#MarketingEventsAwards 2020 highlight: ONE Esports takes gaming experience to new heights

The ONE Esports Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational took place between December 17 to 22 2019 and was one of the biggest esports events ever held in Southeast Asia. The event showcased the best and highest sportsmanship between 12 teams consisting of 60 world-class professional Dota 2 esports athletes from 23 countries, who competed for a US$500,000 prize pool. 12 world-renowned international hosts and casters were flown in for the intense six-day competition.

The group stage took place over the first three days and was held behind closed doors at PARKROYAL on Beach Road hotel. The main event, which lasted three days, was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in front of 16,000 enthusiastic esports fans.

The event provided new opportunities for non-endemic brands that were previously not part of the esports scene to tap into a typically hard to reach target audience. All of these culminated in One Esports taking home the gold for Best Venue Experience and Best Consumer Event: esports.

Challenge

ONE Esports wanted to deliver not just an esports tournament but an entire esports experience for fans and partners.

Two main objectives were set out:

1. To deliver an amazing live esports experience for fans and players by showcasing the best teams, competition, and talent and by providing engaging activities throughout the six-day event.
2. To collaborate with our partners and help them deliver an authentic marketing campaign to drive brand awareness and enjoyable live event experience.

The team knew it had to go big to make the event successful and unforgettable.

Strategy

A strategy was built around three key pillars that would anchor the event.

1. The main esport competition: The team had to identify a game that is popular in Southeast Asia, with a mass following, and aligns with its brand values (no realistic shooters). There are only a few esports titles in the world that meet these criteria and could fill a stadium of spectators. Dota 2 is one of them.

The Dota series began in 2003 and today is still highly engaging with over 11 million monthly average users. The prize pool for last year’s The International 9 (TI is equivalent to the NFL's Super Bowl) was US$34 million.

Following that, the team made a list of the top professional Dota 2 teams from around the world. With the star-studded teams locked in, it immediately started to arrange for behind the scenes shooting with the teams and players, as well as press interviews for oneesports.gg website. This content was used for pre-marketing to equip consumers with information and to create hype around the event on oneesports.gg and our social media platforms.

2. The experience: The preparation took more than six months to solidify the six-day event with the final three days in a live stadium. It was paramount that fans experienced the energy and enthusiasm of esports the moment they arrived at the venue.
   
   Considerations were made around a red-carpet experience, ticket redemption and all around sensory experience from lights to colours and music. One esports also looked at engaging activities that could be created during breaks. This had to be an epic experience from beginning to end.
   
   
3. The fans and partners: The team deliberately avoided having booths for showcasing products and instead opted for unique experiences that put the fans first. This was especially challenging as the event brought new non-endemic brands to the space such as TUMI, JBL, and DBS Bank, who had no prior engagement with esports fans. It also had Lazada, Lenovo, Red Bull, Secretlab, and The Singapore Tourism Board.

Execution

Live intense tournament experience: For three consecutive days, esports fans watched 12 teams engage in intense competition for a chance to win the US$500,000 prize pool. Fans who attended the event live at the Singapore Indoor Stadium were greeted with a redcarpet entrance lined with their favorite Dota 2 characters.

IP ticket holders also had a special VIP collection booth and were given swag bags filled with exclusive ONE Esports merchandise. Live, on-screen, a total of 24 intense matches were played throughout the three days with internationally renowned casters providing exciting commentary and insightful game analysis. Fans were holding cheer cards and shouting support for their favorite teams.

Real-time reactive stage experience: As fans walked into the stadium, the first thing they saw was the 27-meter interactive main stage with the familiar red and green colors representing Radiant and Dire - the two opposing factions in the game. The stage had high-tech dynamic lighting effects that reacted to in-game action to make the stage feel alive. Each time a team scored a kill or won a game, the stage lights would pulse to the beat of the music to give the audience a more immersive experience.

Once in a lifetime - meet your idols experience: A once in a lifetime experience was created for fans to meet and greet the professional teams. These were scheduled three times a day to ensure that everyone got a chance to meet their idols. This was supplemented with autograph cards, merchandise, and markers, and had dedicated staff on hand to take photos to ensure the experience created a lifelong memory.

Engaging brand experience: Photo Booths were put in place equipped with each team’s logo so fans could show their support on social media. Cosplayers were also engaged to interact with fans and to take memorable pictures. The team worked with DBS Bank to bring in a “Test of Strength” Hammer game because we knew that any competitive arcade games would be a hit with the fans. It was themed “PLAY MORE with the DBS Live Fresh Card” Specially designed merchandise was produced just for the event, which was almost sold out by the end of day two.

VIP ticket holders and selected brand activations were given swag bags filled with exclusive ONE Esports merchandise, provided with three days of free meals in the VIP section, and given a priority queue for the meet and greet sessions.

Results

Post-event survey saw 96% of respondents indicating that they are likely to come to our next event. Total viewership was over 88 million total views globally, 464,000 peak concurrent views. The team had three times higher brand recall across all sponsored brands than their closest competitor brand.