Karjakin will become the face of the Otkritie advertising campaign, said representatives of the bank and the grandmaster. He will be the hero of the bank’s videos, said a representative of Otkrytie: the bank plans to advertise with the grandmaster on television, in print media and in the Russian Internet.
“When looking for a hero for the next advertising campaign, we followed our tradition – an extraordinary, bright, famous person becomes a face. The world title match against Magnus Carlsen attracted the closest attention to Karjakin, even from those who had never been interested in chess before, and made him a real star, ”explained Dmitry Melnikov, Otkritie Marketing Executive Director, and his status as one of the strongest grandmasters and an impeccable reputation are an excellent combination to talk about the advantages of modern financial technologies that the bank offers.
Otkritie is a large bank, besides the financial side, such a partnership is very prestigious for an athlete, says the grandmaster’s manager Kirill Zangalis.
Otkritie’s contract with Karjakin is designed for a year with the possibility of prolongation, says a bank representative. The cost of the contract is “several hundred thousand dollars,” said two people familiar with the negotiations.
Karjakin is the third world sports star who has become the face of Otkritie’s advertising campaigns, recalls a bank representative (see cut).
The contract with Ovechkin continues to operate – it is concluded for a year, this is the standard term, says a representative of Otkrytie. He explains the choice of Karjakin by the goals of the current campaign: “We originally planned to use Alexander in image communications, and Sergey, in our opinion, is ideal for a campaign focusing on promoting high-tech banking digital services and products.” Both the campaign with football player Cristiano Ronaldo and the story with Ovechkin led to a noticeable increase in Otkritie brand awareness, he emphasizes, but there was no goal of making them the faces of the bank on a long-term basis: “We like to do new things – it makes our advertising and brand stand out. Advertising with Karjakin is part of this approach. “
Football hockey
The first star of Otkritie was the forward of the Portuguese national team and Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo: videos with him were broadcast during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In June last year, Otkritie signed a one-year advertising contract with Ovechkin, the striker of the Russian national team and the Washington Capitals. Experts estimated the cost of this partnership at $ 0.5-1 million and called it one of the most expensive in the Russian advertising market.
Karjakin was the first Russian chess player to sign a professional sponsorship contract in 2012, recalls Zangalis: “The idea was picked up by Carlsen, who is supported by more than 10 companies.” In 2012, Alpari, a forex dealer, became Karjakin’s sponsor. The company still cooperates with Karjakin, confirms its representative Andrey Loboda: a contract for this year was signed in February. Loboda did not disclose its amount, noting only that it was “very solid.” A contract for chess players of Karjakin’s level can cost $ 50,000-150,000, says a person who knows the terms of several contracts. Alpari can use the image of Karjakin in advertising campaigns, and at the request of the dealer, the chess player will visit a number of million-plus cities this year in order to popularize chess in the country, Loboda says.
General sponsor of Karjakin – “VSMPO-Avisma”, among other sponsors – GC “Osnova”, “Kaspersky Lab”, lists the manager of the chess player; contracts are also being prepared with major oil and major bookmaker companies, which he did not name.
“We are proud that sponsors are drawn to chess. As an intellectual sport, this is a very good platform for advertising, ”says Zangalis. Karjakin’s November game against Carlsen breathed new life into the Russian chess movement, confirms Loboda. Now, according to him, chess is in the top 5 sports in popularity, along with football and hockey.
The general director of VSMPO-Avisma Mikhail Voevodin clarified: the company supported Karjakin during the last year’s World Championship and will continue to support the whole of 2017. According to him, a classic sponsorship contract has been signed with the chess player, which does not have strict obligations on his part, in addition to the possibility of the presence of company representatives at official events. “By and large, we just support the Russian athlete and hope that our support will help him better prepare for matches and win,” Voevodin said. He did not disclose the cost of the contract.
The chairman of the board of directors of Osnova Group, Alexander Ruchev, has sponsored Karjakin for 1.5 years, a representative of the group also confirmed. Then the grandmaster was not yet a contender for the chess crown, he recalls, without disclosing the cost of the sponsorship contract. The company supports “strong-minded people,” he explains: in addition to Karjakin, Osnova supports Fyodor Emelianenko and Fyodor Konyukhov. A representative of Kaspersky Lab reminded that the company supports the participation of a chess player in tournaments and ensures his information security.
Until now, support for chess has more often been in the nature of patronage, notes Nikita Kim, first vice-president of the Moscow Chess Federation, head of the Chess in School Foundation, but a lot has been done recently to make chess a trendy, fashionable sport, this will undoubtedly affect on their commercial appeal.
In recent years, new technologies and electronic devices have helped popularize chess among young people, and the strongest chess players on the planet are less than 30 years old – thanks to all this, chess has become a commercially attractive sport, notes Ilya Merenzon, President of Agon (owns the rights to all tournaments of the cycle for the title world chess champion).
Anton Filatov, Vitaly Petlevoy contributed to this article
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