Branding Brainstorm

Branding Brainstorm: LCS Branding Ideas Modeled after TreeQuest

ByInter 2025 Reading Time: 8 minutes

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Inside esports, most followers worth expertise and success. They need to know which groups are successful, which gamers are the perfect and what methods are meta. Competitions are largely about winners and losers, favorites and underdogs. However past match outcomes and win-loss information, followers additionally get pleasure from narratives, tales, historical past and branding.

Most followers in all probability don’t dedicate a lot time to analyzing esports organizations’ branding. They like sure groups, don’t like sure groups and don’t care about the remaining. Nevertheless, these organizations consistently make investments sources into getting followers to love them greater than the others. It’s a complete totally different competitors happening behind the scenes, which entails sponsorships, subscribers, followers, media, content material, attire and the whole lot else revolving across the staff’s model.

Lately, FlyQuest introduced a brand new CEO, together with their TreeQuest initiative. For each FLY win, FLY kill, and Ocean Drake, FlyQuest is planting timber. Paired with their newly unveiled Greenhouse, FlyQuest simply inserted itself as an environmentally-friendly model among the many LCS groups. Followers instantly latched onto this idea for a number of causes.

Firstly, that is a lot totally different from something the opposite LCS groups are doing. It creates a novel id for FLY in comparison with the opposite organizations. Even when gamers come and go, this “trigger advertising” stays with the group. Secondly, the philanthropy facet makes FLY come throughout extra caring and fewer grasping. Lastly, tying the initiative to precise gameplay provides followers causes to observe their matches. Every of those elements of the TreeQuest branding is efficacious to potential sponsors and followers who need to be related to an eco-friendly group.

What has already been tried?

Earlier than TreeQuest, 100 Thieves produced probably the most participating branding within the LCS. Their deal with unique, designed attire nonetheless carries over into 2020. Bringing baseball-style jerseys to the stage and providing limited-time streetwear introduced a novel picture to the LCS, which largely caught to the identical formulation for jerseys, attire, and different merchandise.

Each group clearly does rather a lot for his or her followers. Most of them create documentaries of behind the scenes week-to-week (TSM: LEGENDS). Generally they add YouTube movies answering questions, enjoying video games, or showcase a sponsor or new participant (Jungle Information with C9 Blaber). Additionally they persistently do giveaways of all types via social media.

Nevertheless, these don’t actually separate any organizations from the remainder of the pack. All ten LCS groups interact in these kinds of fan-directed actions, and they need to. In an period of streaming and social media, followers get to really feel extra related and engaged with all of their favourite personalities greater than ever earlier than. Groups that don’t produce content material or search engagement with the followers is not going to have many followers for very lengthy.

So what else may LCS organizations do to create a extra useful model, apart from having the perfect report, probably the most trophies, or having the perfect participant manufacturers? What are some authentic methods to draw followers to stick with a corporation, no matter its gamers? Is there something unexplored that would set an LCS group other than the others?

The Final Fan Expertise

Organizations may arrange a program to search out their “Quantity One Fan” every cut up, and provides them the perfect expertise doable. For instance, proper after the tip of the common season, followers may add a 60-second video of themselves, the place they clarify their greatest moments of the cut up for the LCS and Academy groups, why they grew to become a fan, and perhaps their favourite piece of merch. Members of the group would watch via them and vote on who they need to award The Final Fan Expertise.

All bills paid journey to a giant match, playoffs, or Finals. A swag bag with the perfect merch from the staff. A VIP meet-and-greet with the gamers. A characteristic of their documentary sequence. A tour of their efficiency middle and an opportunity to play with their favourite participant on stream. Branding related to superior “IRL” fan experiences could be superb.

This kind of initiative would sign to the followers that they’re the main target of the group. Branding on this manner would convey hardcore followers who adore their staff for giving them the chance of a lifetime. Excel Esports within the LEC gave a minimalist model of this idea to 1 “superfan” who got here to observe them from the UK. Joel and Kieran Darby, co-owners of Excel, invited the fan to sit down with them on the match, posted footage with him on Twitter, and launched him to some gamers afterwards.

Esports Scholarship Program

Since expertise growth is such a scorching matter in North America, an LCS staff may contribute with an esports scholarship fund. Over the course of a yr, the group may put aside cash to provide to a number of people the next yr to assist go to a school with an official esports program. The Collegiate League of Legends scene has been rising steadily over time, and this might assist arrange a pathway for extra gamers pursuing LCS or Academy to get a school training on the best way.

There are a number of methods to tie the funding into one thing extra artistic than simply saying a lump sum and giving it away. They might take a share of their staff’s complete gold per recreation. The quantity may very well be tied to Academy League viewership, since organizations can co-stream their matches in 2020. They might design a particular line of merchandise that units apart a share of income for the scholarships. A key sponsor may associate with the group and a share of income in direction of the scholarship.

These are all methods to have interaction the followers and get them excited for the scholarship with you. This branding targets the younger demographic that is perhaps fascinated with school, which is simpler to promote for sponsors and companions. It would convey extra viewership to Academy League, and play into the expertise growth in North America. Extra importantly, a scholarship fund would present the maturity of esports, and align them extra with conventional sports activities.

Completely different LCS organizations have taken small steps in direction of tackling the entire expertise growth difficulty. 100 Thieves not too long ago introduced 100 Thieves: Subsequent, an newbie staff below their umbrella. Final yr, TSM introduced TSM Jr., the place they selected just a few newbie gamers to develop from Scouting Grounds and Solo Queue. Whereas an awesome first step, these measures appear pretty minor. Having somebody step up and hard-commit to investing in gamers with out tying them all the way down to a contract may separate a corporation and construct their model. Beginning a scholarship fund and constructing it over time may very well be one extra manner of doing that.

Assist a Trigger

Among the finest branding techniques, supporting a charitable trigger may convey a brand new stage of philanthropy to the LCS. Esports organizations and fashionable streamers ceaselessly design short-term occasions with the proceeds going in direction of a charity. For instance, Rick Fox not too long ago devoted a stream to the Bahamas Reduction Basis to assist rebuild The Bahamas, following Hurricane Dorian. He raised $62,000 in 24 hours.

FlyQuest’s TreeQuest is a current instance of a long-term charity initiative amongst LCS organizations. Final yr, CLG joined Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness, making a jersey whose proceeds went in direction of the initiative. Different groups may simply copy this technique and put their very own twist on it. They might associate with a health model and donate to Motion for Wholesome Children each time a staff locks in Braum. An organization like TOMS may co-sponsor a program with an LCS group to donate a pair of footwear for each Boots purchased all through the cut up. Partnering with a corporation like Meals on Wheels, an LCS staff may assist ship meals inside Los Angeles each week.

Tying the sponsor or associate with in-game happenings encourages viewers to observe the staff’s matches each week. Turning that into working with a charitable trigger means followers cheering for the philanthropy are additionally cheering for the staff. All people wins. It additionally helps convey a constructive picture to esports as a complete. Headlines about charity donations and packages from esports expands its affect past the esports bubble. Because of this, It could increase extra curiosity amongst non-viewers, as they see the great that esports can produce.

CREDITS

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