McDonald’s Germany has decided to end its partnership with the German Football Association to instead focus on increased sponsorship within esports.
The fast food brand will build upon its relationship with prominent esports brand ESL, whose headquarters are in Cologne, Germany. McDonald’s first partnered with ESL in January to sponsor the ESL Meisterschaft, which is the national championship in Germany for video games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and FIFA. In those events, McDonald’s offered spectators the chance to order food directly into the venue.
“This step into eSport was absolutely the right one for us. We see a very significant increase in brand awareness among the targeted audience,” said McDonald’s Germany spokesperson Philipp Wachholz in a statement according to Fox Sports Asia. “The decision in favor of one is not necessarily a decision against the other, but reflects the general strategy of the brand to connect more closely with the lives of adolescents.”
The German Football Association (DFB) is the official governing body for soccer in the country and has been a partner of McDonalds since 2004. The two brands originally had a 15-year deal, which is now set to dissolve at the end of this year as part of McDonald’s decision to instead sponsor ESL through 2019 according to The Esports Observer.
McDonald’s has hired Hamburg-based ad-agency Jung Von Matt to lead the company’s transition into esports sponsorship. The agency has previously created esports marketing campaigns for German automobile company Mercedes-Benz. Toan Nguyen, chief strategist and partner at Jung von Matt, said McDonald’s Germany will emulate the strategy of McDonald’s Denmark, which recently revealed a customized McDonalds menu that was full of references to popular video game Counter-Strike ahead of a major esports tournament in Copenhagen.
“We will develop very special rewards for fans,” Nguyen said according to The Esports Observer. “All ideas will be conceptually rooted within specific gaming communities. In doing so, we want McDonald’s to embrace the language of the gaming community, similar to what McDonald’s Denmark has done.”
SportTechie Takeaway
This may be the first example of a powerful brand deciding to leave an existing partnership with a traditional sports brand in favor of esports, and might not be the last. Both the popularity and sponsorship value of esports are growing. Last month, Nielsen created an esports sponsorship-ROI platform meant to determine the value being returned on sponsorships within the esports industry.