Image credit: BMW
With 2022 just moments away, it is time to reveal ESI’s yearly summary of the most creative esports advertising campaigns.
At Esports Insider, we’ve chosen to celebrate the creativity of the industry by showcasing some of the most significant, captivating, and outstanding advertisements delivered throughout 2021, whether it be through long-running campaigns or one-off brand collaborations.
Here, presented in no particular order, are what we consider to be some of the best and most creative esports advertising campaigns of 2021:
Erste Group x LEC: Esports Doomsday
League of Legends is known for its amusing advertising campaigns, therefore it’s no surprise to see the European League of Legends Championship (LEC) reach this list for the third consecutive year.
This short film in collaboration with European financial services provider ERSTE Group features desperate gamers burning gaming chairs and smashing computers after a TV show host declares that esports is not a sport. Needless to say that the love for esports wins in the end.
Under the hashtag #believeinyourself, the campaign aims to encourage esports players and fans to ‘keep ignoring the haters’ and to ‘believe in themselves as they always have’.
BMW: A year in rivalry
In 2020, the German automotive giant BMW announced a partnership with five prominent esports organisations, namely Cloud9, Fnatic, FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports and T1, as a part of its multi-year campaign titled #UnitedInRivalry. In accordance with the campaign’s message, this was considered a global approach to esports from BMW, as these organisations are based in North America, England, Germany, and China.
In the next step of the campaign, BMW made clear its true goal — to create a ‘brutal competition’ by forging an alliance between some of the best competing esports orgs.
Having warned it would strike again, the car brand kept its promise and returned a few months later with a teaser for its Heroes of Rivalry manga series, which features players from the partnered teams facing adventures in a parallel fantasy environment. Utilising its marketing potential, the series also incorporates news about BMW’s future involvements in esports.
Ralph Lauren x G2 Esports: SO MAJESTIC
Picking G2 League of Legends star Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson as the face of its campaign with luxury fashion brand Ralph Lauren was undeniably a great choice by G2.
The announcement video reveals Ralph Lauren as the exclusive fashion outfitter for G2 Esports, marking the brand’s first foray into the esports industry. As a result of the partnership, the two brands also launched a series of ‘digital-first’ activations on platforms such as TikTok and Twitch.
Additionally, the campaign overlapped with Ralph Lauren’s Wimbledon Campaign, which featured Rekkles alongside other ‘high profile’ traditional sports athletes, symbolising esports’ equal position amongst traditional sporting disciplines.
ESL and Intel: 20 years of esports collaboration
Without ESL, Intel, and the historic collaboration between the two …….
Source: https://esportsinsider.com/2021/12/best-esports-adverts-2021/