The Next Big Thing

Every day in the sport business brands are signing sponsorship deals they hope will raise awareness, engage audiences, sell products and create long term relationships. Many sponsors are looking for the ‘next big thing’. Back in 1991 when the UEFA Champions League was launched few marketers could have imagined how far the competition would evolve commercially in 27 years.

It comes as no surprise that Heineken, PepsiCo, Nissan and now MasterCard have extended their agreement with the UEFA Champions League from 2018/19 through 2020/21 season. Banking group Santander also decided to join this illustrious group of sponsors. Equally, Arsenal’s head sponsor since 2004, Emirates has just extended their agreement for another five years through the 2023/24 season worth an estimated €226 million. Being part of the English Premier League helps as well.

Sometimes, when you have a winning combination it makes sense to stick with the same partner. Or, perhaps not. McDonald’s and the International Olympic Committee decided to terminate their partnership ahead of schedule after 41 years in 2017. Various explanations were offered, a new marketing strategy, cost cutting, the expected 100% increase in Olympic sponsorship fees starting after Tokyo 2020. There were of course many critics of the ‘Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games’ who were happy to see the association of fast-food and Olympics finally terminated.

Guess what? LaLiga which operates the top two divisions of Spanish football has revealed details of a new eSports competition with a new sponsor. Yes, it is the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald’s.  The competition has been named ‘McDonald’s Virtual LaLiga eSports’ and is part of a new eSports initiative launched last month with a campaign ‘it’s not football, it’s LaLiga’ which is seeking to engage millennials. eSports is one of the fastest growing sports worldwide, not just with EA Sports FIFA World Cup but other titles such as Counter Strike, Dota, League of Legends or Call of Duty.

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for “lol” does not produce “laughing out loud” as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports. Currently there are 300 million gamers worldwide which is expected to reach 500 million by 2020. And, the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was $20 million. By comparison, total prize money for the Tour de France was €2.29 million.

McDonald’s is not alone sponsoring LaLiga eSports. They are joined by El Corte Ingles, Allianz, Hyundai and Orange. The tournament will start March 19 with online qualification for gamers over the age of 16, followed by in person knock-out events and finally an exclusive tournament for the best 16 players at the ‘McDonald’s Virtual LaLiga eSports’ final stage. The next big thing? Watch this space.

As events in the entertainment and movie industry have unfolded in recent weeks and months, it is encouraging to see there are other types of sponsorship deals emerging. NBA basketball team the Los Angeles Clippers signed an innovative jersey sponsorship deal with social networking app Bumble.

The Bumble app has over 26 million users and connects people across dating, friendship and professional networking. Bumble is a proponent of gender equality, with women always making the first move on its app. Bumble’s ‘Empowerment Badge’ will feature on the Clipper’s jerseys in a move designed to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Bumble founder and chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd said: “Never before has a major professional sports team partnered in this way with a female-driven brand like Bumble. It’s an honour to partner with an organisation as progressive and compassionate as the Clippers. Like us, they know generating awareness for diversity and gender equality is critical to business success.” The next big thing? Who knows but we can expect more of these innovative partnerships in the future. It will be the consumers and sports fans who decide if you are the ‘next big thing’ based on your relevance and contribution to society.