Last Sunday, Film Annex joined forces with the prestigious New York Athletic Club in the sponsorship of the New York Open Judo Cup, a team tournament between USA, Canada, France, Germany and Russia. France got the first place, Germany the second and USA the third. Film Annex's interest in non-professional sports is also in Afghanistan where it is the main sponsor and part owner of Esteqlal soccer team. Film Annex's interest and investment in non-professional sports are part of its Risk Management and Target Marketing Strategies.

Nike invested in Lance Armstrong and exposed its brand to a high risk and exposure. The same applies to any sponsorship of professional sports. Sooner or later, a drug scandal or a celebrity crisis will hit one of the athletes and it will reflect on the image of the sponsor who will be forced to pull its support overnight and negate what was standing for years.

The power of Film Annex are the 300,000 unique, individual, special people that registered to the platform, created and managed a special, unique and niche content. This content attracts 50 million viewers looking for education and entertainment, in the USA, Europe, South America, Central South Asia and more. It is also the strength of the Olympics, where thousands of athletes from all over the world face each other in non-professional sports to achieve small but immense dreams of victory. The financial compensation is not the priority. The priority is the sentiment of victory and the art of the sport. The Olympics lost athletes for doping on several occasions, but the Olympics saved their soul, fans and sponsorships thanks to the support of the thousands of athletes from minor sports, where drugs are not part of the culture. In essence, non-professional sports compensate for the mistakes of professional sports.

Please read a great article by Michael Sweeney, titled "Target Marketing + Self Sustaining Philanthropy = The Quan @ Citadel of New York".

Philanthropy, and with it the support to non-professional sports like Judo and amateur soccer in developing countries, are the base of a Risk Management policy that allows Film Annex to grow without fear.

Closing with a proverb taken from Captain Edward Zellem's book Zarbul Masalha:

Literal:  Either throne, or coffin.