The Best Esports Marketing Campaigns To Come Out Of The 21st Century

In this article, we will be outlining how to generate a successful eSports marketing strategy in 2023, as well as establishing the growing prevalence of eSports marketing campaigns which will be more vividly exemplified later in the article.

You may be wondering, what is eSports? 

To put it simply, eSports is short for “Electronic Sports”. It refers to competitive video gaming, whereby gamers compete against each other in electronic matches, with the winner being awarded a prize in the end. 

The demand for eSports is growing. According to Statista, the eSports market is projected to reach 1,866 million US dollars in revenue in 2025. This offers a promising marketing prospect for brands in pursuit of landing successful eSports marketing campaigns.

In the past, the eSports industry was relatively unexplored by brands in terms of investment, with only a handful of companies like Red Bull and Capcom demonstrating interest in the sector.

Currently, Twitch is the biggest streaming platform for eSports. Reportedly, a triumphant 5.71 billion hours of content was watched on Twitch in the Q3 of 2022, far more than any other platform.

Twitch’s live chat feature fosters interactivity, which is a strong interest driver for the platform in general. Sponsored ads have a high success rate on Twitch as the average time people spend watching content is longer, so people are more engaged with the ads they see occasionally on a stream. This makes the platform commercially viable for eSports marketing campaigns.

How to develop your eSports marketing strategy

When venturing into the realm of eSports marketing campaigns, you need to understand the different types of games that people play. 

Your primary directive should involve prioritizing a singular genre, whether that be RTS, MOBA, MMORPG, FPS, or PVP. Then construct a content strategy tailored to your chosen genre, a task which should be facilitated by collaborating with existing eSports influencers who specialize in crafting that content. 

After establishing these fundamentals, you are set to officially launch an eSports team, which can help propel a marketing campaign for eSports. 

eSports teams are a collection of gamers who share a collective passion for the same game. Whenever members in that team stream content, it can allow you to tailor their advertising and get insight into their fans thus allowing you to drive campaigns in your own direction. When you’ve got your team, you can start hosting events such as mini tournaments, podcasts and meetings in order to develop your brand!

Best eSports marketing campaigns

Ralph Lauren and G2 Sports

In June 2021, eSports brand G2 eSports ambitiously collaborated with global luxury fashion brand Ralph Lauren who became their exclusive fashion outfitter for their eSports players. 

At the forefront of this campaign, League of Legends star Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson was selected to feature in an advertisement where he switched from his sportsgear to flaunt in his new blazer and jeans which predominantly generated positive sentiment in the comments, meaning this campaign was a success.

Erste Group and European League of Legends Championship

Erste Group partnered with the European League of Legends Championship (LEC) to stage the downfall of eSports in a humorous campaign film. 

In the campaign film “eSports Doomsday”, Erste Group presents a scenario of the gaming world reacting to eSports being denied the status as a sport. This is reflective of the fact that there has been a recurring debate in history as to whether eSports is a legitimate sport or not. 

Gamers begin to destroy their PCs and equipment after being told that “eSports isn’t a real sport”, making their existence feel meaningless. However, by the end of the ad, eventually it is seen as a great hobby to have, and that enthusiasts should “ignore the haters” and embrace their passion, by being told to ’#believeinyourself’. The ad generated very positive sentiment, with many commenters claiming that it is one of the best eSports marketing campaigns they saw, and that it was funny and creative.

FaZe Clan x Snoop Dogg: FaZe Snoop

Snoop Dogg’s partnership with FaZe has helped propel the eSports organization into the spotlight of the mainstream media. Making his affiliation with FaZe official in an animated video, the collaboration achieved even greater prominence when Snoop Dogg took the stage at the Super Bowl half-time show adorned with a FaZe-branded chain. 

The primary objective of this campaign was to showcase FaZe to a global audience by advertising its newly acquired high-profile member — a goal that was undeniably accomplished. Once again, the ad received highly positive reception, with people finding it funny and heralding Snoop as a great addition due to him being a legendary hip-hop artist.

Dolce and Gabbana X Mkers: GoodGame

This captivating series of videos is a collaborative effort between the two esteemed companies, Italian eSports brand Mkers and Italian fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana. 

This episodic series offers a remarkable insight into the eSports industry, documenting players’ experiences presented in top-notch video quality. While these videos didn’t generate a lot of engagement due to it not quite aligning with Dolce and Gabbana’s target audience, they were conceptually appreciable and should be used as inspiration in terms of content quality.

Tenz x Finalmouse: Welcome to my realm

In 2022, popular Valorant player Ten Z participated in one of the most successful eSports marketing campaigns with Finalmouse to launch the “Starlight Pro”. Aided with a professional and intriguing advertising video, the mouse product was sold out in a few hours, highlighting the brand power of professional players. His fans generally loved the video, showing that the correct types of brand collaborations can generate extremely successful results.

Our influencer marketing agency and social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

If you want to find industry insights, visit our influencer marketing and social media blogs.

@ Socially Powerful