Why Domino's MY decided to dish out a 10-year supply of pizzas for eSports athletes

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Domino's Malaysia recently showed support for the country's eSports athletes by offering the team up to 10 years worth of pizzas if they clinch a medal at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in November. Every winning team member will get a regular pizza per week, with gold winners receiving a 10-year supply of pizzas, silver winners getting five years and bronze winners receiving two years. The supply, however, is only awarded to podium finishers in Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Dota 2, StarCraft II, and Tekken.

Esports athletes, we want to let you know that we're here to support you! ?? How? By giving you and your teammates up to 10 years worth of pizzas when you win your game in the upcoming SEA Games 2019!
Thread (1/3) pic.twitter.com/2jj1W6Zbaz
— Pizza is Bae (@DominosMY) May 24, 2019

Nonetheless, Linda Hassan (pictured), senior VP, marketing, Domino’s Pizza Malaysia and Singapore told A+M that while eSports is getting increasingly popular worldwide, it still lacks recognition in Malaysia as the industry is "still in its infancy". As plenty of effort is required to produce eSports talents, Domino's is keen to be part of the development process, from the grassroots level to working together with the community, to helping local players develop their skills and knowledge in this field.

Doing its part, Domino's aims to motivate national eSports athletes to perform by offering tangible incentives. "Pizzas are gamers’ best friend. We are taking the opportunity to provide support to a market segment that is connected to our brand," she said.

Linda added that in all that it does, be it delivering pizzas, creating offers or community efforts, Domino's ensures that it contributes and ties back to the brand promise of "It's All About You" and enhancing customers' experience by delivering quality food and service. She declined to reveal the monetary investment for its latest SEA Games initiative.

At this juncture, Domino's is only leveraging its social media platforms to promote this eSports initiative for its athletes and has seen "good results" so far. Several netizens on Twitter thanked Domino's for the initiative, with some adding that they would continue eating Domino's pizzas for the next 10 years. Minister of Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq also showed his support by retweeting Domino's.

Although this initiative is only targeted at the gaming community, Linda said it expects to pique the interest of general consumers, given the recent attention on eSports. Given that eSports involves a younger market, Domino's aims to constantly be proactive in creating positive, beneficial initiatives to enrich the lives of that particular segment, she added.

"In tandem with today’s rapidly evolving world, through our Domino’s Support School Programme (DSSP), we are in the process of renewing our efforts to ensure that we create a stronger impact amongst students and in line with opportunities in the arena of eSports and efforts that is technology driven," she said. DSSP is a 12-year school adoption programme which the company aims to use as a platform to advocate for and educate younger consumers on eSports. This is done by offering them with the skillsets and tech-driven tools required to prepare for the future, in line with Domino's passion for innovation.

Its involvement in the eSports arena revolves around engagement and Domino's aims to create a long-term journey to pursue its interest in collaborating with various communities and partners in the eSports industry.

"The gaming community, being a targeted and niche market is a clear demonstration that our promise of ‘It’s All About You’ is truly about everyone no matter their background or diverse interests," she said. Linda added that it is leveraging on the innovative mindset and digital-first approach at Domino's to cater to this target audience.

"We believe given our edge in technology, innovation coupled with our keen interest in catering to our fans needs and interests, we would be able to offer great support and not to mention great offers to the eSports community.

Besides the SEA Games initiative, Domino's also recently collaborated with Mobile Legends to roll out the “United We Win” campaign offering consumers value deals with the pizza restaurant chain. The “United We Win” campaign is also part of the Mobile Legends “515 Unite Day” global campaign which Malaysia is participating in and aims to add new entries into the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang! game. The “United We Win” campaign offers consumers “515” takeaway Domino’s promotions including personal pizzas from RM5, regular pizzas from RM15 and the “United We Win” combo.

In April this year, it named an integrated team of WPP agencies – MediaCom and J. Walter Thompson - to lead its roster of agencies for marketing communications following a pitch process. Known as Team Crust, the integrated team will be responsible for leading the development of strategic communication, content and media. The team will also oversee the roster of multi-functional marketing services agencies that work with Domino’s to deliver compelling and category defining communications.