“We Aim To Step Up Mercedes-Benz’s Involvement In Esports”
October 27, 2020
Mercedes-Benz recently announced a new partnership with Riot Games to become the exclusive automotive partner of all their global League of Legends events, so iSPORTCONNECT talked to Claudia Merzbach of Mercedes-Benz to see just why they have opted to up their stakes in the esports market.
You’ve been involved in smaller esports partnerships before, so why have you decided to take this bigger step and create the partnership with Riot Games?
Riot is one of the largest producers of games worldwide. League of Legends (LoL) is Riot’s best-known game and is played globally. It has been one of the most popular and most-played PC games worldwide in the last years. In 2019 the game had more than 106 million active players per month.
We aim to step up Mercedes-Benz’s involvement in Esports, as we strongly believe that Esports will continue to grow in popularity in the coming years.
The LoL Worlds 2019 was followed by over 100 million fans on location and via the corresponding streams. These are incredible stats, also in comparison with other sports, and offer Mercedes-Benz high global reach.
In the announcement, it was said that you strongly believe in esports and its future, have you been monitoring the potential of esports for some time ahead of this move?
We aim to step up Mercedes-Benz’s involvement in Esports, as we strongly believe that Esports will continue to grow in popularity in the coming years. Riot Games (Riot) with its game “League of Legends” (LoL) is the perfect partner for us, as this has been one of the most popular and most-played PC games worldwide in recent years and the global events are followed by an audience of millions.
What different opportunities does esports present for Mercedes in comparison to traditional sports, some may say the age range of the viewership may not fit with a car brand?
Esports as a digital sport is less dependent on time and place. This makes it much more dynamic and flexible than classic sports and allows you to get involved in the further development of Esports as a sponsor.
Esports fans are generally open minded to the topic of sponsoring and usually regard it as a sign of appreciation for the scene and the community.
Esports fans are generally open minded to the topic of sponsoring and usually regard it as a sign of appreciation for the scene and the community – provided that the sponsoring company takes the matter seriously. Successful, organic sponsoring measures are sometimes even celebrated by the audience at an event, affectionately acknowledged with memes in forums such as Reddit and propagated via various social media channels.
In what ways will you be creating unique activations and content for this sponsorship for this new audience?
Individual sponsoring measures such as the Hextech Chests introduced by Mercedes-Benz for the first time at the Worlds 2020 offer dedicated fans direct added value for the game in the form of in-game items.
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz provides general support for the Esports/LoL eco-system through its sponsorship and is thus directly involved in the ongoing development of the sport itself and its social standing.