Can E-Sports Marketing Of Sports Brands Save Market Weakness

"Phoenix plus, a brand-new brand of Chinese-made brand of Phoenix plus, was launched in July.

With the signing of the contract, SEMAR began to further socialize with generation Z through various co branded products and brand wide activities. After sports brands, leisure brands also began to use E-sports to market for themselves.

However, as pioneers of E-sports marketing, sports brands are not living very well.

Even Nike, a big sports brand, spent 200 million sponsorship fee after the four-year deep cooperation agreement with LPL, and created a battle suit that could be conquered by video game fans. It is "visual torture" to be criticized by video game fans.

In the eyes of many E-sports fans, the price of 1299 yuan did not match the corresponding design level

With Nike in the front, Li Ning, in the first echelon of domestic sports brands, is also more cautious in E-sports strategy.

After the explosive cooperation of "China Li Ning & China EDG" in 2018, the decision to acquire snake club in 2019 also shows that Li Ning has shifted the focus of its entry into the e-sports market into the cultivation of long-term investment. Compared with Li Ning's other co branded series, the "Qilin cloud in the present" series launched by both sides in the later stage also had a relatively limited response and failed to attract more attention and discussion outside the e-sports industry.

Sports brand in the field of E-sports marketing strategy, can not help but also let us think, sports brand E-sports marketing, why can be trapped in such a dilemma?

How should sports brands change their strategies to cope with the booming but unpredictable field of E-sports?

01

There are many obstacles for sports brand to break through

The growth prospect of e-sports industry seems to be beyond doubt.

According to business insider, the revenue of the e-sports industry is expected to exceed $1 billion this year, and most projects are expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2022.

Newzoo, an organization that provides E-sports and global game market intelligence, estimates that the rapid development of the e-sports industry will bring 450 million new audiences every day in the global E-sports market report 2019.

Survey on global attention of E-sports

Many sports brands are competing to enter the e-sports industry, not to catch up with the trend, but to become a real in-depth participant in the e-sports industry and get a share of it.

With the rapid development of e-sports, we can see why the entry of sports brands is still difficult?

-Complex game classification

Like traditional sports, there are no two E-sports games that operate in exactly the same mechanism.

Some video games are global, such as FIFA, which was born in 1993. In view of the influence of football, it is the only one in the video game circle and the game circle.

Sales comparison between FIFA series and live football PES series since 2008

Some games rank higher in specific categories. For example, the League of heroes, which pays more attention to the final than many traditional sports, has also sparked discussions about its inclusion in the Olympic Games.

The League of legends world championship, which represents the highest honor, the highest gold content, the highest competitive level and the highest popularity, has so far held nine sessions of s1-s9, which will be held in Shanghai, China.

And each game is different according to the playing method. ***E-sports games will span many different types of games, including online combat, multi player group, 1v1 combat and so on. In addition, the preference for specific age groups and regional groups has also become the standard for dividing different types of E-sports games.

The division of e-games determines the different audiences. The audience will be totally different after the competition. It's not easy to find your audience in the vast video games.

-Immaturity under the rapid development

Compared with the traditional sports, the rapid development of E-sports is more like the barren West, fragmented, and lack of certain cohesion.

As the e-sports industry itself involves many industries, many major E-sports events are also held by many different organizations (including game publishers and media companies), and there is a lack of unified official publicity.

The complex industrial chain and the relatively chaotic industry order make it difficult for the sports brand as an outsider to accurately locate and open up a new situation.

-Closed circle culture

In addition to the relatively chaotic order of the industry, the inherent situation of "enclosure and self sprouting" in the e-sports industry also makes many sports brands as foreign investors feel helpless.

When will the major events be held and where will they be held? What are the origins and festivals between different teams? These problems are a piece of cake for E-sports fans. For an outsider, it may be like Arabian Nights.

In the "melting pot" of the e-sports circle, the people who have the right to speak, those who value the details of the project, are favored by the capital and have the widest audience are not the same group of people. We also understand the emotional differences.

For brands, in-depth understanding of E-sports culture and precise positioning has become a key link in breaking the game.

02

How can sports brands reverse in the melting pot?

-A new way to play online and offline

Nike's "hot eyes" team clothing, which was criticized by many people, and many sports brands and clubs launched joint brand clothing, did not arouse more water spray.

So, when sports brands can't play with the traditional offline marketing mode, will online E-sports layout be a better way out?

