What Happened
Thousands of video game enthusiasts gathered at Madison Square Garden this weekend to spectate the North American League of Legends Championship Series, proving once again that electronic sports, or eSports, has legitimately taken off as a new breed in the sports industry.
And as with any big sports event, many brands were present to capture the gamers’ eyeballs through sponsorships. Coca-Cola partnered with game developer Riot Games for prime placement as the sole official advertiser at the venue. Many other brands, including HTC, Geico, and Logitech, chose to sponsor individual teams and scored some on-stage presence with branded hoodies that players wore.
What Brands Should Do
eSports is a relatively new phenomenon that has been quickly gaining momentum in the past few years, amassing an audience size that could rival most programs on cable channels today. According to AdAge, eleven thousand fans jammed into Madison Square Garden on each day of the sold out event, with over one million more watched on streaming channels like YouTube or Twitch, whereas the majority of cable programs today rarely break one million in live audience. So if your brand is going after young millennial guys, eSports events provide a great platform to reach them.
Source: AdAge
Header image credit: Chad Stoller
