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Chris Warren with ANA Magazine takes a deep-dive into the abundant marketing opportunities, yet overall confusion and challenges holding brands back from effectively reaching and engaging the passionate and expanding esports fan base in his latest article, “Esports Catching Marketers’ Attention: Opportunities abound for brands looking to reach a captive and growing audience.”* In his efforts to understand the esports fan and best practices for brands approaching the space, Chris sat down with Dan Ciccone, Co-Founder and Managing Director at REV/XP.

Highlighted below are many of Dan’s most noteworthy quotes from the article:

  • Addressing why esports is clouded in confusion, Dan said, “Part of the problem is that most research tends to lump all gaming properties in the same bucket … By that I mean that very few reports in the press separate mobile and PC and console gamers. They will lump a 25-year-old woman playing a game on her phone while waiting for public transport with a Call of Duty player on a console all day.”
  • Explaining what fans are particularly looking for in a sponsor, Dan stated, “There’s an ongoing narrative that the esports audience is different from others …But the reality is they want sponsors to bring value to their experience. They’re not looking for advertisers to interrupt it. It’s inherently digital and the engagement will be digital, but the audience is no more fickle or untrusting.”
  • When approaching esports, Dan tells brands to take a similar approach to traditional sports marketing: “For us, and this may seem odd, but the game is secondary. The audience is first … The majority of conversations with non-endemic brand clients are focused on the lifestyle and behavior of the audience and not the game.”
  • To give an example, Dan referenced REV/XP’s close involvement in the partnership between Turtle Wax and OpTic Gaming: “We worked with Turtle Wax to think of lifestyle personalities who have cars in the space and are influencers … Their cars are an extension of their lifestyle and an expression of who they are, and they want to take care of them.”
  • In addition to Ian “Crimsix” Porter’s special wrap for one of his Porsche’s, modeled after his custom controller, Dan highlights the considerable amount of quality content produced throughout the campaign that attributed to Turtle Wax’s increase in brand awareness, social following and global sales numbers: “We identified people in the space who are known to be into their cars and post pictures on Instagram and also create road trip videos … When you go on a road trip, one of the greatest fears is that it starts to smell like you’re living in your car. We would have videos of guys going to tournaments using Turtle Wax sprays that make sure that doesn’t happen.”
  • Bringing it home, Dan leaves us with the following lesson for brands considering esports: “It’s all about the lifestyle. There’s so much white space and areas of entertainment not being served at events … We say look at an event and audience and find ways to enhance the experience.”

*Note, subscription is required to view full article.