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Situation Analysis

The days of playing Pac Man at the local arcade are long gone. Today, gamers compete online against one another, and in some parts of the world, people play video games professionally, earning six-figure salaries and competing in stadiums full of adoring fans. The World Cyber Games (WCG) has been leading this charge since 2000 and has effectively established a new spectator event: e-sports.

In 2005, International Cyber Marketing, the Korean-based global organizer of the WCG wanted to bring the e-sports phenomenon to mainstream U.S. audiences. The company partnered with Text 100 to raise the profile of and increase participation in local WCG preliminary competitions while creating a national dialogue around e-sports. A supplemental goal was to position the WCG as an attractive sponsorship opportunity for corporations looking to target males between the ages of 15 and 35.

Execution

Research indicates that the video game industry has captured what is known in some quarters as the “missing generation,” the 16−30-year-old male demographic that has proven both cynical and elusive to marketers. To best understand this demographic, Text 100 conducted focus groups and held brainstorming sessions with pro and amateur gamers. Findings were integrated with research on the gaming market to create the strategy for targeting potential participants and engaging the gaming and mainstream media to raise awareness as well as create sponsorship messages.

The overarching strategy was to leverage the popularity of e-sports overseas to position the WCG in the U.S. as a premier sporting event. Much like a major sporting event, execution focused on building interest and excitement around four phases of competition: the qualifiers in May, June and July; the regional playoffs in late July and August; the U.S. Final in September; and the Grand Final to be held November 16-20 in Singapore.

Tactics included seeding coverage in print, broadcast and online media via press releases; conducting executive media tours; arranging player interviews; distributing weekly email alerts to reporters; running broadcast radio promotions; peer media outreach; hosting a press conference at the U.S. Final; as well as running a fully operating pressroom for all three days of the competition.

The final phase of the campaign, concentrated on generating coverage for the 16 U.S. finalists headed to Singapore to compete against 800 of the world’s best gamers from 70 countries in the WCG Grand Final, who Text 100 presented to the media as Team USA.

Evaluation

The campaign introduced e-sports into the national dialogue, with over 220 pieces of coverage to date, most significantly Thomas Friedman’s September 16, 2005, syndicated editorial, “Still Eating Our Lunch,” and Sports Illustrated’s full-page report, “Singapore Here We Come.” Members of Team USA appeared on CBS’s “The Early Show” and “60 Minutes.”

The tone of the coverage was another success indicator. In the past, stories of video game competitions were treated as quirky novelty events. The press coverage of the 2005 WCG U.S. Final illustrates e-sports are a viable spectator event with great potential as a marketing vehicle for corporations trying to reach the “missing generation.”

This external visibility drew more than 4,000 spectators to the physical event, and over 63,000 followed the games live on the Web. In comparison, only 15 spectators attended the 2004 WCG U.S. Final.

The promotional efforts led to increased sponsorship by tech and non-tech companies. With thanks to the pre-final buzz, Tylenol chose the WCG U.S. Final to announce their sponsorship of a pro-squad dubbed “Team Ouch,” and Intel announced sponsorship of a top team in Singapore in advance of the Grand Final.

The era of e-sports in America has arrived.