Mastercard has penned a global partnership with Riot Games’ League Of Legends – the world’s largest eSport property in a deal that will see it roll out its ‘Priceless Experiences’ programme to the competitive gaming community
The deal was announced with a partnership launch video amplified across its own digital
and social platforms and by Riot Games.
Use your Mastercard for your #LeagueofLegends in-game purchase for a chance to attend this year’s All-Star event!
NPN. US and Canada res (excl. Quebec), 18+. Ends 11/3. Rules: https://t.co/bVgt4OPaia pic.twitter.com/dneAGrqPxs
— Mastercard (@Mastercard) September 20, 2018
Mastercard is proud to be the first global partner for @lolesports https://t.co/jrNefXYQzD
— Mastercard News (@MastercardNews) September 19, 2018
As the new exclusive global payment services partner for ‘League of Legends’ global eSports events, Mastercard will primarily focus on three annual global tournaments: the Mid-Season Invitational, the All-Star Event, and, the top-of-the-tree eSports event, the World Championship.
Mastercard will activate the alliance by curating its usual range of event-focused Priceless experiences and offers across on-site, at-event event experiences, across its priceless.com platform and via other promotions all designed to ‘bring fans closer to their passion and everything they love about League of Legends events’.
The first of these live-event activations will leverage the ‘League of Legends World Championship’ in South Korea this autumn.
Indeed, the first experiences available through the Priceless.com platform will include:
> Opening ceremony rehearsal viewing and a behind the scenes tour
> Opportunity to watch a game with a League of Legends pro player from VIP seats
> Test the gaming PCs the pros will compete on during the World Championship final
From late September, North American Mastercard holders will have a chance to win the ultimate All-Star Event experience when they use and save their Mastercard information within the League of Legends gaming platform.
We are partnering with @Mastercard to award a trip to the 2018 All-Star Event! #AllStar2018
Learn more at: https://t.co/IWm0SVed5F pic.twitter.com/Aawkp4oktD
— lolesports (@lolesports) September 21, 2018
Similar promotions and additional ticketing programs will continue to roll out globally throughout the partnership.
Plus, Mastercard will work with its existing banking and finance partners to offer unique League of Legends co-branded products in select markets, starting in 2019.
“We’ve long been impressed with Mastercard and their fan-focused approach to partnerships,” commented Jarred Kennedy, co-head of esports at Riot Games.
“Our community has made League of Legends the biggest esport in the world, and we’re excited to work with Mastercard to bring them new and innovative experiences for years to come.”
“Esports is a phenomenon that continues to grow in popularity, with fans that can rival those at any major sporting event in their enthusiasm and energy,” commented Mastercard chief marketing and communications officer Raja Rajamannar.
“Our Priceless platform is built around connecting with people through their passions. We are excited about the experiences and benefits we can bring to the world’s largest esport – both in-game and to the millions of League of Legends fans that watch and attend the tournaments each year.”
“We’re thrilled to team up with Mastercard on this groundbreaking partnership that will provide meaningful and long-term value to our fans,” added Naz Aletaha, head of esports partnerships at Riot Games.
“Mastercard is among the first of world-class brands to take such a big step into esports at the global level, and we’re proud to have them support League of Legends esports events alongside their other premier sports and entertainment sponsorships. What is so impactful about this deal is that Mastercard wanted to come into esports in a meaningful way and they wanted to commit to it for the long term. That’s a really big step for non-endemic brands.”
Comment:
The phenomenal growth and ever-growing global viewer numbers have caused partnership marketers to shine a spotlight on this space for several years now and this Mastercard/Riot Games sponsorship is a major move in the eSports commercial partnership space.
Riot itself has even likened the deal as paving the way to creating a global sponsorship portfolio that mirrors the IOC’s Olympic partnership structure.
But some would argue that the first wave of partnerships that didn’t produce the kind of optimal results many had hoped for.
In the contemporary, largely fan-controlled eSports landscape, ‘logos’, ‘proud sponsor of’ taglines and ‘presented by’ graphics aren’t enough to generate engagement and drive action.
Mastercard is confident that is had done the research necessary to understanding the space and its fans.
After all, according to Riot Games head of eSports partnerships Naz Aletaha, who credits the Mastercard team for taking a considered eSports approach and taking a step back to learn before signing up, discussions about the deal have been taking place since 2016.
“I really have to tip my hat to the Mastercard team because they’ve been incredibly thoughtful and very deliberate throughout the process,” said Aletaha.
“They came in and wanted to learn about the community and what will work and what won’t work from a partnership standpoint.”
This tie-up is a first-of-its-kind deal for the payments giant and sees the tech company’s global sponsorship portfolio (which already includes properties such as the Rugby World Cup, Major League Baseball, the PGA TOUR, The Open, The Australian Open, Roland-Garros, the Rugby World Cup and UEFA Champions League) diversify into a new direction.
League of Legends boasts 14 professional esports leagues, 113 professional teams, and more than 850 salaried athletes worldwide.
Overseen and operated by Riot Games. League of Legends eSports games are broadcast live to millions of fans in 18 different languages across the globe, with viewership of the regular season averaging 90 million hours-watched live, week-over-week worldwide.
The ‘League of Legends World Championship 2017’ tournament reached a total of 1.2 billion hours watched over the course of the 21-day competition and the most-watched match pulled in 80 million live unique viewers.
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