think this is a wonderful idea. Not because it needs to be done in itself, but just to counter all the negativity that seems to spew out of the community despite the fact that these advertisers GIVE it money. ugh
I think this attitude is dependent on an assumption that orb, Destiny, and Stephano are good people who just made one mistake, and I think that if you look at their careers as a whole that this assumption isn't true.
On October 15 2012 02:01 EggYsc2 wrote: Saying please and thankyou doesnt make the world go round.
Buying shit does.
END OF STORY. We are a market driven globalized civilization. Money matters when it comes to investing not thankyou.
Instead of wasting 20 mins writing "omgbbqthanksfordasponsor" BUY SOMETHING
Shit, its that easy. I did.
Simply not true. People who take the time to write an e-mail are certainly people more likely to buy your products. Without that, they have no way of knowing if their sponsorships are really doing anything. They might have exactly the same sales as before, but it would have been less without it. Or they might have a 10% increase and none of it is due to their sponsorships.
This idea deserves 10 times as much attention as all the threads caused by the actions of malicious people on Reddit. They ought to know we love the companies who make it possible to see our favorite players in action.
I copied this from the oh so hated reddit to show you what sponsors Rallye care about.
As a company that just got into sponsoring players in the Starcraft community (and currently expanding), we encountered the same issues that Razer encounters when deciding on how to spend the budget.
It's a mix of exposure, brand representation and likeability that determines how much the company can spend on sponsorship.
For example, if we knew that sponsoring X player would result in Y profits, then it would be VERY easy to provide much higher salaries for players. In fact, at that point, it would be a no-brainer to sponsor as many X players that provides a positive ROI. I'll trade $1 for $2 any day. Companies like Razer can drop 100k on a sponsorship without batting an eye if they know it's going to make them 200k in the near future.
That said, it is very difficult to determine the Y (profit as a result of a sponsorship) and therefore companies have to assume the worse case scenario.
So for example, if you're selling computer mice and you give $2000 to inControl, then you must assume that the worse case scenario is that this sponsorship will generate $2000 in profit for you. (Meaning that you'll sell 100 mice because of the sponsorship).
Unless you're using some sort of tracking code (ie: you're buying via a gamer's special link or something), then it becomes very difficult to track and you ask yourself questions such as: "Did people really buy the mouse because they saw InControl use it? Or... would they have purchased it anyways?"
So how do you analyze your potential ROI as a company?
- You look at the player's exposure in raw numbers. Stream viewers, total stream views, twitter followers, facebook fans, tournament appearances, 'televised' matches played in large tournaments. - You look at the player's personality and desirability. How well can he express himself, does he 'sell' products, will he promote your product... does he BELIEVE in your product?
I'm going to go off in a tangent on this one... but if you're Coca Cola and you want to sponsor a SC2 gamer, you find one that's ALREADY drinking Coca Cola. Sponsoring someone that hates Coca Cola and only drinks water would be a bad match because the gamer's heart and soul wouldn't be into it. (It would be like that episode of the Simpsons where Krusty eats a burger on camera for a commercial and then spits it out 5 seconds later)
As a company looking to sponsor gamers, I was surprised to have gamers ask for sponsorship... and then 5 seconds later tell us that we are a shit brand when we tell them we aren't going to sponsor them. (Seriously, if you want to help e-sports grow and you shit all over companies providing money, it's not a good way to go about it)
In the end, we sponsor gamers who love our products. That goes a long way because the enthusiasm about our product shows in interviews, stream, etc.
- Your reputation is HUGE. Gamers support other gamers that they like. If they think that you're an asshole, then they won't be supporting the companies that are sponsoring you. If you're the guy that everyone loves then it's going to be extremely easy to get sponsors. (ie: Day9 could easily get sponsors because he's so lovable)
- After you know you have good exposure, a good personality that loves your products, you just have to work out the details of how long the sponsorship will last and how much. I believe in starting off small and increasing it from there based on the results.
And of course, the results will be determined by how much the players mention your product. If you're a website owner and you see that you received 10000 unique visitors from Twitch.tv when Demuslim was streaming (or even 5000k views from his twitter profile), then you can measure the impact the sponsorship is having.
Taking it even a few steps further, you can see how long the traffic stayed on your site, what they looked at... if they were engaged or not. It's one thing to have 5000 visitors come to your site for 3 seconds... and it's another to have 5000 visitors come to your site and browse around for 3-4 minutes.
