ESL recently announced a partnership with PepsiCo (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, etc.) brand companies to make MTN DEW APM GAME FUEL’s energy drink an official beverage partner for all global ESL events up to 2020. This cooperation starts from the event CS: GO Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tournament 2019, on July 18, and will continue to the next various competitions. Including ESL One and ESL Pro League.
As part of this collaboration, a special segment titled “MTN DEW AMP GAME FUEL Power Plays” will be inserted in the ESL event broadcasts. This segment contains analysis of matches, be it CS: GO or Dota 2, in the semi-finals and finals of the tournament. Similar analysis will also appear in ESL Pro League matches.
This is not the first time ESL and Mountain Dew have collaborated. In 2016, they collaborated to launch the CS: GO competition titled Mountain Dew League (MDL). This league is still ongoing, with operations being handled by the ESEA. In addition Mountain Dew also sponsors the Call of Duty World League, as well as several well-known esports teams such as OpTic Gaming, Immortals, and SK Gaming.
At the same time, ESL also launched another collaboration, namely with the AT&T cellular provider. Actually, both of these parties have had cooperation before, but now they are developing so that the cooperation includes more events. Now the AT&T brand is also present at the IEM Chicago and ESL One New York events in September.
The activation of the brand carried out by AT&T at IEM Chicago in the form of promotion “Best Seat in the House”, where visitors can win ticket upgrades to premium seats by winning competitions in AT&T’s booth. Other forms of activation include signature sessions with players tied to the AT&T brand, as well as early access features that allow selected visitors to enter the arena before the event is open to the public.
“With the development of this collaboration, we are really focused on several areas. First: how can we improve the on-site experience? That is a very important area for us. We always think: how do we benefit gamers and gaming enthusiasts? “Said Shiz Suzuki, Assistant Vice President of Experiential Marketing & Sponsorship at AT&T, quoted by The Esports Observer.
Previous ESL and AT&T collaborations included the launch of the ESL Mobile Open tournament, whose first season lasted from March to June, with the final round at DreamHack Dallas. This development will bring the next ESL Mobile Open out of the United States, spanning the entire North American region, with the peak at the ESL One New York event (September 2019). Furthermore, the peak of season three will be held at DreamHack Atlanta in November. AT&T will also be present at these events.