4
OUR THOUGHTS ON
Leo Burnett sponsorship team behind the scenes at latest UK eSports event
In May, we were lucky enough to attend the
Vainglory Spring Season 2017 Unified
Championship (catchy title…) at the O2 in
London. With this being a fairly new sports
platform within the UK, we jumped at the
opportunity, keen to see what the relatively new
eSports category event would be like .
Understandably (as I think most would be), we
were hesitant about an event of this ilk; eSports
events are a novel entity within the UK, however
the increasing momentum within which eSports is
gaining provides an exciting prospect for the UK
eSports fanbase.
Vainglory, for those unaware, is a MOBA
(multiplayer online battle arena). Nothing new…
you only have to look towards the likes of League
of Legends and Dota 2 who have taken the eSports
world by storm, as well as Heroes of the Storm
(from the same people who brought us World of
Warcraft). The difference however with Vainglory
is that it is entirely mobile; so iPhones, iPads,
and android tablets are the only way to play this
game. This makes it even more interesting from a
spectator point of view, as you can probably
imagine...
Released in 2014, it has only really gained
traction in the last two years. Vainglory has now
held several “seasons” of championships, and thus
in its relative infancy, we were lucky enough to
get an all access pass to see how it worked. As
you might expect, the teams had sponsors
including large corporations like Visa and Red
Bull. The event itself however, only had a few
sponsors to speak of; one might link this to it
being the first of it’s kind in Europe (all previous
“seasons” being held in North America). You may
think this offers a prime opportunity for the team
sponsors to get a little extra screen time or brand
presence on location, however this was not the
case… The hosts operated a clean venue
principle for athlete drinks, as they did not
secure a drinks partner (we’re told by an
employee). So even though there wasn’t an
official drinks partner, brands like Red Bull
were not allowed to have their cans on stage or
team desks. Rights holders protecting
sponsorship properties is perfectly common,
however seeing it first hand at a newly
established eSports brand, protecting an unsold
category, is somewhat novel.
Is it better to have a clean principle when you
have no sponsors, or to allow them to use the
space until one comes along? Some may argue
that the lack of a sponsor presence would
appear that the rights holder has little draw, yet
others would say that the lack of branding
would encourage other brands to step into the
space. It may be telling of the developing
sponsorship landscape where events who don’t
sell a sponsorship package are holding back
other sponsors in order to protect those unsold
rights. A principle surely to be emulated by
others, as they become more aware of their
value as a rights holder.
Watch this space, as the sport gains ever
increasing momentum within the UK, providing
an exciting platform for brands to engage with
the increasingly interested eSports public. One
can only imagine that larger brands will start
jumping at an opportunity like this; one that
already holds an unsurmountable number of fans
in places like Japan and Korea.
Keep a look out for the next eSports event in
the UK; an altogether enjoyable experience that
we would highly recommend!