To give you a REAL example: the traffic we are receiving from one of our sponsored players results in an average of 1.85 page views per visitor. (Meaning the average person visits 1.85 pages on the site)
They also stay for an average of 53 seconds which is actually pretty decent. It means that about half of the people come, look around and leave... and the other half stays around looks at EVERYTHING (which is really good).
tl;dr If you want to have more money from sponsors: Make sure you gain as much exposure as possible (stream viewers, twitter followers, facebook fans, etc). Make sure that you have a great reputation that gamers will want to support. Finally, make it obvious that you are a good match with the company you want sponsorship from (If you love energy drinks, get an energy drink company to sponsor you. It is very important that you love their product)
Hope this helps any gamers that want to get sponsorship!
So please stop this silly action ans just click on links provided by tournaments, casters and players. Also participate in giveaways and other sponsored events. If you want to email sponsors, thank them for sponsoring a certain event but just emailing them alone wont do much.
On October 14 2012 20:55 Fandango wrote: I hate this thread with the same vitriol I hate threads telling me why I should pay for MLG and people who email sponsors about shit players said this one time. Stop treating competitive SC2 as if it's 5 people in a basement trying to get something going, it's a multi-million dollar profitable industry that doesn't need propping up with god awful 'community' efforts. If you want SC2 to be bigger, watch or pay for events or streams you think are worth it based on the content they provide, don't watch or pay for events or streams that don't. If there's significant viewership then there's significant sponsorship, don't create false economies by propping up commercial ventures for dumb reasons.
For the most part I agree with you. But compared to the things we want to achieve, we are 5 people in a basement.
I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
Actually you are wrong. Marketing guys in companies say that receiving positive feedback makes it easier to justify renewal of sponsorship deals. Companies CARE about their brand. This is even reiterated in the post you pasted from Reddit, earlier in the thread.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
I have not, and will not, ask anyone to write some random praise to the sponsors just because I think it will magically make money appear. I specifically asked people not to lie or write something generic in my first post, as I pointed out, I encourage people who actually appreciate something to express it.
I'm sure the company you quoted may not care. In fact, many companies I have listed may not care. Does it make it silly and futile?
On October 15 2012 00:19 iNcontroL wrote: I've said this before but I will say it again: This actually matters.
Is that silly? Yes. Does it make sense? Kinda.
They absolutely LOVE when they get ANY kind of contact about them/theirs as long as it is positive. Unfortunately this works both ways. When they receive negative emails this too works to get their attention.
I appreciate this directive and I can promise you it actually matters.
I see no reason to doubt Incontrol, if there's anyone in this industry who I expect knows a ton about this stuff, it's him. And even without his encouragement, I think that it's worth trying. It's not like I'm gonna stop clicking links and watching commercials after this. It may not help, it may help, but it's worth a try.
This is a great thread, and I also encourage everybody to write a little thank you note to the sponsors of his chosen team / tournament or whatever. This should especially be for the sponsors like LG, Intel and so on, that are not necessarily so deeply rooted in the gaming scene as Razer or so.
I had a similar idea - to create a giant poster with the logos of *ALL* the sponsors that ever got involved with the SC2 scene. That includes team sponsors, league sponsors, player sponsors etc. So, make a "Logorama" of esports. Eventually I gave up though, because the amounts of logos needed became staggering.
Anyway, I wish to express that I'm really thankful to all these organizations and people who sponsored the shows we've seen.
yeah I think it's pretty funny when metalslug comes in and says a lot of good stuff but then also just says some things that are FLAT OUT WRONG.
Absolutely positive feedback matters. Would the company prefer you buy a mouse, tattoo their emblem on your head and sign up for everything? YUP. But they believe the more time you spend on their website, emailing them, tweeting them or in general: thinking about them YOU WILL DO THESE THINGS.
The idea that emailing them gives false hope or artificially inflates the market is ludicrous. Do more than email if you have it in you.. the point is the BASE action the absolute minimal thing you can do (beyond doing nothing) is to email/tweet etc.. communicate to them that you support what they are doing.
Never should someone be told "doing something considered "little" is wrong" -- if you can do more do more.. but for the rest, this helps!
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
well theres also the fact that companies that sponsor EG just inherently have superior products. but thats neither here nor there.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
well theres also the fact that companies that sponsor EG just inherently have superior products. but thats neither here nor there.
usually id say that's a douche thing to say but hey I fucking love my steel series gear LOL its awesome
If all these businesses replied to the emails with a thank-you and a nice discount code for some products, i'm sure they'll see some direct sales.
