ABOUT THIS ENTRY
Is esport really a sport, and what happens if it’s not?
As a partner of the European Championship in League of Legends, Erste Bank found a proper answer to this question.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
The film takes up a social debate while fully adopting the community's point of view. In the process, truth is expressed that no one has ever formulated before: if you love esports, you don't care if anyone recognizes it as a real sport. And this message was packaged in a humorous story that speaks from the heart of the gaming community. At the same time, this film is a commitment by the Erste Group to esports and against all those who want to talk it down.
Not only was the story insight-based - every detail in the film is based on a deep understanding of the gaming community. The set-up, several easter eggs, the choice of music. In Twitch chat, on social media, and on YouTube, the film was hailed by many gamers as the best advertisement in esports. This is worth highlighting because the esports and gaming community is arguably the most critical target group in the marketing world. Brands that try to appeal to this group are literally torn apart by the community. With "Esports Doomsday" the opposite was the case.
Objective: Following its esports debut in 2020, Erste Group, one of the biggest banks in Eastern Europe, is celebrating the second chapter of its partnership with the League of Legends European Championship (LEC). The Centerpiece of this year’s campaign was a commercial film for YouTube, social media, and the LEC broadcast on Twitch. Talking to a critical target group of gamers, we needed to find a strong community insight, which allowed us to authentically show our support for the esports community - all under our brand claim #believeinyourself.
Strategy & Execution: Whether esports is a sport or not, is the topic of constant discussion in the worldwide media. While countries and associations take part in the debate and question the sporting character of esports, we recognized that the gaming community was very quiet. The reason: they just don’t care. They love what they do – no matter if someone approves it to be a sport.
Based on this insight we created the film “Esports Doomsday”.
The end of esports is initiated by a trivial joke of a comedian (referring to a gamer-joke of Jimmy Kimmel), which resulted in the conclusion “…esports is not a sport!”. The news spread quickly: Trevor Henry, one of the most famous League of Legends casters, cancels the LEC broadcast, gamers disillusioned throw their gaming PCs out of the window and two old chess players in sports suits laugh about it – they always knew that esports wasn’t a real sport. In the end, a young gamer rips the viewer out of this absurd imagination, casually saying “Not a sport? Who gives a sh*t!”
It’s the community's answer to this huge social debate and Erste Group adds: “Proud sponsor of esports – or whatever you want to call it, boomers.”
Results: The film hit the humor of the gaming and esports community. The film generated over four million views on YouTube and got shared by teams and stars of the industry. YouTubers and streamers reacted to the video live on Twitch and were thrilled with the storytelling of our movie. In hundreds of comments, Erste Group was celebrated for their engagement and for spreading the right message. “Esports Doomsday” was full of easter eggs and esports insights (in the appearance of pictures on the wall, as room decoration, on billboards, or as items at the flea market). They were all found by the community within hours after the release – all posted and shared on social media without further activation.
Production
Cndy Film GmbH
Harvest Digital Agriculture GmbH
Not A Machine GmbH
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Credits
Robert Zitzmann
Managing Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Ronnie Patt
Managing Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Alexander Michaelsen
Executive Creative Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Grischa Mentgen
Creative Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Laura Beyer
Art Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Leonard Wendt
Junior Art Director
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Finn-Jordan Max
Copywriter
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Niantong Tang
Producer
Jung von Matt AG
Sophie Lotsch
Producer
Jung von Matt AG
Carl Kuhn
Head of esports
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Kevin Claus
Account Director/esports
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Christian Burch
Junior Project Manager/esports
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Nikolaus Maronn
Executive Producer
Jung von Matt SPORTS
Paul Wolf
Producer
CNDY Film GmbH
André Maat
Director
CNDY Film GmbH
Jens Spöri
Director of Photography
CNDY Film GmbH
Thomas Wedekind
Editor
CNDY Film GmbH
Nadine Juntke
Casting
CNDY Film GmbH
Maja Vovk
Production Designer
CNDY Film GmbH
Annika Burmester
Production Designer
CNDY Film GmbH
Urška Grahovac
Costume Designer
CNDY Film GmbH
Anna Phebey
Costume Designer
CNDY Film GmbH
Florian Alert
Managing Director & Founder
Harvest Digital Agriculture GmbH
Lars Wemmje
Animation
Harvest Digital Agriculture GmbH
Nikolaus Grunert
Managing Director
Not A Machine
Celebrate in Las Vegas
Join us for the 4th Hashtag Sports Awards™ presented by Budweiser on the evening of July 12, 2022 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
