Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Africa’s first eSports Branding Summit
- Ninety9cents helps celebrate Ackermans centenary
- New Doritos campaign goes bold
Exploring eSports
Africa’s first eSports Branding Summit takes place at rAge in Johannesburg on Friday, 7 October 2016, and is aimed at fast-tracking a deeper understanding of the power of eSports for local brands. Shelf Life took a closer look at the possibilities.
According to Mlondi Mashinini, GAMeS summit programme director, globally, eSports has been able to draw mainstream sponsors attracted to the phenomenon by the millennial market segment, which accounts for approximately 70% of gamers and eSports enthusiasts.
Newzoo’s Global eSports Market Report states that brands will spend US$128m on eSports sponsoring and another US$197m on advertising in 2016, which represents a 49% annual increase in expenditure. American insurance company, GEICO, for example, sponsors an eSports team and tournament, using gamers to create non-traditional marketing material, which is then distributed via YouTube.
Mashinini says there are guesstimated to be more than 1.7bn gamers worldwide (2014 figure) who are happy with brands targeting them, as long as they are on the platforms which millennials use, are sincere and add value to their lives. They are not receptive to generic advertising.
Local businesses have not fully invested in eSports. From a strategic marketing standpoint, there’s a lot of interest but South Africa is yet to see mainstream sponsors make major long-term investments in eSports.
“Sponsorship opportunities in eSports have similar characteristics to those of traditional sports, when it comes to the properties to sponsor, such as naming rights, equipment and apparel branding. However, where eSports properties have been able to differentiate themselves is in incorporating their sponsors into their normal, everyday life and using storytelling as a means of promoting brands vs traditional promoting used by sports stars.”
eSports follow similar trends to traditional sports, with its own equivalents of the Currie Cup, Super Rugby and World Cup; these give it country, regional and global reach, depending upon the nature of the tournament. Mashinini says even global tournaments may be targeted, however, as advertising can be region-specific, based upon a user’s IP address.
It’ss good news for smaller local brands because eSports advertising is currently priced lower than traditional sports. •
esportsbrandingsummit.eventbrite.com • gamesagency.co • rageexpo.co.za
Ninety9cents launches 100 years
Ackermans and Ninety9cents are commemorating the retailer’s centenary by sharing honest stories from customers and staff that represent what the brand means to people [have some tissues handy — ed-at-large].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GNLvLnsqmE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-M1lvlVzCY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir805vFBPwU
Darling director, Zee Ntuli, was selected to bring these stories to life and his cinematographic approach was key to finding the right balance between portraying 100 years and the integrity of the stories. The result is three honest and emotionally charged commercials.
ackermans.co.za• Facebook
99c.co.za• Facebook
Daring Doritos
Doritos fans will be celebrating the return of its Sour Cream & Mild Chilli flavoured snack to the current range, while the brand issues a fun challenge to its consumers.
Are you bold enough to unfriend your mom on Facebook? Or to tag your ex in a photo of you and your new “friend”? Fans are encouraged to blame their spontaneous boldness on their favourite Doritos flavour with #DoritosMadeMeDoIt.
Doritos Sour Cream & Mild Chilli is available in a 150g bag from all major retailers.
simba.co.za/brands/doritos-and-dips • Facebook • Twitter
Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering all things new. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.
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