Dive Brief:
- Restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings has partnered with esports organization Team Dignitas, the QSR brand's first deal in the space, per a press release made available to Marketing Dive.
- The partnership officially kicked off with the first “Buffalo Wild Wings Stream of the Month” on Amazon-owned Twitch featuring Team Dignitas streamer Elle “Ellektrikk” Lockyer conducting an all-day live stream. This weekend, the restaurant chain and esports team will host a 1v1 amateur "League of Legends" tournament at TwitchCon.
- As part of the deal, Buffalo Wild Wings becomes the "Official Hangout for Team Dignitas," receives logo placement on the sleeve of the team's jerseys, player appearances at restaurants, exclusive content featuring players and branding on monthly team live streams on Twitch and Facebook.
Dive Insight:
Buffalo Wild Wings is known for its sports-related marketing, such as a campaign this year around the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament which had TV spots, social media and digital ads and in-restaurant and on-site activations at basketball games. That effort also included a Snapchat filter. What’s interesting about the partnership with Team Dignitas is that esports is a niche area within sports promotions, but gaming fans not only spend time with related entertainment, they also watch live streams of skilled gamers on Twitch.
The partnership places Buffalo Wild Wings as an early stakeholder in an entertainment area that is most likely only going to grow and could attract new customers to the brand who are interested in watching their favorite esports teams. Other brands involved with esports include Bud Light and Red Bull.
Buffalo Wild Wings joined ELeague as one of its first marketing partners in the casual dining category last year.
