14 DAY TRIAL // Coca Cola has surprisingly partnered with Riot Games, instead of going for the usual route of backing a more mainstream event such as the Super Bowl.
OnGamers revealed that Coca Cola's Head of Gaming Matt Wolf and Riot Games Vice President of Esports Dustin Beck discussed the recent partnership during a Serious Play: Gaming Businesses, the full discussion available on the DLD14 YouTube channel.
Wolf shared that Coca Cola's target demographic primarily comprised men between the ages of 17 and 30, and thus the League of Legends tournament series yields a higher viewership than even the Super Bowl.
“The Super Bowl is a massively viewed event with 111+ million viewers every time the Super Bowl happens. But when you start to layer on a gender and certain age split that we're very interested in as a consumer packaged goods company, you layer that on the Super Bowl and it comes pretty far down,” Wolf explained.
Wolf also stated that the decision to sponsor the League of Legends Challenger Series rather than the LCS was due to the intention to help amateur players fulfill their dream of going pro, an amazing opportunity resonating strongly with the Coke Zero brand.
“Most of us when we were young, had aspirations of being pro at something and some level. We wanted to work with Riot and give that opportunity to the playerbase,” he added.
Matt Wolf was also queried about partnering with a such a particular league, instead of opting for one of the more independent league organizers, such as Major League Gaming or the Electronic Sports League, to which Wolf answered that the connection to the developer was vital for the brand.
“I think that in order to really win the hearts and minds of the game players, you have to win the hearts and minds of the game makers. So you want to stay close to the content and especially how we want to integrate, that's why working with the game makers is so important to us,” Wolf clarified.
Riot's Dustin Beck was very optimistic about League of Legends' longevity, citing other popular sports that have been around for hundreds of years, which he hopes will translate into a couple decades for the video game.