Gaming - The Next Advertising Medium

Major clothing brands, looking to access customers in the home, are turning to gaming more specifically eSports as white space for advertising. In specific, Hollister is contracting with a world champion from the internationally popular viral video game, Fortnite, to be a gaming scout.  

What is a gaming scout you ask?  

A gaming scout is a gamer who is looking for other gamers to join Team Hollister and compete under the Hollister banner in gaming competitions.  On the surface, these seems like an eye-rolling, millennial-fueled fad of the moment but when we look under the hoodie, there is more at play here.

Looking under the hood, another advertising fad that has shown staying power appears: decals and branding on Nascar cars and sports jerseys more broadly. Why does Team Nike sponsor half of NBA players?  Why does Busch sponsor Nascar?

Because their brand image benefits from the association while spreading awareness en masse, especially when someone on their team wins.

But wait, isn't eSports a tiny niche?

Not at all - over 100 million people worldwide tuned in for the league of legends final last year (more than the superbowl). Suddenly a Chief Gaming Scout is looking like it makes a lot of sense.  I'm sure many other brands will follow suit and do the same, so we Digital Marketers will be smart to follow suit to figure out how to capitalize on eSports eyeballs to drive not just awareness but leads (and ultimately conversions).