ONE Esports partners FWD, Marriott and McDonald's to scale esports regionally

share on

twitter /
facebook /
linkedin /
- email
- telegram
- whatsapp
- wechat
- pinterest
- line
- snapchat
- reddit

ONE Esports, a subsidiary of Group ONE Holdings, has partnered with insurance company FWD, Marriott International’s travel program Marriott Bonvoy, and fast food giant McDonald’s Philippines as part of its ongoing efforts to scale the esports ecosystem globally.

One Esports' partnership with FWD will see the latter sponsoring this year's Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational in Indonesia, where the top teams across Southeast Asia compete. According to Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports, the partnership will allow FWD to engage and connect with the esports community during the Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational, in an "authentic way and across multiple touch points in the fan experience".

"In addition to this, FWD will also have a strong presence on the oneesports.gg website in 2022," he said.

Meanwhile, Marriott Bonvoy has partnered with ONE Esports to expand its reach to esports fans in Singapore and Malaysia via local Mobile Legends: Bang Bang community tournaments. "By engaging the entire esports ecosystem through community tournaments and long-form, short-form, and streaming content, they will reach and engage with the GenZ and Millennial community of gamers and esports fans," Alimurung explained.

The partnership sees Marriot Bonvoy support the growing grassroots competitive community for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang with the sponsorship of five tournaments held until end November this year. Furthermore, Marriott Bonvoy will provide participants with the chance to win SG$200 e-gift cards. This will be in addition to the standard prizing of ONE Esports' community tournaments.

Marriot Bonvoy and ONE Esports also plan to launch an esports talk show together in 2022. While Alimurung declined to share any other details, he said that fans can expect a show that is interactive, fun, and supported by news, content, and experiences from ONE Esports.

Lastly, ONE Esports has partnered with McDonald's Philippines to provide food and services to the esports community at the Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational. Through the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournament, McDonald's hopes to boost exposure for the brand and its gaming community involvement. Oliver Rabatan, AVP for marketing and channels, McDonald’s Philippines said, "With the busy lifestyle of online gamers, we commit to continuously support the community with convenient access to delicious food anytime, anywhere with McDelivery."

According to Alimurung, the partnerships will be marketed at events, on its social media and website, as well as through long-form and short-video content. Alimurung also told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it works best with partners who want to take an active role in delivering its mission; to share and celebrate the stories of esports heroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration. "The most successful brands who have entered esports are the ones who prove their commitment to make esports as huge, prestigious, and developed as the biggest traditional stick and ball sports franchises. ONE Esports and our partners are on journey to make that happen for esports," he added. ONE Esports has declined to disclose the monetary value of the partnerships.

On ONE Esports' future marketing plans, Alimurung said that it will continue to build its full content stack for esports to help brands connect and engage with the esports community across the entire fan experience. He added that brands that have seen success in the esports arena have taken a holistic approach and activated across multiple channels, experiences, and content. “Engaging fans across multiple activations and platforms is the best way to create awareness and build genuine relationships," he added.

Separately, Verizon Media, now Yahoo, partnered with in-game ad platform Anzu.io in May to offer media buyers the ability to drive brand awareness through unintrusive in-game ads to reach the gaming and esports community. According to Anzu, its fully blended in-game video and banner ad placements are served in brand-safe environments across mobile, PC and console games, bringing scale to the in-game advertising industry. Yahoo advertisers will benefit from Anzu’s exclusive partnership with popular game publishers Vivid Games, Toplitz Productions, Axis Games, Lion Castle, Unfinished Pixel, and Caipirinha Games, among others.

In Singapore, the National Youth Council, Singapore Esports Association and IMG recently partnered to offer 100 students from Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, the Institute of Technical Education, and other partner organisations to experience the inner workings of the esports ecosystem. The Esports Youth Programme comprises three phases of carefully curated 35 hours of experiential programming. The programme includes a series of workshops and panel discussions with industry leaders and top content creators, event management at the inaugural Global Esports Games, and a chance to learn the corporate world of esports through short-term internships.

Join our Digital Marketing Asia conference happening from 9 November 2021 - 25 November 2021 to learn about the upcoming trends and technologies in the world of digital. Check out the agenda here.