Our first major project for ESL was managing UK and international press for Gamers without Borders, a charity fundraising tournament produced by ESL.

The tournament ran for six weeks and brought together stars from esports, football and music as they competed in different titles to then select a cause to receive their share of a $100m USD prize pool. Each cause was supporting the Coronavirus relief efforts, from Unicef to the World Health Organisation.

Gamers without Borders was hosted, developed and funded by SEF (SAFEIS at the time) and the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so our first role was to develop robust messaging around the partnership. Our H+K colleagues in the Middle East also represent SAFEIS so we were able to use our network to develop a campaign that worked for all stakeholders.

Once the tournament was up and running, we ran the press office covering everything from core esports media to seeding quotes transcribed live from celebrity participants on stream. We secured coverage in titles such as VPesports to the NME and widespread sports media coverage when Juventus’ Paulo Dybala competed as Liverpool and delighted fans by belting out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

We also facilitated a partnership with LadBible Group, Future Publishing (FourFourTwo and GamesRadar) and DAZN (Goal.com) to give us targeted promotion in key international markets.

Key stats:

• 209 pieces of coverage
• 16% headline mentions
• 1.57B total coverage reach