PMS gets WITI: a look at clan sponsorship
by Jennie Lees 
{ Nov 29th 2005 at 2:00PM }
All-girl gaming clan PMS has landed a sponsorship deal with WITI (Women in Technology International) — members of the clan are pictured above with David Leighton, the president of WITI — and will be acting as "gaming ambassadors" to further WITI's mission of encouraging women in technology. This sort of clan sponsorship is in a different league to professional gamers winning huge pots of money at prize tournaments, and may encourage gaming groups to seek out partnerships of their own.
PMS and WITI are an obvious fitthe clans raison d?e is to provide a welcoming environment for female
gamers, and encourage women to get into gaming, which is one avenue of outreach for women in technology programmes.
Debates about the reasoning behind such programmes aside,
the clan have found an unusual alliancetheir professional team will be sponsored but the sponsorship is also going to
benefit every member of the 400+ strong group.
How can other clans or teams benefit from this? Using this example as precedent, perhaps there are organisations or
companies that fit your clan as well as WITI fits PMS. Professional gamers are often sponsored by hardware
manufacturers, for example, and game exclusively on those platforms. If your clan has come together because of a common
cause, then there may be someone with a product to sell that relates to youteaming up with a local business if youre
a geographically-united clan, for instance. With gaming creeping further and further into the public eye, businesses
that were not interested a year ago may be all ears now.
However, sponsorship isnt available to just anyone who asks for it. PMS have spent time and a lot of their own money
building up a brand and a reputation, and thats what the sponsors are buying. Work out what product youre trying to
sell to the sponsors and present a valid business case to them, and they may just lap it up. If nothing else, you have
a group of gamers who may be willing to work at events for the potential sponsor, demonstrate their products on stands,
run tournaments in their name, etcclans like PMS started their long path to exposure with small-scale event
sponsorship like this, and have built up their portfolio over time, so it certainly is possible.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Truth @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Damn it! Not again. How about all the blacks and indians (just a pun) form a clan to show their importance in gaming.
Scott Beeson @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Anyone else find it weird that the president of Women in Technology International is a dude?
Truth @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Your right #2 that is pretty fuc*ed up.
Neone @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
In response to #2 - No, not really. For years, the President of Lifetime TV was also a guy - you don't need to be female in order to lobby for equal representation in media or to notice that a group of people are poorly represented and thus present a unique target-demographic that can be tapped a new revenue stream.
bd (formerly b) @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
You don't need to be a female, but that would be hypocritical for them wouldn't it?
"Independent Woman" my ass.
Asher @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Can anyone say "Glass Ceiling?"
Jack @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Ironic how a "girls-only club" is talking about equality.
spamalot @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
OK everyone. Caption Contest!!!
1) "wow, they're pretty and they're touching me!!!
2) "It's good to be tha king!
bd (formerly b) @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
LOL, Russell, that was good.
You know why they do it? Because the sons of a bitches know that they'll earn a lot of money by pissing some men off and giving wings to women... Of course, they are men too.
Zachary @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
I know where all the Xbox 360's are, back row second from the left ate them!
LightAssassin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
I agree with Jack (#7).
WTI has the right idea. A male president, proving they are "equal".
But PMS is the complete opposite. Now a co-ed clan with males and females promoting "Equality" is where is should be at.
You see this time and time again. Women want to be equal and create a group that only women can join. Defeats the purpose.
Hmm... maybe it's time for somebody to create a Equality Clan rather then a male free or female free clan. Then they can get sponsorship and prove that we really can be equal. (We aren't but that's not my point (= )
ZeroCorpse @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
You know, there are tons of clans out there with both male and female members. So why does PMS get attention for "equality" when they seem to be completely AGAINST it?
Killcreek's stench lives on. There's a difference between a "girl gamer" and a "girl who plays games" apparently. The difference? "Girl gamer" is quickly becoming synonymous with "man hater" while "girl who plays games" is a woman who is content to play with the guys and not make a big deal of it.
I'm getting really sick of the "OMG! LOL! W3 4R3 PL4Y1NG 4G41N5T B0Y5 4ND W3 PWND TH3M!" attitude. Seriously. Just shut up and play, ladies. Your mothers burned their bras so you wouldn't have to make an ass of yourself being competitive with males.
jl @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
ZeroCorpse, you seem to have a grudge to bear against PMS. The post's focus was on clan sponsorship using PMS as an example--not PMS's motto and reasoning. Check out the clan more carefully before lambasting the entire organisation as pro-women=anti-men.
Athena PMS @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
We have a male counter part clan that is part of PMS, however we dont go coed at this time becuase we are a minority that has dealt with more harrasment then you can possibly even imagine. In fact when we started this clan years ago, it was purely as a joke to kick the guys butts that were always so mean to us as we were playing on a game where everyone had voice communication and we were easily identified as females. However, the clan has evoloved into much more then we expected and it is only our goal to promote female gaming as postive as possible, dispell the sterotypes exist about us (these sterotypes are real and present), as well as bring opportunities to our gamers and other gamers in general so that we can combat all the negitve images that exist about gamers in general. I know us gamers are "weird" about mainstream media attention, however it is my opionion that this not only helps us address issues in our subculture but will bring all gamers interested in careers and gaming a viable outlet and way to step into the industry we all love.
barb dybwad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
"Your mothers burned their bras so you wouldn't have to make an ass of yourself being competitive with males."
Your mothers burned their bras also in hopes that their sons might grow up with a smidgeon of awareness of their own internalized sexism as well as that of society at large. Unfortunately, we've got many generations to go, as evidenced by the infantile myopia in this thread.