PUBG Partners With Marketing Agency Lagardère Sports
The PUBG Corporation has signed a partnership with the French sports marketing agency Lagardère Sports. According to the deal, Lagardère Sports will market the commercial rights for the upcoming 2019 PUBG Nations Cup and Global Championship.
So is this a move in the right direction? And if so, what should both parties expect from this deal?
New era of PUBG competition
The 2019 PUBG Nations Cup is the newest addition to the game’s competitive circuit. The tournament works similarly to an All-Star event. The top PUBG players will be chosen by their peers to represent their region and fight for a slice of the $500,000 prize pool.
Meanwhile, the PUBG Global Championship is PUBG’s equivalent of a World Championship. With a $2 million prize pool and a field of 32 best teams from all over the globe, this is the ultimate end-of-the-year tournament in PUBG esports.
Naturally, both events are big deals. And Lagardère Sports seems well equipped to handle them.
The company already has experience marketing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds from working on last year’s PUBG Global Invitational. It also made a name for itself in other esports.
One notable example is Lagardère Sports’ ongoing stint as the exclusive marketing agency of Riot Games’ League of Legends European Championship (LEC). Since the start of that partnership, the league had a 37 percent increase in viewership and managed to attract a number of high-profile sponsorships. Combine that with the fact that Lagardère Sports is one of the leading sports marketing agencies in Europe, and it’s not exactly surprising PUBG approached it.
The upshot
This move also highlights the increased importance of marketing in esports. Competitive video games have gained traction with every passing year. Yet monetizing this growth has been something of a challenge. Now that game developers and tournament organizers are willing to turn to marketing professionals, the industry might finally overcome this hurdle.
That would, of course, be a net win for all parties involved.
Image courtesy of PUBG Corporation.
