The sponsor era in Esports: why sponsor Esports?

Audiences, engagement and passionate fans make it hard to stay out. The case for sponsoring events, teams and athletes.

Brazil focus: this text is written mainly for readers in Brazil and the Brazilian Esports market. It refers to Brazilian law, institutions and practice.

Luxury brands (BMW, Mercedes and others), the greatest brands of the mass market (Amazon, Submarino, Nvidia, Samsung and others) and the famous Blue Chips are highly recognized companies, nationally and internationally. They have been established for decades, are financially solid and stable, and serve a consumer market willing to buy very well-known and accepted products (Coca-Cola, IBM, PepsiCo, Walmart and others). These are the sponsors that should be, or already are, watching and orbiting the electronic sports market, even if still occasionally and timidly. The possibility that their services, products and brands will be placed in the context of this new category, continuously, permanently and stably, is real and certain.

In a market where the terms "GAMER" and "cyberathlete" are already completely outdated and wrongly used, and professional athletes stand in their place, sponsors can stop focusing on one-off deals tied to a single event. They need to build the profile of "professional sponsorship", echoing the correct term we must use when referring to the category and its practitioners.

These companies already know the professional environment of conventional sports. They need to feel comfortable and protected, with guarantees not only of visibility but also of business security: protection of their brands and other tax possibilities, knowing they will operate in an environment that, at least in the institutionally managed part, has all its rights preserved and its Legal counterparts safeguarded, as in football, baseball, basketball and other categories.

The key word for taking the first step with the Blue Chips, for example, is ENGAGEMENT! These companies do not need brand exposure to be the key point. Of course it will be part of the picture, but what they seek is the total engagement that the campaign, access or initiative promoted by the sponsorship can generate. To explain engagement: it is not enough to have a Facebook fan page with ten million likes if a post reaches an engagement of only ten thousand people, among other examples that follow the same line of reasoning and take specific cases and needs into account.

The companies in the three groups I mention in the first paragraph also need to understand the consumer audience. It is smaller in Brazil, but large in other countries in Europe, Asia and the USA. These consumers already have part of their financial independence, work, and have an annual income above eighty-four thousand reais (R$ 84,000.00) or more, whether that income comes from themselves or from close relatives living in the same household, added to their own. In most cases this income is twice that of many consumers, fans and supporters of football and other sports, who also consume, in due proportion, the products and services offered and shown as sponsorship.

Another big difference to note and present to the sponsor is that the audience engaged in electronic sports is incredibly receptive to the brands, products and services of these three categories of companies. They know that the arrival of these companies in Esports brings pride, growth and notoriety to the category. They take the acceptance of these companies as a given and support companies that sponsor electronic sports much more readily and loyally than any other consumer of conventional sports. They are young enthusiasts and young adults, loyal and completely focused on the scene.

Another point to note is that this consumer has no physical barriers, geographic limits or parochialism in his profile. On the contrary, he likes the category and the electronic sports movement as a whole, and cheers for the event, the teams, the athletes and the brands involved. He loves what he sees, hears, reads and takes part in. This consumer is also a practitioner of the category, and not only in one modality, platform or franchise, but in several or even all of them!

Today in Brazil, companies can take part in electronic sports with contractual backing that gives them full coverage and protection regarding teams, athletes and their actions, both in the electronic and in the real world.

These brands certainly worry about getting close to teams and events, and some questions should be considered, such as:

a) Are the athletes' rights as sportspeople and as workers or service providers being applied? What is the Legal relationship between them? Does the team have all the structure needed to qualify as a legally constituted team?

b) Is it a sports club (in that case it may take part in Tax Incentive, Sports and Culture Laws, offering a counterpart to the companies that sponsor it), a club-company, or just a company (Civil Society, EIRELI, MEI)? If so, it falls under other specific characteristics that require more care, including the use of the correct terms to classify them in the Legal sphere.

c) Are these teams able to take part in other world championships under the Olympic-model engagement, representing themselves or officially representing the country in their modality? This already looks ahead to the acceptance of the category in the Olympics, which would completely change any scenario not endorsed by the governing body of the sport.

d) In any case, what guarantees does the sponsor have that it will not be exposed in a civil or labor lawsuit in the near future?

e) Is the event sanctioned and endorsed by a body that administers the category, guaranteeing judgment in disciplinary matters, commercial matters, regulation, arbitration and anti-doping?

f) Is the event part of a worldwide, multicultural competitive and sports context, engaged in the Olympic model, or is it only the private property of a single developer (even if it has international competitions)?

All the alternatives can certainly be very positive for the sponsor, provided due care is taken to have at least the points above answered satisfactorily and with Legal grounding. All the points must be tied together to protect the athlete, the team, the event and the electronic sports class from any mistaken practice in this category, which could lead the sponsor to find its company, product and/or service linked to something unexpected.

The main thing is to understand that the word "ENGAGEMENT" must come first, and that the word "RESPONSIBILITY", both toward the event and toward what is done inside a team and as an athlete, must come second, or even be considered the first.

Companies in the three categories listed here can be sure that steady and secure positioning of their brand, product and service is achievable in electronic sports. They need not fear positive results, even if at first they do not reach one hundred percent of what was intended.