Sports Marketing 360 has been selected as the platform for the launch of two properties which mark the dawn of a new era for mind sports and for sports marketing.

Mind Sports Partners, the company created by West Nally and Japanese advertising giants Dentsu, will join the International Federation of Poker and the International Mind Sports Association to unveil two world-class Poker events and a festival of mind sports to take place in London in November.

The company was set up to act as the exclusive commercial agency for both the International Mind Sports association and the International Federation of Poker.

West Nally is the London-based consultancy founded by Patrick Nally whose work is widely regarded as seminal to the global sports marketing industry. The principles and practices he has developed over the years have been the blueprint for marketing and partnership programmes operated by major sports rights holders including FIFA, UEFA, the IAAF and IOC.

Dentsu is not only the world’s biggest single-brand advertising agency but the world’s largest sports marketing business with 40 years of experience in the field. The organisation represents some 6,000 clients with a network of offices in 100 cities worldwide.

Mind Sports Partners’ mission is to create and enhance commercial and social value across the range of mind sports represented by its clients. The individual sports are Chess, Bridge, Go, Draughts, Xiangqi (Chinese chess) and Poker.

The company’s role is to promote mind sports globally and harness the power of digital technology to create opportunities to participate in new competitions at both global and ‘micro’ levels. In doing so it will create fresh opportunities for corporations to build deep relationships with key consumer groups through their engagement in mind sports.

Through their membership of the International Mind Sports Association, Chess, Draughts, Go, Xiangqi and Bridge are recognised by the Olympic Movement by virtue of their membership of SportAccord. The International Federation of Poker and Xiangqi currently has Observer Status within the International Mind Sports Association.

“Mind sports are true sports which demand the same qualities of training, skill, stamina, perseverance, dedication and determination as physical sports,” said Patrick Nally. "They are also entirely inclusive with no barriers of gender, age, or physical limitation."

“They also share the same values of fair-play, friendship and equal opportunity which are the hallmarks of the Olympic Movement.

“Advances in digital technology have liberated mind sports and allow us to create boundless new opportunities for players throughout the world to compete in the full range of mind sports. We will harness the power of technology to the growing global fascination for intellectual sports to organise competitions and create mind sports communities which have significant value to marketers.

“Engagement is the mantra of modern marketing and the creation of digital competitions and communities creates unbeatable levels of engagement with clearly identifiable audiences among a global player-base which stands at more than 1 billion and is continuing to grow.”

“We believe that mind sports represent the most significant opportunity in sports marketing of the 21st century to date.”
Learn more about the power of mind sports:

Mind Sports Partners
Patrick Nally
pn@mindsportspartners.com

International Federation of Poker
Oliver Chubb, Executive Director
execdir@intfedpoker.com

International Mind Sports Association
Don Morris
dm@mindsportspartners.com