The breakfast of champions: Kellogg’s sponsors esports

There’s no shortage of non-esports brands that invest in and spend on esports ventures – from car brands to mobile phone providers, just about everyone wants a slice of the lucrative pie that is esports. Popular breakfast cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s is no exception.

Having long since had a sports-related budget, and having started investing in esports two years ago, the brand is now ready to further their commitment to esports. Specifically, they want to make use of the incredibly market advantage that esport gives them – incredible access to young adult audiences with large disposable incomes.

© Valve Corporations | Kellogg’s

People in their early to mid-twenties, all the way through to people in their early thirties are a prime advertising target, with a lot of spending power, and an avid interest in avoiding advertising as much as possible. Traditional methods like the formerly popular newspaper and TV ads just don’t work anymore – and, as it happens, esports is a very wide-spread hobby that reaches a significant portion of this advertising-shy audience. Let’s not forget also the increasingly frequent in-game advertising.

It’s the holy grail of potential buyers, really, and not just for cereal makers – and it’s been working well enough that Kellogg’s decided to dedicate more funds to it. An initial exploratory investment has turned into a regular gig, up to and including Kellogg’s headlining esports event as their main sponsor. The company has a variable budget ready – depending on the brand and area, different amounts of money will be spent on advertising and media engagements.

An example of this is Pringles – the Kellogg’s-owned brand made a deal with Riot Games this year, and is one of the main sponsors of the League of Legends European Championship this summer. Not long before, Kellogg’s also signed deals with other brands, including N3rd Street Gamers. The company’s deals now span all sorts of different scenarios – tournaments, events, locations and more.

• Read also: True potential: advertising in esports

As for the deal with Riot – the Pringles logo will be featured on official streams on YouTube and Twitch. While that may seem like a minor thing, some 1.6 million people watch those ever day during the main LoL season. That’s a huge amount, and given the amount of money that exchanges hands (usually between 2k and 4k USD per deal), both parties in such deals benefit immensely from this type of arrangement. LoL and Riot Games receive support for their events, which are both manpower and time consuming… and Pringles gets exposure during streams.

At the same time, some Pringles cans in Europe will also feature specific links that can be used in order to participate in a raffle and through that, unlock rare characters and loot in-game. The idea is that players can gain access to characters that have been retired and are therefore unavailable. It’s not a bad strategy. Esports fans are notoriously not keen on advertising but do go for free loot – it’s a great combo of unobtrusive ads and interesting in-game incentives.

If you want to stay updated on the latest partnerships and sponsorships, take a look at our esports news daily.

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