At the end of the day though, they don't want you to buy stuff directly; they want you to tell your friends (who don't know shit about computers) that they can buy <insert brand here> and know that the business will probably have a high quality product and be willing to provide support in the event of a problem...
That's something they can offer, through you as a proxy, that "no-name" brands cannot. They're making their brand name... through you, the viewer (and through the sponsorship).
I've added a much needed disclaimer since it was obvious that my original intentions were very unclear. Thanks for your criticism people. I've also added some Korean teams but it's damn hard to navigate Korean homepages ^^ I couldn't find social media for many of them.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
well theres also the fact that companies that sponsor EG just inherently have superior products. but thats neither here nor there.
Actually, they would probably care more about a like on facebook that came from a link from a sponsored Event than a kinda forced random mail from some guys on TL who were aware of the brand before. Likes on FB are numbers you can present your superiors. I just think that its stupid to mail sponsors without a valid reason when you can do so much more by liking them on FB or just visiting their site.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
well theres also the fact that companies that sponsor EG just inherently have superior products. but thats neither here nor there.
Actually, they would probably care more about a like on facebook that came from a link from a sponsored Event than a kinda forced random mail from some guys on TL who were aware of the brand before. Likes on FB are numbers you can present your superiors. I just think that its stupid to mail sponsors without a valid reason when you can do so much more by liking them on FB or just visiting their site.
Agreed. This is why I have added Twitter and/or Facebook for every company where I have been able to find it, and why I have provided links to their homepages instead of just e-mails.
alrighty metalslug, clearly there's a difference between saying "Thanks for sponsoring my fav team -SomeAssHat"
and
"Thanks for sponsoring my fav team. Btw that raidcall community event was really cool and it was kinda fun to have the chance to speak live with some EG players. -NotAnAssHat"
One of them is constructive feedback; this helps the sponsor understand what their fans value and what helps their brand become more interesting and, by a small amount, more valuable in general. The other, is about as good as a facebook like.
edit: not to mention, makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside; that's really valuable too, i think
A little off-topic, but why are Korean teams still so 'under-sponsored'? It's been over two years now, that they had the best players and therefore good exposure. Apart from StarTale and IM they have not made much progress. Hell, they don't even got hardware sponsors...
On October 15 2012 06:56 lord_nibbler wrote: A little off-topic, but why are Korean teams still so 'under-sponsored'? It's been over two years now, that they had the best players and therefore good exposure. Apart from StarTale and IM they have not made much progress. Hell, they don't even got hardware sponsors...
Koreans often are not as marketable as foreigners because of the language barrier resulting in a kind of go big or go home for Korean sponsorships so startale and IM gets the majority of the sponsors.
On October 15 2012 06:56 lord_nibbler wrote: A little off-topic, but why are Korean teams still so 'under-sponsored'? It's been over two years now, that they had the best players and therefore good exposure. Apart from StarTale and IM they have not made much progress. Hell, they don't even got hardware sponsors...
I think at least part of it has to do with the fact that playing skill doesn't automatically equate to marketability. Many Korean players don't speak much english, and have difficulties communicating with foreign fans the way European or North American players can. This makes it difficult for the teams to market the players as much as they would have to, unfortunately. :/
Lol at the negativity. Hard to fathom but definitely not surprising anymore.
For those complaining about "emails do nothing BUY SOMETHING." Why not be positive and suggest both? Buying something + emailing is super effective, why shun one idea and condescendingly suggesting the other?
On October 15 2012 01:58 Jormundr wrote: This thread is a horrible, horrible idea. Now whenever pitchforks get raised, there's a convenient, well-formatted channel for people to express their rage.
This is the only real criticism that has made me seriously question the idea. But in the end, it's not like this information is hidden somewhere, and there are already hate campaigns directed at sponsors, they seem to be doing fine without me. I want to offer an alternative and encourage people to do something positive. People like me who are grateful but lazy. I'm not saying that this is a great idea, but I don't think it's a horrible idea neither, and some people in the business that I do respect and listen to seem to like the idea.
Also, I refuse to let my choices be dictated by assholes.
How is this valid criticism? The sponsors are obvious, for obvious reasons(lol). This thread wont be any fuel to people who email sponsors in a dumb founded rage. They already have asshats to provide them links. It seems like a high rate of users on TL have some depression issues. The fact people have to point out to many that there isnt anything to hate on here is pathetic. Everyone hatin needs to find a different past time. Such pointless bs.
Anyway, this was a good idea. Dont think otherwise!
