Chess Scotland Noticeboard

Alan McGowan · Bishop Joined: 13 Jul 2008 Posts: 23

Geoff Chandler's posting on the EURO Team Championships has led to a discussion about sponsorship. Having been involved to some degree with such matters back in the 1980s, perhaps the following might be of some use.

As Geoff says, there has to be a more positive attitude shown. We chess players have been guilty of having a negative slant towards sponsorship - for example we ask for £500 instead of £5,000. Here are some examples, which show how a more positive approach can even bring its own 'luck'.

1983 McKay-Miles
Cathcart CC wished to celebrate its 30th birthday. I suggested this match, partly because Roddy was the top player in the club, and partly because there was a promotional 'angle', in that there had been no match of such stature in Scotland since Fairhurst-Eliskases in 1933, an appropriate 50 years before. (Note that marketers love 'angles'.)

There was an awful lot of 'ah, buts....' (perhaps understandably), but the late Alan Shaw saw the potential and ran with the idea. He approached a few hotels in Glasgow, including the Grosvenor.

And here is where the 'luck' started to appear. The manager, who was immediately receptive to the idea, turned out to have a connection to the then SCA, having allowed a previous hotel he managed to be used for a telephone match. He gave us a playing room for the match, an analysis room for spectators, the banqueting hall for a simul, and accommodation for Tony Miles.

As if that was not good enough, he then brought in a co-sponsor, Langs Supreme Scotch Whisky, because he had worked with the company on other projects. Also, it turned out that Langs had done something specifically with Miles in the past. Now we had someone who was able and willing to put up payments for both players, money that we thought we might obtain through entrance fees for spectators (now, that was being too optimistic and positive!).

1983 Castlemilk v Partizan Belgrade
As a direct result of the above match, members of Castlemilk CC approached the Grosvenor's manager later the same year for support for their European. They got the support from the hotel, and many others, due the aggressive and co-ordinated 'assault' on the media around the whole of Britain.

1987 Sunday Mail Chess Challenge
Now, this was the event that should have convinced all chess organisers that professionalism was vital. (Hint: Marketing People talk to Marketing People.)

Steve Mannion (Snr) had a relative that worked in a marketing company. He asked them to become involved in chess promotion. The company put together a professional package of information, which was sent out to a number of potential sponsors. The Sunday Mail newspaper was first on the phone to the marketing company; "We want it."

The end result was a visit to Glasgow by Spassky, who played a simul against the winners of all the competitions in the weekend congress. There was massive publicity in the newspaper, including colour photographs (see Andrew Burnett's 'Mohawk' hairstyle, for example).

1988 Glenrothes
Further 'luck' unfolded because of the 1987 event. As a direct result of the publicity surrounding the Spassky visit, the marketing company was approached by Glenrothes municipal staff, who were planning the 40th anniversary celebrations for 1988. The town wanted to do something with chess, and although the initial idea of a GM tournament did not work out, there was still the appeal of seeing Spassky again, as well Tal (his first visit to Scotland), and Suba playing against a number of home players (plug: see Archive material).

These are just a few examples of how a certain attitude can bring results, some of which would never have been anticipated. So, to summarise...

1. Chess Scotland should consider looking for a professional marketing company, and have it look for the potential sponsors. CS should not be paying any fees to such a company; those fees would be paid by the organisation that chooses to be involved in a marketing plan involving chess.

2. If approaching companies directly, look for those who publicise their policies regarding sponsorship.It seems that many organisations who do wish to sponsor something in the community will nowadays have a very clear policy with regards to what they will support; health issues, youth education; arts and culture groups. I suppose banks and insurance companies would be obvious choices (they have supported chess in Scotland in the past), but any company interested analytical skills, actuarial science and youth education might be considered. What about companies that have an international presence, who might then be interested in supporting a team for the European Championships, or an Olympiad?

3. Look for promotional 'angles', perhaps involving celebrations of events or individuals. Notice how Scotland has never had a Memorial Tournament in honour of a particular player or organiser who perhaps deserves that honour (the SCCA has done this). How about Dundee 2017, as a continuation from 1867 and 1967? (plug: 1867 and 1967 will appear in the Archive).

Ask for more, rather than less, but as least make the effort to ask.
If necessary, use professionals. Marketing People talk to Marketing People (quote: Steve Mannion, Snr.)

Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland