Kellogg’s-owned snack brand Pringles has signed its first partnership with a League of Legends esports property.
Under the deal, Pringles will become the latest sponsor of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) Summer Finals, which takes place in Athens in September.
Pringles will have access to League of Legends IP, an exhibition space at LEC, activation rights with teams on-site, and will also be offering daily giveaways and promotions throughout the tournament.
LEC’s media team will also produce bespoke content with Pringle to elevate the partnership via a microsite, alongside other client promotion activities.
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Dominik Schafhaupt, snacks marketing manager for Northern Europe at Kellogg’s, said: “We’ve been steadily developing our esports footprint to gain stronger brand recognition with the community.
“We’ve been present at a series of major tournaments generating content and arranging activations, but it’s important we keep expanding our outreach and that we’re able to speak to esports fans across different titles.”
Pringles is a longstanding sponsor of ESL, the world’s largest esports event organiser, and its newly-expanded ESL partnership now covers national and international tournaments throughout Europe, including major events such as ESL One Cologne, ESL One Hamburg and the IEM Katowice [Intel Extreme Masters].
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League of Legends was the world’s most popular PC game of 2018, according to esports market research firm Newzoo, but due to Riot Games’ exclusive ownership of all League of Legends esports, third parties such as ESL cannot host League of Legends events.
Alban Dechelotte, head of business development and sponsorships for the LEC, said the exclusivity of the platform offers an attractive proposition to mainstream brands.
“League of Legends has been in the market for 10 years,” said Dechelotte. “Our game features family friendly graphics which means we’re able to cater towards a younger generation, this combined with the momentum of the LEC creates an attractive proposition for mainstream brands.”
Other brands that have joined the LEC for the Summer Finals include Warner Music, Tchibo and Lions Cereal.