BMW is trailblazing their way into the esports scene, as the German automobile company have announced that they have signed global partnerships with five of the world’s top esports organizations. These include Cloud 9 (US), Fnatic (UK),
Funplus Phoenix (China), G2 Esports (Germany) and T1 (South Korea).

The main provisions of the partnership go beyond mere sponsorship deals. Firstly, BMW will share the knowledge and expertise of its engineers and designers to enable the development of hardware and software products that are perfectly tailored to gamers’ needs.

That’s not all, as BMW will also provide official team vehicles. Each esports organization will have a team car featuring a custom livery with striking colours and combining motifs drawn in comic-book style with their respective logos.

In the past, BMW has been in the esports sponsorship space since 2017, as they were the official partner of the European League of Legends Championship Series (now referred to as League of Legends European Championship) finals of that year, as well as the title sponsor of the BMW SIM LIVE sim racing event in 2019.

BMW will not only support the all five organization’s League Of Legends teams, but also other games like Dota 2, FIFA, Fortnite and Rocket League.

BMW Senior Vice President Customer and Brand Jens Thiemer said:

“Esports shows us how sports entertainment can continue to thrive and play a key role considering today’s challenges.

Our entry into esports is motivated by a commitment to become a sustainable, global partner, supporting the teams and the discipline as a whole, before, during and after these times of uncertainty.

Joining forces with the best teams in the world, we aim to use our design and innovation skills to help shape the discipline in the long term.

Our esports involvement is an important milestone providing, for the first time, a new intersectionality with a dynamic and fast-growing community.

We consider esports a promising, growing addition to our marketing activities, helping BMW on its journey to becoming an emotive brand people relate to.”

What makes this partnership unique is that the five esports organizations are actually rivals competitively, but BMW will seek to leverage these via social media engagement under the hashtags #UnitedinRivalry and #UnitedatHome. The esports teams will use the aforementioned hashtags on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WeChat, and various streaming platforms.