On October 15 2012 01:58 Jormundr wrote: This thread is a horrible, horrible idea. Now whenever pitchforks get raised, there's a convenient, well-formatted channel for people to express their rage.
This is the only real criticism that has made me seriously question the idea. But in the end, it's not like this information is hidden somewhere, and there are already hate campaigns directed at sponsors, they seem to be doing fine without me. I want to offer an alternative and encourage people to do something positive. People like me who are grateful but lazy. I'm not saying that this is a great idea, but I don't think it's a horrible idea neither, and some people in the business that I do respect and listen to seem to like the idea.
Also, I refuse to let my choices be dictated by assholes.
How is this valid criticism? The sponsors are obvious, for obvious reasons(lol). This thread wont be any fuel to people who email sponsors in a dumb founded rage. They already have asshats to provide them links. It seems like a high rate of users on TL have some depression issues. The fact people have to point out to many that there isnt anything to hate on here is pathetic. Everyone hatin needs to find a different past time. Such pointless bs.
Anyway, this was a good idea. Dont think otherwise!
Meh, some people are negative, it's no surprise. Don't confuse it with depression though. I suffer from chronic depression and it's only made it much more apparent to me how important it is to try to be constructive and hang on to whatever positive things you can find. Depression is a medical condition, being whiny and negative may just be a character flaw. Just random PSA of the day I find it a bit offensive when psychological disorders are being thrown around like that. Thanks for what you said though.
It would be interesting to know which companies that are "proper" sponsors and which that are only product sponsors, as I don't have as much love for the latter. But that's only a thought, a curious wish.
Thanks for the links. It will be good to have in hand when I do my occasional twitter shoutouts.
What a pointless thread. As nice as it may be, the world doesn't run in nice words. Thank them, thats fine. It's appreciated and all, but kind of useless. A way to thank them is buy their products. That's it. Writing emails and shit is nice but pointless.
A while back I wanted to thank Kingston Hyper X about their sponsorship, and tell them that basically the new ram I bought was this brand because of it, however I had trouble finding the correct customer form to contact them.
Thanks OP, it is a great idea to list all sponsors of the major teams in here :-).
On October 15 2012 18:38 BgSBendeR wrote: What a pointless thread. As nice as it may be, the world doesn't run in nice words. Thank them, thats fine. It's appreciated and all, but kind of useless. A way to thank them is buy their products. That's it. Writing emails and shit is nice but pointless.
That is just so wrong. It boggles my mind how people think the world runs. Sponsor companies aren't some dead machinery that only works on dollar put in and dollar put out.
Sponsors are a lot of people working together. And you can very much influence what these people think or do simply by using words, not dollars. Maybe someone in the marketing department had to fight against traditionalists who were opposed to sponsoring something weird like ESPORTS over traditional targets. Maybe his manager will ask him how the sponsorship is working out next week. Just 10 emails from fans who thanked for the sponsorship, and bought / recommended their products can be the deciding factor over a continued or stopped sponsorship.
They don't know you bought their product because of ESPORTS sponsorship unless you tell them.
I just can't get why people can't see why it really helps when you say good stuff to sponsors. You can surely see why negatives emails to sponsors work... So just flip it on its head. There you go! Positive feedback works too! Sick thread I shall be sure to come here when I want to be sending happy emails to the sponsors.
A thank you goes a very long way in this world. Having worked for various companies over the years I can say when you receive one from customer- i.e someone from outside the company it does make you feel that the effort you put in is appreciated, makes your working day slightly less long. Plus sponsors hope you recommend products to friends, coworkers who are thinking about getting a new keyboard etc.. Brand loyalty isn't something with a fixed value to a company. In the retail world it is widely known that if you have something to complain about you will tell everyone you meet about it (poor service in a resturant, bad customer service), but rarely will you tell them of a good experience. If you do appreicate a sponsors support letting them know is never a bad idea.
On October 15 2012 23:30 jlake02 wrote: I support this thread. Well done.
Same here. The sponsors getting positive feedback about their e-sports investment and contributions to the scene can really only be a good thing. Obviously the money and air time for advertisements help too, but I doubt they'd mind getting (basically) fan mail.
Haha, this is fantastically coincidental. I just bought a new computer with Kingston RAM, MSI Video card, Razer mouse, and Thermaltake Keyboard and was already going to write sponsors. At least, so I told myself. Now I have no excuse! Thanks OP!
On October 15 2012 21:43 Aunvilgod wrote: Great idea! Should be a sticky.
Not sure if I'd like it being stickied, not that it's up to me, but still. As it is, I barely have time to add team lists, I can't guarantee that I'd be able to keep it updated as I think would be expected from a sticky. Also, making it a sticky might cross the line into making the thread feel like an obligation, all I want for it is to be a suggestion I'm glad to hear a lot of people in here who, like me, like their products, but never had this idea before and are willing to do something positive. It means the thread has already been a success. Thank you people!
I dont see the XMG-Guys in there. They are private sponsoring XlorD (Some of the wc3-players should know him). I think they should be thanked, too! Also, TakeTV got lots of sponsors that should be listed. HCS is awesome, let us keep it that way!
On October 16 2012 07:23 logic.k wrote: I dont see the XMG-Guys in there. They are private sponsoring XlorD (Some of the wc3-players should know him). I think they should be thanked, too! Also, TakeTV got lots of sponsors that should be listed. HCS is awesome, let us keep it that way!
And without them there would perhaps even not be a HSC, so they definitely deserve to be in this list.
I don't understand the negativity with people about this whole thread idea, i personally see it as a great thing. For the next few weeks (using EG as an example) the EG people will get probably at least 500 Emails thanking them giving them support and some criticism.
If you worked for EG woudn't you be happy to go to work in the morning and have your boss tell you that all these emails are from fans.
Money is good but you can't buy happiness, letting the sponsors know that we care on the other side and we support them makes everyone happier.
On October 15 2012 04:41 MetalSlug wrote: I want to add that this probably hurts the credibility of the Community and future actions where emailing sponsors and thanking them for the stuff they do might actually be due.
you think a bunch of people appreciating and liking a company is worthless? they know not every esports fan is going to buy their product when they sponsor a team, but the more people like you and hear about you the more people are going to buy stuff from you. and those people who do appreciate them now but cant or wont buy a product are still more likely to do so in the future when they have a need or more money or whatever.
My razer banshee has proved to be really bad, and purchased a Siberia last week. My razer keyboard is also iffy.. when it goes belly-up, I have a G6V2 on my to-buy list.
well theres also the fact that companies that sponsor EG just inherently have superior products. but thats neither here nor there.
I do like EG and a lot of the sponsors, but as far as at least keyboards go steel series is still just a kids toy compared to the real mechanical keyboards out there. And I too have owned razer keyboards and decided never again. I seriously considered getting a 6gv2, but then was told by quite a few people to look into companies who specialize in mechanical keyboards rather than video game oriented companies who happen to make a keyboard.
I do support the OP though. it's a good positive movement to counteract all the witch hunting that is done by reddit that hurts SC2.
On a side note, I wish there was a way for some influential people to contact all the esports sponsors and tell them to flat out ignore every bit of negative feedback they get from anyone associated with reddit since all they do is witch hunt and start drama.
I really don't think those people read most of the messages . In the best case scenario, they would have some bot that would filter the emails by the categories they sponsor and increment some counter : say Sc2ThankYouNotes+1, or FootballThankYouNotes+1 . Then, maybe, your efforts will be quantified Nice initiative, however , not really jumping on the bandwagon.
Efforts like this can have a significant impact. Corporations, even large ones love to collect this sort of feedback and data. It can have a positive effect. It isn't the sort of thing that a CEO would ever read or any of the higher ups, but in the marketing department a large amount of fan or community support can be just the thing to continue programs or even expand them.
I'll be contacting Red Bull and letting them know that the only reason I drink their drink is because they are sponsoring Startale.
Great initative. It's great you also think of the independently sponsored players like ViOlet and Naniwa. I was wondering why Grubby isn't listed here though? I believe he was one of the first players who decided to go independent and he is managing really well!
His sponsors are Twitch, BenQ and Sony Xperia USA (Xperia Ion) ! ^^
I love the idea behind this post. Sponsors mainly want the conversion of course, but if they realize people take the time to thank them they probably have a better idea of how much their sponsoring is having effect. (especially to provide perspective to the very small minority who repeatedly mail sponsors post-drama)
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
Pretty much this. Even if you thank the sponsors if there not making money they don't care. The only reason they respond to negative feedback is because they might lose customers.
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
Pretty much this. Even if you thank the sponsors if there not making money they don't care. The only reason they respond to negative feedback is because they might lose customers.
If you care to be proven wrong several times by people that know what they're talking about, go ahead and read the rest of the thread.
I'm thinking of making some sponsor flags, and maybe some cheapo instruments like a drum and trumpet so anyone interested in purchasing them can join the band and parade around at events.
