TNL eSports Brand Tracker 005: Dollar Shave Club and ELEAGUE

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TNL ESPORTS BRAND TRACKER 005: DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB AND ELEAGUE

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 005: Dollar Shave Club and ELEAGUE (Photo: ELEAGUE Twitch)

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 005: Dollar Shave Club and ELEAGUE (Photo: ELEAGUE Twitch)

TNL Take: Most young men start shaving around the age of 15.

Assuming a life expectancy of 80, that's 65 years of potential revenue, with a ridiculous LTV (Lifetime Value) and makes sense for CPG Brands to invest in eSports with the core male audience.

Looks like Dollar Shave Club is doing just that.

During last week's ELEAGUE Major, I noticed their Sponsorship during the Finals match between Astralis and Virtus Pro in the screenshot above.

There was no PR from Turner or Dollar Shave Club on this, so not much more info or details on the partnership. Dollar Shave Club isn't a small Brand either having been bought by behemoth Unilever last year for a cool Billion.

This isn't Unilever's first foray into eSports having sponsored eSports teams Cloud9 and Team Solo Mid via their Axe Brand investment.

Axe Sponsors Cloud9 and Team Solo Mid (Photo: Twitch)

2017 will be the year that CPG Brands break out as a leading Ad vertical.

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 004: Audi and Astralis

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TNL ESPORTS BRAND TRACKER 004: AUDI AND ASTRALIS

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 004: Audi and Astralis (Photo: Astralis)

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 004: Audi and Astralis (Photo: Astralis)

Astralis Sneak Preview Tweet (Photo: @mannyanekal Twitter)

Astralis Confirms Audi Partnership (Photo: Astralis)

While few details of the partnership have been revealed, the team and Athlete's Social Media accounts have been doing plenty of promotion with Astralis even being chauffeured to this weekend's ELEAGUE Major in the Audi Q7:

Astralis Rolling In The Audi Q7 To The ELEAGUE Major (Photo: Astralis)

There were also some rumors of a $750,000 price tag.

I'm calling BS on that number.

Currently the partnership is only for the current ELEAGUE Major and DreamHack Las Vegas next month. Considering this deal came through Audi Denmark and looks to be a very short promotion, the $750,000 figure is way too high.

This isn't Audi's first foray into eSports either having sponsored the 24 Hours Of Le Mans event last year.

In The Next Level 012, I analyzed how Auto Brands have been reluctant to sponsor eSports.

The last Auto and eSports team Sponsorship was between Nissan and Team Curse/Team Liquid which started in 2013 - but no longer.

As more Auto Brands like Audi, Ford, Hyundai, Michelin, Mobil1, Uber, and Turtle Wax continue to invest in eSports, hopefully 2017 will bring more into the eSports ecosystem.

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers and E LEAGUE

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TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers and E LEAGUE

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers (Photo: Turner)

TNL Take: Following Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Credit Karma, Domino's; the Turner Ad Sales team continues it's Non-Endemic Brand deals now unveiling Snickers as the "Official Chocolate Bar" of E LEAGUE.

Outside of the usual commercials and call outs, Snickers gets a deeper integration. In addition to sponsoring the pre-game show, Snickers will also get “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” Moments airing post-game every week showcasing the best bloopers of the week.

Also other Ad Spots will only air between breaks along side of E LEAGUE's scrolling ticker highlighting stats and additional information.

Pretty cool.

What's even more interesting is that Snickers chose Counter-Strike having been relatively non-FPS in their previous endeavors. 

Here are the last 4 Activations in EA Madden NFL:

EA Madden NFL 10

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers (Photo: YouTube)

EA Madden NFL 15

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers (Photo: EA)

EA Madden NFL 16

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers (Photo: Snickers)

EA Madden NFL 16 Mobile

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 042: Snickers (Photo: EA Madden Mobile)

 

Interesting change of direction.

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 028: St. George Bank and ESL

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TNL ESPORTS BRAND TRACKER 028: St. George Bank and ESL

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 028: St. George Bank (Photo: ESL)

TNL Take: As the TNL eSports Brand Tracker keeps moving up, there's been one big missing Ad category:

Financial Services.

Not since 2013 when American Express and Riot announced their League of Legends branded card, has a Financial company invested in eSports - the rewards were also discontinued in 2014.

American Express and League of Legends (Photo: Riot)

Looks like the first to break the Financial category for eSports in 2016 is St. George Bank.

You probably haven't heard of them but after a merger with Westpac, they are now Australia's 4th largest Bank. For perspective, the US 4th equivalent is Wells Fargo.

Which makes sense that St. George is partnering with ESL's AU and NZ Championship.

There's a huge opportunity for a US based bank to take the lead as the category is wide open in eSports.

Ill leave you with this lovely message from St. George Bank's mascot, Happy the Dragon: