‘It's very easy to mistake the unknown for niche, I see that all the time coming from sponsorship.” 

Sabrina Ratih, Chief Operating Officer at G2, is explaining why, despite the scale of opportunity, the esports industry still remains a mystery to many marketers.

Esports is a sector consistently bucking industry trends and reaching new levels of audience engagement. In a world of fleeting attention spans, it challenges the notion that a digitally native audience is disengaged, captivating fans for spans of six to eight hours at a time. At a time when the second screen is often stereotyped as entertainment’s biggest nemesis, for the esports sector, where creators live-stream alongside the main event, it is only additive to the fan experience. As a sport it is double screen by design.

G2 is a global multi-team eSports organisation with teams across the globe across all relevant game titles from League of Legends to Call of Duty. In her role as Chief Operating Officer, Ratih oversees most of the organisation's different departments. These include commercial, consumer products and the brand’s agency business and marketing department.

Having crossed over to Esports after spending most of her career in Global Partnerships at Red Bull, Ratih went on to found her own agency before being headhunted by G2. Her in-depth understanding of the importance of entertainment in business growth underpins G2’s ambitions. 

“We lead the charge currently globally in terms of first, second and third finishes since 2019, which we are very proud of. But one thing that almost stands out more to me is that we always treat storytelling as equally important as winning trophies,” says Ratih.

She continues: “G2 is an entertainment brand celebrating 10 years. Now we have ambitions to continue to turn fandom into storylines.”

A flourishing fandom

At a time when sports marketing is well and truly having a moment, Esports offers a vastly different but equally engaging fan experience. 

“A big unique factor of esports is that you are not a team in football where everyone is a football fan. A League of Legends fan is not a Counter-Strike fan, and a Counter-Strike fan is not a Fortnite fan. You are entertaining and operating in a very fragmented industry,” says Ratih.

In a fragmented landscape, Ratih explains that the red thread that has built G2 such strong fandoms is the brand’s tone of voice and ethos. “Besides winning, we've always been known to be the goofy, irreverent ones,” she adds. 

At a time when world news is full of doom and gloom, G2 hopes to offer fans much-needed some light entertainment. 

“You're a fan because you love to be entertained. So staying true to ourselves in times like this is not only authentic, but it's the much-needed smile we all need on our face after we turn back from the newspaper,” says Ratih. 

Finding new ways of engaging with sport

“We believe we have found what we call the secret sauce on how we engage with the digital native audience. We’re very good at fielding winning rosters across esports titles, and we think we can translate that into other genres, such as traditional sports. We understand both performance and storytelling equally,” Ratih explains.

While Esports remains uncharted territory for many, understanding how audiences interact with the sector is crucial to understanding where brands can play a part. 

“If it's outside of your daily modus operandi as a company, it's easy to be mistaken as a niche because it doesn't air on linear TV. It's got very little representation in ATL spend,” says Ratih. 

And yet, for those in the know, the scale is mammoth. The biggest teams are competing for millions of dollars and being watched by over 300,000 million people. Viewership is mostly free, ungated and supplemented by big co-streamers who engage their own audiences too.

“[Co streamers] often times strike more viewership than the actual broadcast,” says Ratih, she continues: “Fans love to watch on a second screen or prefer to watch the tournament with the commentary of their favourite streamer.”

Creating an ecosystem that plays into the ever changing media habits of a digitally native audience also opens up new marketing opportunities. 

Ratih explains: “It’s a fascinating playbook for how you engage and convert and monetise this audience. Because it's all centred around digital, there’s this opportunity to drive direct-to-consumer as you play the game one click away.”

Paying fan service

As with any engaged, digitally native audience, Esports fans are passionate and vocal. As such, Ratih is no stranger to community feedback and warns that any brand wishing to participate in the space must be ready for dialogue.

“There comes the beauty of it, but maybe also a little bit the fear of some brands [hold when it comes] to tapping into it, because engagement in esports doesn't come from media buys, it comes from dialogue,” she says. 

Earlier in the year G2 released a clothing partnership with anime Solo Levelling. Having worked with anime giant Crunchyroll in the past, the pairing was well received by fans as it successfully combined multiple interests into one product. The collaboration was the result of a fan survey that G2 carries out every six months. Raith shares that an anime collab was high on fans' wish lists. 

“Esports blends performance and storytelling, so partnering with such a massive entertainment IP like Solo Levelling was spot on for us,” explains Raith.

She continued: “If you are any sports fan, you're not just a passionate gamer, right? You might consume new music and you might watch anime. If we manage to bring that all into one product, you actually mirror our fans' lifestyle in a product.”

The result? A collaboration that sold out in the first weekend of launch.

Game strategy

While entertainment and Esports naturally go hand in hand, the opportunities are not limited. Ratih believes that strategy is the key to engaging fans. 

“I can understand why it's intimidating. It’s complex because it's very fragmented. As a brand you look at the space and think esports, do I do League? Do I do Counter-Strike? Do I work with a publisher? Do I work with a team?” she asks. 

She continues: “And then there is this audience that I know is exciting but also if I do it wrong, I will be slapped, right? It’s intimidating but ultimately, if you do work with the right partners, you get much more return on investment.”

Championing co-creation and an open dialogue helps Ratih to work with partners and create products and experiences that are memorable for fans of G2. Ultimately, creating the moments that fans will never forget is what is mutually beneficial for all parties. 

“With every new partner we go through a really lengthy process of strategy planning, putting the two brands together to see where the strategic overlap is and we only play in this overlap,” she adds.

Ratih warns: “Whether it's sponsorship or consumer products, you need to understand that as a brand you just can't buy yourself into culture. There needs to be alignment, and there needs to be a fit.”

Showing up in the right spaces

Beyond digital, Ratih shares that G2 has experimented both with showing up in physical spaces and working with creators. Yet while finding new ways to connect with fans is crucial, Ratih champions a bespoke approach.

Recently, G2 launched Smiley, a lifestyle IP, to connect with a broader gaming and lifestyle audience. The brand was launched in Madrid during the LEC League of Legends European finals, where G2 was able to show up in a real world space to connect with fans in person. 

The event was successful because it was carefully curated. “We knew our League of Legends team was playing the final. We could bring all our partners together for a big annual Partner Summit,” explains Raith. 

Similarly, Ratih’s approach to working with creators is also carefully curated. By finding the right talent for the right projects, G2 is able to co-create and hand over more creative freedom to talent. 

“The way we work with talent has become more bespoke, meaning we have fewer creators that are part of G2 all year round, but rather four selected drops to work with the right creator,” she shares.

Pointing to a collaboration with Stranger Things’ Grace Van Dien in summer, Ratih shares that working with the right people at the right time is what resonates most with audiences. She explains: “Once you find that creator, you can give them more creative freedom, because they fit.”

By embracing adaptability and digitally nascent ways of working the Berlin-based organisation is hitting global heights and has creative ambitions to continue to evolve alongside the esports ecosystem. 

In an industry obsessed with the new, but that finds comfort in the same old, Ratih and G2 serve as a reminder of what can be achieved by embracing a fresh approach. Venturing into new waters and doing things differently can unlock creativity and connect with new audiences.