Why Brands and “influencers” are becoming the focus of Esports

Fortnite can be considered as the first game to successfully introduce the world to the community Streamerwhile tournaments like Overwatch and NBA 2K CZK League paved the way for the local growth of electronic Sports. These advancements have created a whole new impetus for countless famous brands to enter the village Esports.

Marketing agencies and “out-of-the-world” brands are beginning to explore every inch of the Esports industry, leading to the launch of many projects, partnerships and even a specialized brand branch that is growing. trying to get in here. What marketers realize now is that the Esports segment has some unique advantages that no other industry has.
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Branding in Esports – “Excess goods, lack of customers”

Placing advertising in traditional sports has always been very expensive. A 30-second promotional video at Super Bowl cost up to 50 million dollars. Look at Adidas This company also had to spend a large amount of its $3 billion budget to promote the brand during the World Cup event. With the great influence of such large-scale events, big companies are competing every centimeter to be able to take their place.

But there’s still room for smaller brands to be known

In Esports, the issue of high costs and competition for placements has not necessarily become the norm. Of course, the big names in this field like Red Bull, Betway nice Master Card have all shown their power here.. but there are still many other opportunities for smaller brands to make their names known. The best examples this year are Otter Pops nice Sour Patch Kids with sponsoring Overwatch League Teams, or Billy Boy shake hands with the competition team Unicorns of Love – Famous team in the community League of Legends. Not only that, the TV series Ash vs. Evil also revealed the contract that appeared on the shirt of the London Spitfire, one of the powerhouses of Overwatch.
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These examples are testament to the strongest point of Esports… which is that it allows many types of brands to advertise here. Another obvious thing is the value of successful Esports sponsorship. In an interview with the Esports Observers in April, Gemba sports information company CEO Robert Mills said:

Esports viewers have huge potential

There is an obvious reason for attracting attention in the field of Esports is the predictions from the experts. A report by Goldman Sachs just released this summer said that esports will grow 450% from now until 2022.

There are about 2 billion gamers worldwide but only 5% of them are watching Esports related content. Goldman Sachs also projects that media revenue will grow between 15% and 40% in the coming years. This growth in revenue will certainly increase the need for advertising and product image placement, making the brand contract more valuable.

And while Esports tournaments are encroaching on media revenue, individual streamers of Esports titles also attract big brands. Of course the most famous example is Ninja from Fortnite.
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Ninja’s rise on Twitch along with the game Fortnite helped his name become an overnight superstar. However, it was only when Ninja appeared alongside stars like Drake, JuJu Smith-Schuster or Marshmello that he really became a popular image. Since then, this Streamer has always appeared alongside names like Red Bull or Samsung in various promotional events.

The conclusion of all these examples is that the esports industry is getting more and more attention from the world and that’s what has led to huge sponsorship opportunities. But perhaps a truth that transcends everything is that Esports can reach a segment of young people who are difficult to reach by the big brands above. That explains why TV networks like NBC Sports or ESPN are investing in e-sports… and that’s why Ninja is featured on the cover of the prestigious ESPN magazine.

When Esports Transformed

Perhaps compared to many other industries, eSports possesses the character of being a testing ground for many big brands. Blending technology, innovation and competition, Esports has always proven itself ready for a more successful business model and the opportunity to better promote the brand.

Take for example Unicorns of Love. Despite being a professional competitive team, combined with naughty naming and success in major tournaments, Unicorns of Love has attracted a large number of fans. Seeing that, the big brands instead of turning a blind eye decided to combine with the strangeness of Unicorns of Love, creating successful promotional campaigns like Twentieth Century Fox’s Deadpool 2. Even 2 members of the Team were able to record their voices in the German dub version (the home town of this Team).
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Above all, although Esports organizations can operate in many strange ways, when it comes to sponsorship they are willing to show commitment to the end. A typical example is Intel’s cooperation with ESL – One of the largest Esports companies in the world. Since this relationship, Intel’s name has always been associated with ESL’s tournament series and the company even brought it straight to Silicon Valley – Intel’s headquarters, so that the company’s directors can be direct.

Of course, we also can’t forget Virtus.pro recently changed both its shirt color and Logo to match the MegaFon sponsor. Virtus.pro’s organizational structure will change even more dramatically in 2019.. all due to the impact of its sponsorship.
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Such an image of commitment gives sponsors peace of mind that Esports companies are willing to shake hands for the long term, even though initial promotional campaigns may not lead to immediate success.

Esports is always ready to transform and face the possibility of creating unique and potentially profitable branding opportunities. In turn, these opportunities can yield something that is more valuable than the other brands.. Yes, that is attention. That’s why a genuine approach to sponsorship, boldly attuned to the weirdness of Esports, can lead to massive success in today’s marketplace.
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