Rebranding Branding/Sponsorship

[IamMOOSE 361]

Rebranding Branding/Sponsorship

 

 

 

 

 

OVERVIEW

            

            With the Branding/Sponsorship for the VHL dead in the water, it's time to reevaluate and revive it into a new, and beautiful system. Brands can be the cornerstone of a league on the business side and a fun extension on an off-season. Sponsorship can afford players with cash to spend on new things, and objectives/expectations can add new wrinkles to the experience that veteran users may find refreshing. Through long winded review, and the ideas of a madman, let's take you through the short (yes, this is considered the "short version" of a proposal to reform and reboot Branding/Sponsorship in the VHL.

 

 

BRANDS

 

 

            The essential function of a Brand is to sponsor players/leagues to help boost their product awareness and bring eyes to their Brand. Since we’re in a simulation league, obviously that doesn’t apply (I know, it’s still real to me dammit. Little reference for any wrestling fans out there). Because of this, the focus switches to the player. In the VHL, Brands could act as an agency for a player, influencing salary growth, destination, and create a bridge during negotiations. Brands will act as an additional objective board for players during their career and can give player the leg up in earning cash for Player Store Items. Brands will be run by Players who want to take up the mantle as the head of that brand. Brand structures will be a topic for another Media Spot if this proposal gains traction. In short, the user running that Brand would allocate their budget, be able to recruit for their brand, and would have objectives of their own in order to stay involved with the VHL as a permitted Brand. Again, a massive Media Spot will be done for Brands in depth if this gains traction.

 

 

List of Brands:

-          Haterade (previous Brand)

-          Jolt Juice (previous Brand)

-          Konecny Goods (NEW!)

-          NETFLEX (previous Brand)

-          True North Gear (previous Brand)

-          Ubuyalot (previous Brand)

-          [Brand to be Reveal]

 

-          ???

 

 

SPONSORSHIP

           

            So how would sponsorship work? Well, not through tournament play, that’s for sure cause all the Essential Function people in the league got enough to do, let’s not add more simming and tournaments to their to-do list. Instead, this would fall on the Assistant General Manager (AGM). While Brand Representatives may approach players as they wish, it will in general, fall on the AGM to send over a small list (up to five) of players they feel deserve to have brand sponsorship. After careful assessment, the Brands may then offer that player a contract with the brand. Once accepted by the player, it must be approved by a league commissioner, the only task that a commissioner would need to be a part of in this (Or you could create a Brand Officer position for that job specifically if that would be simpler). Once the contract is league approved, the player may sign the deal which goes into effect immediately. Sponsorships are contracts between the Brand and player, which entails several incentives and objectives based on the contract provided.

 

 

 

 

CONTRACTS

 

 

            Contracts are where this gets tricky. Contracts are signed between the player and Brand but must be approved by the Commissioner or Brand Officer if you go that route. Once approved, the Brand Representative will update the contract to show who approved the deal, and the player will then be able to quote it and sign it. Contracts may involve many things, from Objectives, Expectations from your Brand, and even Incentives to earn more money from your Brand upon completion of tougher milestones in the VHL/VHLM. Some Expectations may be that you remain with a North American team, or that you expand to an international team to spread the brand awareness of your sponsor. You may be asked to reach certain statistical milestones or play a certain average in minutes. It is all to add to the immersion and challenge of playing the VHL/VHLM. For aesthetic, a contract could look something like this:

 

 

 

 

            In the example above, 22-year-old, Frank Unger signed a 2 Season Contract with Jolt Juice to sponsor him. He will have to remain in North America, whether he remains with the Philadelphia Reapers, or is called up to the Calgary Wranglers, he must play for a North American team for the next two seasons. Let’s say his contract with Calgary expires and he has the option to go play in Moscow or Vancouver. If he were to sign with Moscow, it’s a violation of his sponsorship deal with Jolt Juice and may result in his contract being terminated with that sponsor. While this example contract doesn’t have any breach penalties, other generally longer-term deals would be expected to have severe penalties for breaching contract (usually resulting in that player forfeiting some earnings).

            On a more positive note, because Frank Unger is expected to be a future superstar Defensemen in the VHL, an incentive has been placed in his sponsorship deal that would see him earn extra cash for winning the Trophy related to that position. For obvious reasons, that total is not available now as the league commissioners and those in charge of branding/sponsorships should have it nailed down first how to properly integrate earnings, without over-inflating player salaries to destroy the Player Store.

 

 

 

 

REVENUE AND THE PLAYER STORE

 

 

            In order to keep the stress off of commissioners, it is the recommendation that we appoint a Brand Officer or one Commissioner to oversee the Branding operations/approvals. To put it simply, Brands would submit their player contracts to this overseer who would keep them on file (If I were doing it, it would absolutely be on Excel) and would be in charge of approving the salary gains for those players. Note that this should be done either as a season end lump sum or broken up between one half payment at the midway point of the season and other half at the end. The weekly gain would be a headache I don’t wish upon anyone. Additionally, the only ironing out that would be needed now is how to match it to the Player Store. I haven’t been here long enough so I’m not comfortable making those ratios and would need commissioner, veteran league input. Additionally, we could see the addition of more Player Store items from these as monetary gains help bolster the league economy.

 

 

 

 

FINAL NOTES

 

 

 

            This is an early stage proposal. It is open to comments and refinement. If you have any comments on parts of this proposal, Brand ideas, contract stuff, or how you’d implement a new sponsorship tree in the VHL, I’d love to hear it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. This was over 1,500 words when I started but I tried to trim it down to start with.

[DMaximus 1,046]

I know there were a whole host of reasons why brands stopped before and it may not be worth bringing back until there's a greater reason for people to actually care about money.

 

But I want to say it's so wonderful that a new member comes in and creates an in-depth, thoughtful article pursuing ways to improve this league. Thank you so much @IamMOOSE! Welcome to the league!

[IamMOOSE 361]

3 minutes ago, DMaximus said:

I know there were a whole host of reasons why brands stopped before and it may not be worth bringing back until there's a greater reason for people to actually care about money.

 

But I want to say it's so wonderful that a new member comes in and creates an in-depth, thoughtful article pursuing ways to improve this league. Thank you so much @IamMOOSE! Welcome to the league!

Thanks DMax! I read through the old version of it. Needed Whiskey afterwards but I think I get what the idea behind it was. I think the secret to money on here is to give more reasons to have it. It's what a lot of sports games fail on. Sure you get paid, but you don't do anything with it. I have ideas, but I'd like to start with this. If it gains any traction we can start to think about things like a reformed Player Store with more stuff, I've thought of maybe like a display page where you can buy items from the store to decorate your display page. Trophies you win can be added, something like that but that's way down the line. Baby steps, starts here. lol

[Da_Berr 219]

Moose now my favourite new member. Also wow this was really in depth and good to read. Jolt Juice is def my favourite brand so far.

[mediocrepony 1,216]

@IamMOOSE could you link the first one please? Great read, dude

[IamMOOSE 361]

48 minutes ago, GrittyIsKing09 said:

@IamMOOSE could you link the first one please? Great read, dude

I condensed it from a word document. If this keeps gaining attention I’ll throw up a longer my finalized version. It’ll end up massively long. Lol

[IamMOOSE 361]

Also quick shoutout to @Quik for the Jolt Juice Logo pulled from his article that has the brand logos from the previous version.

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Rather than copy-pasting I'll just do this this way: