Hitchhiker's guide to Mod Sponsorship

Getting to the right people

Before you start looking for sponsors, you have to know who to ask. You like that shiny new card from Nvidia? Yep, we all do - but let's start at the beginning, which is where sponsorship should begin.

As we mentioned, it's helpful to have a mod or two under your belt before you even begin the process of looking for sponsorship. How will you get there, if nobody sponsors you? Buy it. I can hear the groans already - but seriously, you can't expect people to give you things for free just so that you can "try your hand" at modding.

Once you have that couple mods under your belt though, where to? You're a registered, contributing member of the forums, you help answer questions in the modding section, you've built a couple pretty good accomplishments...now what?

The answer, my friends, is right down the street - your local shops. See, local retailers (where I hope you were buying the kit for your first couple projects) will hopefully know you by this point - you're in their shops regularly, drooling on the glass about the newest thing. Talk to them, first - it's a lot easier than expecting a nameless, faceless giant to back you.

Local shops often can't part with much, but that's not really a bad thing - it's good to start off small, and it shows your interest in modding as opposed to just free kit. These companies don't often care about a project log on an international forum like ours, but you should have one anyway and make sure to mention the help you've received. This helps you further in that "track record" concept, as well as gives the store some way to look at your progress.

Because massive online appeal isn't really helpful to a local retailer, it's good to have an alternate plan on how you're going to use your mod to advertise for the company. Remember, nothing is free - that retailer had to lose money to give you anything, and the hope is that your mod will generate some business for him or her. A bunch of people thousands of miles away seeing a little logo isn't going to help - but I've got some suggestions in a couple pages that are great for local stores.


By the time you've become a bit of a name in your local shops, your skills are likely to start netting some attention in your project logs online. You'll catch the eye of other modders, who may recommend you for competitions like our own Mod of the Month, or Modshop.net's battle competitions. These contests are sponsored by bigger corporate sponsors (usually manufacturers) which deal directly with the sites.

Winning these contests will put you on the radar map for both the site and the corporation, which opens up some big doors along with your prizes. At this level, sites start looking for exclusive coverage of your next project, and help you obtain future sponsorship from places that would otherwise not even bother to send a "no thanks" email.

Gimmie, gimmie...

Once you know who you're dealing with, it's good to bear in mind that there are limits to what you should ask for, and how often you should bug the person who's getting it for you. Remember, sponsorship is a business, and as such there are rules of etiquette.

First, think of who you're asking - a local shopkeep or retail store is not likely to be able to part with a GeForce 8800 Ultra - unless you can really secure some business for them, you can put that out of your mind. Start small - a PSU, a low- to mid-range graphics card or motherboard, etc. Choose pieces based on how they'll fit your mod and be prepared to justify them with a lot more than just "But I wannnaaa!" A top-power system is just not reasonable to look for, and if you ask for it then you just come off as fishing for big freebies.

Instead, be prepared to think outside the box of just "something for free." For instance, how about getting a general discount? A couple local retailers I know of offered their modders a flat fifteen percent off of everything they bought - enough to make it well worth buying from them instead of online stores. Even better, it was something that covered a bit of everything instead of just one component, which was all the more helpful when one modder found himself wanting a different motherboard and chip than he bought originally. There's also the added benefit that it's loads easier to deal with warranty disputes, etc. if you have a receipt and purchase slip, making problems much simpler to resolve

Also, think of things aside from just the hardware. If you're doing your case out of wood, why not talk to a local wood supplier? Get recommendations, ideas, and see about a small bit of sponsorship. In return, the company can display the case for a bit, showing another inventive thing that can be done with their product - and they won't care what hardware is in it, allowing you to take your good stuff and throw it in an old case until they're done.

This philosophy can be applied with very great effect to hardware stores, metal retailers, paint/anodising shops - it expands the interest in the field of modding, and saves you enough money to be able to buy some of that hardware you were lusting after.