An esports team diversifying their business into other fields is not surprising. The Dota 2 Alliance team, for example, some time ago was preached to expand by launching their own competition called the Alliance League. In Indonesia, there are EVOS Esports who want to become a lifestyle brand and have launched fashion products. There are many other examples out there.
The Dota 2 organization (and various other popular esports branches) Team Secret cannot be separated from that step. Recently they announced the launch of a craft beer-type alcoholic beverage product, which is predicted as “the first alcoholic drink with the brand esports in the world”. Secret Team is working with Pennsylvania beer producer, Levante Brewing Company, in its compounding.
Uniquely, Team Secret gave the name of this drink AFK, taken from the popular quote of the gaming world which stands for “Away From Keyboard”. They popularized the tagline and hashtag on social media with the sound #ImAFK, describing an online game player who was leaving his computer to drink this beer.
AFK was first revealed in the midst of The International 2019 Shanghai yesterday, in a press party held by Team Secret for the media. There, media people, influencers, and important figures in the esports industry were invited to sample AFK drinks. At first Team Secret would only market AFK in the Chinese market, but because the response of the guests was very positive, Team Secret became brave to market it in the international market too in the near future.
Some locations that will become AFK’s sales channels include bars, restaurants, lounges and esports venues. According to Team Secret, the drink is formulated in such a way as to reflect a gaming culture — fun for casual fans, but also has a depth of flavor for more serious fans. The flavors offered tend to be refreshing with low levels of bitter, based on Mosaic and Idaho 7 hops.
The involvement of beverage brands in the world of esports is a common thing, but generally this collaboration is associated with energy drink brands, such as Red Bull or Monster. Indeed there are several brands of alcoholic drinks that have begun to show interest in the industry, for example Bud Light who is an official beer partner of the NBA 2K League and Harbin who has sponsored the team and various esports activities since 2016.
The popularity of Team Secret will obviously make AFK known to many people, but whether AFK itself will become a marketable product is certainly something we cannot answer right now. But their entry into the beverage brand opens up a new opportunity, namely the possibility of Team Secret or AFK becoming a sponsor for esports organizations and competitions. Let’s wait for Team Secret’s business strategy going forward.
