London Agency Gravity Road Gets Into Esports Marketing

Gravity Road, a creative agency based in the U.K. owned by tech-focused marketing shop You & Mr Jones, is known for taking Sainsbury’s viral with feel-good ads and creating an 8-bit game via Instagram. Today, the agency announced the launch of a gaming, esports and sponsorship marketing practice, which will be run out of its New York office. “There are three things we are focused on,” said Mark Boyd, co-founder of Gravity Road. “Brands in gaming, brands coming to gaming, and bringing the gaming aesthetic into culture more generally.” The pandemic only quickened a trend that was already happening worldwide—gaming being the dominant digital culture platform: Fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci use it to model clothes, while luxury carmakers use it to rev future consumers' imaginations. Brands like Mastercard are opening new white spaces inside esports virtual arenas. Gravity Road was a strategic partner of Mastercard in its League of Legends activation, the first high-profile in-game esports partnership. Since the partnership began in 2018, it has expanded through regional League of Legends esports and into custom merchandise. The agency also worked with PokerStars on past campaigns, including one featuring Usain Bolt and Kevin Hart. “Gaming is a really exciting space, we are seeing more and more case studies from major brands who are doing wonderful stuff,” Boyd said. “Our view is that there are a lot of brands who are moving fast into gaming and working out exactly what their role is. Just replicating the sponsorship experience of old in sports and other industries, we can do better than that.” During the pandemic, more eyes than ever have been on video games and the platforms surrounding the gaming world. While there’s a debate as to where to draw the line between esports and the gaming industry at large, the most consistent statistic is that esports is a $1 billion industry, according to Newzoo, while MarketWatch values the gaming industry at about $180 billion. You & Mr Jones, positioned as a brand-tech holding group that has been steadily snapping up new properties and investments since its founding in 2015, acquired Gravity Road in 2018. You and Mr Jones also own MoFilm, 55, Mobkoi, Oliver and Collectively. On the investment side, You & Mr Jones has put money into Gfycat, Pinterest and 17 other companies. In gaming, the holding group is an investor in Niantic, the developers of Pokémon Go, and, in coordination with this announcement, Griffin Gaming Partners (GGP). GGP has invested in 13 companies, most notably Discord, a gaming VoIP/social media site that has ballooned to a $7 billion valuation during the pandemic. “When you look at Twitch, or you look at Discord, it’s clear that to be gaming is to be in a social experience,” Boyd continued. “Gaming was thought to be antisocial, and now it is the defining socially connected experience.” In November, GGP raised an additional $235 million in capital explicitly focused on gaming investments. As that capital is invested, GGP will provide Gravity Road with strategic access to partners across the gaming industry.

Esports

London Agency Gravity Road Launches Gaming, Esports Marketing Practice

You & Mr Jones-owned company hops on growing trend

Mitch Reames

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