<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>While discussion and media coverage of esports (i.e., organized competitive video gaming) has dramatically increased since 2016, the use of esports by established consumer brands has not been emphasized in the sport marketing and sponsorship literature. Though appearing in limited sport management research, esports is a non-traditional sport form that generated just under $1.2 billion in revenue as an industry in 2019. However, many non-endemic traditional consumer brands have resisted capitalizing on esports brand-building opportunities. This paper provides a literature review of the past and current esports and sport marketing literature, resulting in the creation of a figure depicting the esports endemic and non-endemic company evolution of esports brand utilization. The evolution of the competitive video game market details how endemic companies are more apt to establish themselves in the esports space before non-endemic companies because of the way that the industry moves and has acceptance by gamers and non-gamers. Marketers and brand managers that have historically employed traditional sports may glean ideas on how to best enhance and extend their brand through the burgeoning esports industry. Moreover, ideas regarding when companies should enter the esports ecosystem is provided.</p></abstract>

While discussion and media coverage of esports (i.e., organized competitive video gaming) has dramatically increased since 2016, the use of esports by established consumer brands has not been emphasized in the sport marketing and sponsorship literature. Though appearing in limited sport management research, esports is a non-traditional sport form that generated just under $1.2 billion in revenue as an industry in 2019. However, many non-endemic traditional consumer brands have resisted capitalizing on esports brand-building opportunities. This paper provides a literature review of the past and current esports and sport marketing literature, resulting in the creation of a figure depicting the esports endemic and non-endemic company evolution of esports brand utilization. The evolution of the competitive video game market details how endemic companies are more apt to establish themselves in the esports space before non-endemic companies because of the way that the industry moves and has acceptance by gamers and non-gamers. Marketers and brand managers that have historically employed traditional sports may glean ideas on how to best enhance and extend their brand through the burgeoning esports industry. Moreover, ideas regarding when companies should enter the esports ecosystem is provided.

Using Esports Efficiently to Enhance and Extend Brand Perceptions – A Literature Review

Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

While discussion and media coverage of esports (i.e., organized competitive video gaming) has dramatically increased since 2016, the use of esports by...

Using Esports Efficiently to Enhance and Extend Brand Perceptions – A Literature Review

Published Online: May 08, 2020

Page range: 1 - 14

Received: Jun 07, 2019

Accepted: Nov 22, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2020-0008

Keywords
esports, branding, marketing, sponsorship, video gaming

© 2020 Joey Gawrysiak et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Using Esports Efficiently to Enhance and Extend Brand Perceptions – A Literature Review

Published Online: May 08, 2020

Page range: 1 - 14

Received: Jun 07, 2019

Accepted: Nov 22, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2020-0008

Keywordsesports, branding, marketing, sponsorship, video gaming

© 2020 Joey Gawrysiak et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
esports, branding, marketing, sponsorship, video gaming