Digital Strategy
Esports is the biggest thing you may never have heard of. How big? $1.4 billion big. 191 million person viewership big. Backed by investors like Mark Cuban and Michael Jordan big. And although this industry is BIG, it doesn’t have to be intimidating.
To break down barriers, we decided to go all in and host our own esports event. We educated our entire staff, trained new players, created an overwhelmingly successful experience and shared our learnings.
Trust is very important. Entering in...you kinda have one shot. And if you do it in a way that feels gross and isn’t true to what the brand is wanting to contribute and isn’t true to the community they want to be a part of, it could backfire.
Ian Anderson, Owner of HeroesHearth
We love when a brand celebrates us. Instead of just trying to sell to us. Really if you want to get into esports and you’re not a specific brand that’s tied to esports, like a computer brand, the way to get in is to really celebrate us and show us that you’re behind us. And we’ll get behind you.
Jacob Utitus, Computer Science Teacher and High School Esports Coach
We put together four teams of our very own CMers, from complete noobs to gaming gurus, and invited them to compete in an esports event where they would test their skills in a few rounds of Blizzard’s hit game, Heroes of the Storm. Friends, clients and new internet followers joined in on the fun.
I’ve been to tons of hockey games, rock concerts, football games. Nothing compared to people losing their minds…like LOSING THEIR MINDS.
Ian Anderson, Owner of HeroesHearth
We asked for help. We partnered with big time gamers like the HeroesHearth team to help us better understand the esports community. We even tapped into our very own internal network of gaming enthusiasts to help bring the event to life.
Beer was drunk. Shit was talked. Fun was had.
We went to the source and launched our Twitch account to become a part of the gaming conversation, then invited esports influencer HeroesHearth to help us spread the word and the hype on Twitch.
On the day of the event, HeroesHearth joined us for our livestream of the event. People tuned in. We got more than 1,100 views and some pretty exciting engagement.
The numbers speak for themselves. When getting into something like this...you need to get in with an education. You need to get in knowing and understanding how to talk with this community how to be a part of it. It’s about building. It’s about growing it in an organic natural responsible way.
Ian Anderson, Owner of HerosHearth
There’s a huge opportunity for brands to reach new enthusiastic audiences for esports. All they have to do is stay authentic, advocate for the user and simply be a part of the conversation. Let us know if we can bring you into the game.