e-Sports Marketing Focus Shifting From Individuals to Teams
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Song Byung-gu took off his shirt and waved it like a rock star as 140,000 eyes were watching at Gwanganri beach, Busan, on the night of the finals of the ``StarCraft'' Pro League on Aug. 4. Then one of his Samsung Khan game club teammates passed him a five-gallon water bottle and Song poured it on him and the rest of the team. Throughout the riotous celebration, the logo of Samsung Electronics was repeatedly showed on billboards, banners, balloon sticks and the uniforms of the players.
Computer gaming competitions, dubbed e-sports, have emerged as one of the most effective marketing tools for the young generation in South Korea. And the most notable trend in the industry these days is that the fans are now beginning to be emotionally attached to teams and their sponsors, not only to individual gamers.
``After the Pro League was launched, the way of cheering has been changing,'' said Je Hun-ho, director of Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA). ``The number of team supporters has increased. They now cheer their teams.''
According to Je, the 11 private firms participating in the league are spending $1.5 million per year on average and the promotional effect is seven times higher than the cost on average.
SK Telecom, which operates T1 club, agrees on the high effectiveness of e-sports marketing.
``It seems that fans want to thank the company for making the T1 team,'' said Cho Man-soo, manager of the T1 club. ``It's not just a brand awareness. It's more like loving the team, loving the company. They have loyalty to the company.''
``StarCraft'' is a nine-year-old computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment of the United States. For various reasons it has evolved into a popular sports competition category in South Korea with more than 400 professional gamers and 12 clubs registered at the KeSPA.
Most of the clubs are owned by private firms such as Samsung Electronics, KTF, SK Telecom, CJ. And not all of them are IT firms. There are teams operated by STX, a shipbuilder, and LECAF, a sports apparel company. Even the Air Force has a team consisting of conscripted professional players for promotional purposes.
``Now e-sports have become the most popular typical culture of the young in Korea,'' Je said during the International e-Sports Symposium held at COEX, southern Seoul, Monday.
SK Telecom manager Cho said that it estimates its promotional effects through media coverage to be 15 billion won ($16.5 million) and that is only counting traditional offline media such as newspapers, magazines and cable and satellite TVs. The return-on-investment ratio is more than 500 percent, he said.
There are no reliable statistics available for how much e-sports matches are worth on Internet broadcasting services such as Gom TV, Pandora TV and Hana TV. But Je of the association suggests that they can be more influential than offline media, citing that the Pro League matches recorded 26 million views on Gom TV alone during the three-month season until July.
Sponsorship is another precious source of income for the firms. Players usually wear uniforms made by big fashion brands such as Puma, Fila and Head. For SK Telecom, Adidas is paying it 400 million won over two years, Cho said.