Amid Esports Boom, Legacy Brands Like Unilever Enter the Games

The annual Intel Extreme Masters Counter-Strike 2 tournament in August drew a sold-out crowd of 13,000 people to the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, and broke its previous viewership record of 700,000 with more than 1 million people watching the games from home. Much like a conventional sporting event, the attentive audience was also exposed to a wide variety of brands looking to build loyalty and awareness. By 2025, there are expected to be more than 318 million esports enthusiasts worldwide, up from 215.2 million fans in 2020, according to Statista. Many of these fans are part of Gen Z, an audience who are often difficult to reach through traditional marketing channels. The trend has inspired both companies with natural connections to esports and legacy brands aiming to stay relevant to get in on the games. “The media landscape has changed over the years and we’re still reevaluating on the regular how we reach our audience,” Intel consumer marketing manager DACH Robert Martin said during a media summit at the event. “Gamers are using ad blockers, so just placing banners somewhere and hoping they get seen isn’t going to work. Just putting your logo on something doesn’t work either. Winning over new audiences For Intel, esports fans are big business because those users tend to refresh their computers more regularly than most consumers and want to use the same equipment as the pros. Proving that value has been key to continuing to get buy-in from executives, Martin said. Meanwhile, DHL has partnered with owner ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) since 2018 to sponsor Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 tournaments and announced on stage in Cologne that it is extending its partnership. The brand gave away signs at the event that fans could customize and show off during pauses in the action for a chance at winning prizes such as apparel, computer gear, and trips to future competitions. DHL senior sponsor manager Dirk Behrend-Uçak told ADWEEK that he initially had a hard time persuading company leadership to get involved with a game that involves on-screen shooting and bombs. “We managed to get through to our board because it’s this big, growing, global game, and the target group fits,” he said. “The average age is around 27, and you can get them if you have entertaining content.” There are expected to be more than 318 million esports enthusiasts worldwide by 2024, per Statista. Beyond building brand recognition, DHL uses these events as a chance to recruit talent from all over the world for logistics positions, often touting the opportunity to work with its warehouse robots. Behrend-Uçak works closely with EFG to customize DHL’s campaigns, enlisting star players and tailoring language based on the different audiences for each game. As part of the new deal, DHL will begin sponsoring EFG’s DreamHack gaming festivals and the Snapdragon Pro Series mobile esports league. Paying off with results Logitech has been sponsoring esports events since 1996 but ramped up its activity after launching its Logitech G gaming division in 2014. After a Covid-19 hiatus, Logitech sponsored a lounge at IEM Cologne where players could recover between rounds with massage and compression. Building relationships with those players is a key part of the brand’s business proposition: while 12% of esports players used Logitech products in 2016, Logitech head of esports and Pro series Brent Barry told ADWEEK the number is 50-60% today. Those players provide Logitech with feedback on how its products work after being used for 10 to 12 hours a day, which has led the company to create new designs like the Pro X superlight wireless gaming mouse. Logitech touts this connection to gamers in its “designed with pros, engineered to win” tagline, which appears in marketing across social media and events that also uses player likenesses and images. “Our research shows that pro players’ product choices are insanely influential at the enthusiast buyer level,” Barry said. “Esports for us was a cost, and now it’s a significant part of our revenue, producing hundreds of millions of dollars. Instant noodles and ice cream start playing Logitech and Intel are considered endemic brands with natural links to esports, given players often use those companies’ computers and accessories. Monster and Red Bull also have deep ties to the sport, having spent years pushing their energy drinks as a way to fuel marathon gaming sessions. Legacy CPG company Unilever is now testing the marketing tactic too, with Axe and Clear Men sponsoring this year’s Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia and Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s sponsoring Team Vitality, who won IEM Cologne. Unilever has historically promoted its Knorr and Pot Noodle brands as quick meals for moms and college students, but during its first appearance at an ESL event, it targeted gamers looking to eat fast and get back to their computers. The brand’s booth offered the opportunity to win discount vouchers, gaming gear, and other merchandise. ESL FACEIT Group's senior vice president of marketing, Fabio Tambosi, anticipates these partnerships will only continue to grow as more brands seek to reach the quickly growing esports audience. Some companies like Adidas, Nike, and Monster already have dedicated gaming marketing teams, so brands that are slow to innovate because they don’t understand gaming could be left behind, Tambosi added. “We are at a very interesting inflection point,” he said. “Brands that didn’t jump into social media growth back in the early 2000s regretted it 10 years later. I’m asking CMOs, do you want to get on the train now or later? Because you’re going to have to get in.”

Gaming News

Amid Esports Boom, Legacy Brands Like Unilever Enter the Games

Gaming provides an opportunity to reach an audience tuning out traditional marketing tactics

Samantha Nelson

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Samantha Nelson