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One Million Euro Email: National partner position for Norwegian companies

EditorComment
One Million Euro Email: National partner position for Norwegian companies

This email has been sent by World Chess on June 18, 2017

Dear members of the Norwegian media! 

As you know, the 2018 World Chess Championship Match will not take place in Oslo, but we believe that Norway is still a key country for chess: the sport has unprecedented popularity (Magnus Carlsen is one of the most most recognized people in the country), TV reach of top chess events exceeds phenomenal 70 percent, and even Kyrillos Zangalis, Magnus’s former challenger’s m-a-n-a-g-e-r, has a fan club in Norway! (the latter is quite surprising, actually). 

However, the sport is hugely undervalued in Norway: so far, major Norwegian companies have not partnered with chess to reach Norwegian audience, let alone global, despite the sport’s huge reach. 

Look at the numbers: 

— In Norway, only on NRK, which learned to show chess spectacularly, the reach of the 2016 Match was over 70 percent on average, peaking at 90 percent.

— The Match has been covered by all TV networks in the country. 

— The Match has been on covers over 10 times

— The Match took 22 days, with coverage starting 7 days before, meaning that for a month it was one of the most covered events in the country (longer than the Olympics). 

Globally, the Match has over 3.5 billion contacts with over 30,000 print stories, 31 A-list covers and one of the lowest cost-per-contact ratios of all sports. 

So we are calling on a company from Norway to become a national partner of the 2018 World Chess Championship and help us make it a celebration of chess in the country (even though the event itself will take place elsewhere). The cost of the National Partner package is EUR1,000,000 and will include (along with major branding and marketing benefits), the following:

— Building a 360-degree broadcasting venue in Oslo for live broadcast of the Match (visitors will feel as if they are in the venue)

— Running a series of events in Oslo with major chess players for kids and families

— Opening an official pop-up chess club in Oslo with official merchandise, constant flow of events and a place to play chess! 

— Co-production of a movie special about the Championship match with a major Norwegian TV Network to be aired a week after the Match has finished.  

This position is exclusive, meaning that only one company can be the official National Partner.  We believe that chess carries a phenomenal marketing potential and would love to work with the company that can take advantage of the sport while helping us to bring it closer to Norway. 

This is an official (and open!) call for a position of a National Partner of the 2018 World Chess Championship. Please contact World Chess CEO Ilya Merenzon at merenzon@agonlimited.com with questions, requests for more detailed information and proposals.