ONE Championship inks deals with over 10 brands to grow influence

ONE Championship (ONE) has partnered with several global brands to leverage multiple platforms and create a synergy between the business, martial arts, and esports communities. These major brands include JBL, TUMI, Red Bull, Lazada, DBS Bank, foodpanda, Hugo Boss, Harvey Norman, Secretlab, California Fitness, Kredivo, Reckitt Benckiser, and Unilever among others.

These brands will collaborate with ONE Championship and ONE Esports on various martial arts and esports initiatives in 2020, as ONE has planned a minimum schedule of over 50 live events this year spanning its entire martial arts and esports gamut.

Two of the events that are set to run this year include ONE Esports Dota 2 Jakarta Invitational in April and the ONE Esports Singapore Major in June. JBL will be the official audio partner for the upcoming Dota 2 World Pro Invitational in Singapore and Jakarta, and the Dota 2 Major in Singapore in 2020. Meanwhile, DBS will be the official banking partner of ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational series. Anthony Seow, head of payments and platforms, DBS Bank said as esports becomes more popular in Singapore and across the region, its cardholders who are avid gamers will be rewarded to exclusively curated deals and privileges.

Lazada also sees vast potential in developing the local esports and gaming scene and supporting various initiatives for gamers and shoppers alike. Michelle Yip, CMO of Lazada Singapore, said the inaugural ONE Esports Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational will be livestreamed on the Lazada app.

Ian Alexander Ang, CEO and co-founder of Secretlab, added that with esports booming today, Secretlab aims to support esports athletes through its equipment designed for gamers. Meanwhile, Adam Hershman, general manager, TUMI Greater China, APAC Distribution and Travel Retail said that through its partnership with ONE Esports, the company will focus on working with this new generation of athletes and the fans. As esports players are always on the move and need worry-free travel solutions, TUMI aims to focus on delivering that.

Chatri Sityodtong (pictured), chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, said each of its partners share a harmonious culture of excellence and innovation, and each play a specific role in realising the vision at ONE Championship. According to Sityodtong, ONE aims to ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration, and share the stories of its athletes with millions of people across the globe.

Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports, said: “The ONE Esports Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational was a huge success. We delivered an amazing experience for the esports community and our brand partners. 88% of attendees surveyed were 18-35. 96% of respondents stated that they are likely to attend the next ONE Esports event, and 84% are more likely to purchase a brand that supports ONE Esports events.”

Esports is booming in markets such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Esports was recognised for the first time as a sport and was included in this year’s SEA Games 2019 held in Phillipines. For over a year now, Singtel, Domino’s, Razer are among brands who have continuously pushed for esports to be recognised in local markets as well. Luxury brand Louis Vuitton recently made foray into esports, in a partnership with Riot Games, while Chinese smartphone company Oppo officially came onboard as global smartphone partner for League of Legends (LoL) esports international events.

(Read more: ONE Championship launches TV and film arm for global content creation)