Stuttgart. Mercedes-Benz and ESL are renewing their partnership until 31 December 2020. Within the expanded partnership, Mercedes-Benz is the global mobility partner of ESL from now on.
By renewing the partnership, Mercedes-Benz is stepping up its existing commitment to a rapidly growing field. Each year, up to 205 million people follow the sporting competitions on the internet, which the Cologne-based company ESL has been organising for 18 years. The contract signed with Mercedes-Benz in 2017 is now being expanded. The involvement in the ESL One Dota 2 competitions as a premium partner as well as honouring the best player of the tournament with the “Most Valuable Player” award will continue.
“We are systematically expanding our involvement in eSports”, says Britta Seeger, Member of the Daimler Board of Management, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing and Sales. “As a global brand, we want to open ourselves up to new target groups. eSports gets us into a dialogue with young people, especially those with an affinity to technology. We are pleased to be part of the rapidly growing gaming community and support the ESL in further advancing this action-packed and thrilling sport“.
“We are delighted that Mercedes-Benz will continue to support us actively as a partner”, says Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL. “This partnership is a complete success and we were able to accomplish much already. With the additional promotion of national competitions around the globe, Mercedes-Benz supports our efforts to create an eSports platform for everyone following our ‘from zero to hero concept’. We will further advance the eSports sector together with Mercedes-Benz and are fostering the sustainable growth of this new and exciting sport”.
Mercedes-Benz has published a video clip on YouTube, which gets to the heart of the historical development of gaming as well as of the Mercedes-Benz brand: https://youtu.be/jHFPR1KTM-M. “Pong”, the first-ever video game, is projected onto a 450 SEL from the 1970s, before the car and the game console go on a journey through time towards the present together.