In a 2018 survey of 1000 E-sports fans, 49% of them said they would rather spend their money on tickets for sports events than on tickets for sports or concerts; 51% said they would prefer to buy products of video games than sports equipment.

In addition, according to the survey, the payment habits of Chinese E-sports users have gradually developed. Nearly 80% of mobile users pay within three months.

Many of the online brands that e-benz is willing to invest in are non competitive.

On September 1, 2020, fist game and AAPE by * a beating ape announced that they would jointly launch the "AAPE by * a beating ape x hero League" co branded series of clothing. Meanwhile, in the League of heroes games, they will jointly launch the real hurt Yasso to the skin full of street culture and fashionable design style. The skin has been shown to players on the PBE test server on September 1.

Of course, CO branded limited edition clothing series can not be less. In addition to the regular jacket, T-shirt, hooded hooded sweater and other clothing, there is also a real injury Yasuo skin T-shirt, as one of the complete series of items, will be synchronized with the surrounding stores of the League of heroes.

Previously, in addition to launching the clothing series inspired by lol characters and creating the exquisite customized storage box for S9 championship trophies, Louis Vuitton also launched special skin versions of qiyana and senna, designed by Nicolas ghesqui è re, artistic director of LV women's wear.

Harbin beer, on the other hand, cooperated with LPL to create the first virtual Idol "Ha sauce". The virtual "Idol" has been around for two months, and has a lot of fans.

In terms of the internal resources of E-sports games, the "dragon pit" which is most likely to produce group warfare in the competition has also become an important part of Harbin beer online layout. Every time a team wins a buff in a team battle, the slogan "the best buff will come, Harper will last forever" will be displayed on the field, which perfectly matches the meaning of beer symbolizing "the moment of celebration". This wave of online layout can be called a wonderful one.

In the Brand Co branding game of Gucci x tennis clash, the online and offline linkage is completed in one go, which not only opens the eyes of consumers, but also provides new marketing ideas for sports brands: the two roles of Gucci x tennis clash, all the clothes, sports shoes and accessories on the upper body are virtual copies of Gucci's real clothing series.

In the game, players can even visit Gucci's website directly to buy a real version of the characters' clothing. In the limited time game mode, the player with the highest score can also use customized Gucci rackets in the game.

Although traditional sports and E-sports are different in playing methods, they are unified in essence. Therefore, compared with other types of brands, sports brands have inherent advantages in this new marketing battle of online and offline linkage, combination of virtual and reality.

Whether it's the same model of get game characters or recharge the most popular nike shoes for role arrangement, E-sports fans invest for their hobbies, and the brand also realizes product promotion and sales guarantee through the e-sports game platform, which is not a win-win choice.

03

Where's James bronbler's?

From the development of the industry, it is also very important for more people to understand the culture and story of the e-sports circle.

The disadvantage of "enclosure and self sprouting" in the e-sports industry is just the advantage of sports brands. For a long time, sports brands have been using the power of media and advertising to show the charm of sports. For example, athletes' career history, the story behind the stadium, the isolated life of players during the epidemic, etc., try to create sports content more in line with the public taste, arouse empathy, so as to attract more fans outside the circle.

Extended reading: "humble" new Nike advertisement, not humble anti epidemic heart "

In China, the most famous E-sports star, just retired "Uzi" Jane is proud to have a seat. In addition, due to the similarity of his playing style, personality and career history, many audiences with dual identities of NBA and E-sports would compare Uzi to "James of the e-sports world". Even take out the same format posters of two people's Nike endorsement period for comparison:

However, why is it difficult to compare Uzi's social popularity and influence with NBA stars such as James outside their respective fields? This is precisely because there is a lack of "storytellers" in the e-sports industry.

The sports brand may be the "storyteller" needed by the e-sports circle.

Sometimes, tasting and telling stories complement each other. A good story can make more people believe in the concept and values of the brand. Whether it's E-sports or traditional sports, they are like a serial story. What arouses everyone's resonance is not only the simple victory, but also the emotional journey between the team members and the team behind them.

Sports brand "storytelling" is not only to help the e-sports industry attract more new fans, but also to create an excellent publicity channel for the output of brand's own values.

However, encountering bottlenecks is an inevitable problem for all industries in the period of rapid growth. We also believe that through the improvement of e-sports industry itself and the change of sports brand strategy, the two industries are bound to collide with new sparks.