dhl provides core logistics services to esl and, as a sponsorwith creative live stream content, its brand will be featured onvarious social media channels and via further communicationsmeasures throughout the esl one series tournaments. with this newcollaboration, dhl is adding a sport that is not only growingrapidly around the world but that also delivers top entertainmentvalue and enjoys a high level of fan involvement, to a series ofpartnerships, some of them longstanding, in the areas of sport,culture and lifestyle. the demands placed on the players areimmense, and to reach the top of their game they require extremeconcentration, speed, tactical skill and teamwork skills. thehigh-paced nature of the games means that just a fraction of asecond can be the difference between victory and defeat. and it isprecisely this combination of speed and excitement that keeps somany viewers hooked. as early as march 2018, dhl announced itsofficial partnership with the formula 1 esports series, making itsdebut into the promising esports sector. dhl banner advertisingwill be visible in the soccer simulation video game fifa 18 as partof its partnership with fc bayern munich.
the new collaboration enables dhl to become active in abusiness that appeals to the growing trend among youngergenerations. the major esports tournaments and their top playersthrill hundreds of millions of fans around the world, more than 60percent of whom are aged between 16 and 35. “in esports, we canreach this important target group with the dhl brand on anemotional level, and with content and formats that are tailoredprecisely to their interests and their media usage patterns,” saysarjan sissing, head of corporate brand marketing at deutsche postdhl group. “we are delighted to have found a partner in esl that isone of the leading players in the international esport business.through our partnership we intend to create unique moments thatbring people together.”
esl’s numerous major esports tournaments fill major sportingarenas all around the world as tens of thousands of fans watch liveand several million further online spectators follow the action onsocial media. in 2017 alone, esl’s tournaments and leagues reachedover 200 million unique viewers. the best teams and players fromall around the world battle it out against each other at the eslone – and with annual dota 2 and cs:go winnings of several millioneuros to be claimed, the stakes are high. ?in dhl we have found theperfect partner to provide the support we need for the complexlogistics challenges entailed in our global tournaments,” says ralfreichert, ceo at esl. “with dhl on our team, we are delighted to beable to create added value for both esports and the esportscommunity all around the world, and to play our part in promotingthe continued growth of the esports scene.”
as the official logistics partner, dhl will handle the eventlogistics for the esl one series, transporting not only the stageequipment to the venues throughout the series but also theindividual gamer seating that belongs to the teams of players.here, dhl can draw on decades of expertise in event logistics.“every event, every freight shipment and every location has its ownindividual demands and requirements to which the respectivelogistics must be precisely tailored,” says vincenzo scrudato,managing director, dhl trade fairs & events. “all the logisticscomponents need to fit right down to the last detail – from a forair freight to z for zero defects.” two of the world’s most popularesports titles, the real-time strategy game dota 2 and thefirst-person shooter cs:go, are played at tournaments. a dota 2tournament in birmingham will kick off the series at the end ofmay, to be followed in june by a cs:go tournament in belo horizontein brazil. the esl one series will then move on to cologne in july,new york in september and hamburg in october.
