Commercial deals underpin the esports industry; sponsorship is our bread and butter. For many companies in the sector, after all is said and done, commercial sponsorships are what define the bottom line.
From new investors to endemic sponsors to the esports organisations that bare their branding, the industry this year has sought new ways to engage and sponsor amidst the challenges posed by the enduring COVID-19 pandemic.
Those challenges, however, failed to knock the sanguinity of some of esports’ biggest entities, with numerous lengthy sponsorships announced despite the pandemic-induced uncertainty that has clouded the start of this decade.
As esports slowly migrates back into the physical world, we’ve launched The Dotted Line to reflect on what we think are the 10 most important commercial deals of 2021 and, more importantly, elucidate the storylines that lie behind them.
It may no longer dominate the headlines and narrative quite like it used to, but betting and gambling partnerships are still an evergreen staple in esports. We were treated to a quintessential betting partnership in November when esports organisation FaZe Clan partnered with fantasy sports betting company DraftKings.
Alongside becoming an official sponsor, the two brands will cooperate on content activations featuring FaZe’s content creators, a new podcast, and an original series.
In September, esports organisation Fnatic announced a three-year partnership with online fashion retailer ASOS in a reported ‘multi-million pound’ deal. It marked yet another fashion brand partnership in esports, symptomatic of the growing overlap and potential entities are seeing between the two sectors.
We’ve seen lots happening in the world of esports fashion generally — Gucci, Ralph Lauren and adidas have all entered the space recently. As we enter this new age of stylistic crossover, many are arguing fashion will constitute a significant revenue stream in esports’ commercial future.
Rocket League developer Psyonix’s partnership in April with car manufacturer Lamborghini is notable on its own, thanks to the high-profile non-endemic brand’s sponsorship of the eponymous RLCS X Lamborghini Open, alongside an interesting 1v1 esport activation.
It’s even more interesting, though, with the context that Psyonix went on to double down on its intrinsic appeal to car manufacturers by striking numerous such esports partnerships with other car brands including BMW, Ford, NASCAR, Formula 1 and McLaren. This fruitful trend of automobile brands teaming up with the thematically-linked game showcases Rocket League’s commercial strengths as an esport, thanks to its unique premise.
If you’re looking for an archetypal example of a successful esports partnership, G2’s work with luxury fashion brand Ralph Lauren is a strong contender. It saw the two entities launch a series of digital-first activations, collaborate on ‘global campaigns’ and events.
There’s a lot of effusive discourse about esports’ valuable young, higher-income, tech-savvy, male-dominated audience, but this really was a paragon partnership, a success story where a non-endemic brand drew value out of esports’ audience
