An incredibly high calibre partnership has been announced between Mercedes Benz and ESL.
This new partnership will ‘include tournament sponsorships across several global markets’. First up events wise is ESL One Hamburg 2017, the Dota 2 tournament and Major with with a prize pool of €1,000,000 (m).
Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL: “We are thrilled to partner with Mercedes-Benz as the premiere automotive brand. This partnership represents an important step not only for us but for the whole esports industry – allowing us to explore exciting mobility solutions for the fans and players across the world, growing esports together, and getting it to the next level.”
This arrangement sees the luxury car manufacturer’s first entrance into esports and makes for another major company in the space. It’s a ‘part of Mercedes-Benz’s sponsoring and marketing portfolio’s new strategic direction’. They aren’t the first car company to make a move in the space of course; Audi teamed up with Astralis earlier this year but this deal is at a notably larger scale than that one. Moreover Mercedes has become the first to sponsor an esports tournament.
Dr. Jens Thiemer, Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars: “Our wide-ranging international commitment to sport allows us to accommodate the interests of our diverse target groups. As a brand, we maintain close contact with our customers, are able to build up empathy and to become an accepted part of their world.
“We have been following the extremely fast-growing esports segment for some time now and are firmly of the opinion that this new involvement will complement our existing sports sponsoring activities with an eye on the future and allow us to make contact with a very interesting, new target group.”
Esports Insider says: Mercedes teaming up with ESL is huge news for the industry as a whole and in particular the tournament organiser. The fact that the partnership isn’t a tentative baby-steps sponsorship move by the German company but an apparent strong commitment is testament to the progress the esports industry has made in the past year too.