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
Pretty much this. Even if you thank the sponsors if there not making money they don't care. The only reason they respond to negative feedback is because they might lose customers.
If you care to be proven wrong several times by people that know what they're talking about, go ahead and read the rest of the thread.
couldnt think of a reason why he's wrong, tells him to look for one
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
Pretty much this. Even if you thank the sponsors if there not making money they don't care. The only reason they respond to negative feedback is because they might lose customers.
If you care to be proven wrong several times by people that know what they're talking about, go ahead and read the rest of the thread.
couldnt think of a reason why he's wrong, tells him to look for one
I don't need to restate something that has been mentioned a dozen+ times in the thread.
Am I the only one thinking that everytime that a player does something bad, everyone will jump on this thread to find which sponsors to contact and send them "hey, X did something wrong, it's unacceptable blabla".
Imo you made a HUGE mistake making this thread.
Everyone is tired of drama, this thread will make them easier to expand after the starting point (well, its not well-wrote, but I guess you get the point)
On October 31 2012 06:12 Sakray wrote: Am I the only one thinking that everytime that a player does something bad, everyone will jump on this thread to find which sponsors to contact and send them "hey, X did something wrong, it's unacceptable blabla".
Imo you made a HUGE mistake making this thread.
Everyone is tired of drama, this thread will make them easier to expand after the starting point (well, its not well-wrote, but I guess you get the point)
You talk like all the info in the op is hidden. It's on the internet ffs. The purpose of the op is good, but it indeed depends on how you will use the info. They didin't discover the electricity to electrocute ppl.. I think you get the point..
On October 31 2012 06:12 Sakray wrote: Am I the only one thinking that everytime that a player does something bad, everyone will jump on this thread to find which sponsors to contact and send them "hey, X did something wrong, it's unacceptable blabla".
Imo you made a HUGE mistake making this thread.
Everyone is tired of drama, this thread will make them easier to expand after the starting point (well, its not well-wrote, but I guess you get the point)
Blacksmith Vaftrudner has welded fine kitchen knives for cooks around the world. Just because some stupids use the kitchen knives to murder people instead of cooking, you don't go blame the blacksmith. I have cooked some meals with Vaftrudner's work, and they are delicious.
Nah, I mean, if there's some drama, some people might want to tell the sponsors, but "well, too hard to find them all/those I want, fuck it", not it's gonna be easy as fuck = mail spam for every concerned sponsors :/
On October 14 2012 20:45 mememolly wrote: sponsors only care about money, emails don't mean shit if you're not buying their products
This is the bottom line. Every point that can be made leads right towards one thing: return on investment.
Here is how you can make your "thank you" emails mean something: go buy something from them and post a picture. Worried about shit being too expensive? Then buy the cheapest products instead of the most expensive, it doesnt matter as long as your money goes into their pocketm, and esports being the motivation for it.
Here is an easy one: Send a thank you email to Monster energy for sponsoring [whoever] and then post a picture of you holding a $2 can of monster (or redbull or Nos or whoever).
Still cant afford to buy the cheapest shit? Then fucking go get a picture of some random dude on google images and just SAY it's you drinking their product lol. Even that goes further than "thanks for supporting esports" twitter message or some shit lol.
I contacted a bunch of sponsors today and got some pretty nice feedback from a few. If anyone here bought a product because of eSports, consider taking a minute to send a message to the sponsors about it. It means more than you think!
I plan on doing this soon, just ordered the steelseries EG mousepad, new mouse and keyboard from steelseries and Ill go guy a monster energy drink and take a picture and put it on their facebook page.
If you truly want to make the sponsors it just comes down to buying their product, they aren't going to invest in sponsoring anything if it doesn't increase their profits. Buy a team related item from razer or steelseries etc.
On October 31 2012 06:12 Sakray wrote: Am I the only one thinking that everytime that a player does something bad, everyone will jump on this thread to find which sponsors to contact and send them "hey, X did something wrong, it's unacceptable blabla".
Imo you made a HUGE mistake making this thread.
Everyone is tired of drama, this thread will make them easier to expand after the starting point (well, its not well-wrote, but I guess you get the point)
Blacksmith Vaftrudner has welded fine kitchen knives for cooks around the world. Just because some stupids use the kitchen knives to murder people instead of cooking, you don't go blame the blacksmith. I have cooked some meals with Vaftrudner's work, and they are delicious.
Where might other interested parties find blacksmith Vaftrudner's work for purchase?
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FsED9.gif)
