League of Legends: Reborn in Season 3, Tuning the Entire League

Chapter 257 Have you heard the story of meat floss cakes?

The esports phenomenon isn't just for ordinary players and those involved in it.

It's worth noting that those businesses that sponsored the NXG team's jerseys before the competition also reaped huge profits from this massive wave of attention.

With over 70 million views, comparable to those of a major sporting event, and such precise targeting of the target audience within the same age group, such advertising is something they wouldn't even dare to dream of in other fields.

A single second of screen time during prime time can cost millions in advertising fees. Putting aside the effectiveness, you might not even be able to secure that spot.

Why? Their Youchen pork floss cakes are simply not good enough!
To be more precise, given the size of a snack brand, there's absolutely no need for such expensive advertising.

Now, since stepping into this e-sports industry, their brand exposure has skyrocketed, and demand has also surged. As a result, in just one year, they have captured nearly 60% of the national market share for similar products.

The specific reason was discovered after the company held a meeting to investigate and analyze the situation; it turned out to be thanks to the e-sports club sponsored by the company itself.

The opposing team has consistently dominated the trending topics in the LOL esports field, providing them with significant exposure not only for publicity but also because their affiliated businesses, which include snack and merchandise stores, can directly convert this traffic into sales.

At the same time, because NXG had absolute dominance in that circle, people in the circle imitated them in every way possible.

From team building and player training to marketing strategies, everything has been copied from the past. As a result, for many League of Legends video creators and streamers, the first choice for monetizing their traffic is to sell meat floss cakes!
To be fair, any good person who accepts sponsorship can achieve a 100% return on investment, not an exaggerated 500% or 1000%.

NXG is absolutely amazing!

Youchen's sponsorship of the NXG eSports Club was an unprecedented success, so much so that the company's CEO, Mr. You, changed drastically in the latter half of the year.

These days, Mr. You walks into the company with great spirit, his steps are powerful and his demeanor is energetic. He looks much younger and wants to share his story about a college student and meat floss cakes with everyone he meets.

The more successful Youchen pork floss cakes become in the market, the more envious and jealous other food companies in the same industry become. Behind their backs, countless competitors have made sarcastic remarks, implying that their success is merely due to good luck.

"Good luck?" Employees within Youchen Company were quite skeptical: "It's clearly because our CEO You has unique vision and foresight."

Back then, how many people were optimistic about the development of the domestic e-sports scene?

Most people outside the circle feel that this circle is basically finished if a parent submits a complaint letter.

Not to mention lying in a murky pool of water, with investors getting involved.

"Hey, don't say that."

"Upon closer reflection, our products and the esports player community are a perfect match."

"After finishing a game, players only need to eat one or two meat floss cakes to quickly replenish their energy and quell their hunger. Unlike eating a meal, eating too much can actually affect reaction speed."

"Wow, that's a great idea!" The marketing manager, who overheard the employees' discussion, had a sudden inspiration. "Quickly report this promotional idea to the boss; a promotion and raise might just be on the horizon!"

……

"Haha, congratulations, Brother Jiang! Congratulations on winning the world championship."

"No need for the invitation to dinner!"

"That's a must. I'll be in charge later. I've also contacted the people in charge of Panpan and Daliyuan. If we all come together, it definitely won't take up your time, you're such a busy person."

"Oh, it's nothing major, just discussing sponsorship matters for our club's new season. Also, our group has come up with some bread, cakes, and other similar products. While you're signing, I'll have someone deliver some to your club as snacks—free of charge!"

Jiang Ming smiled helplessly after hanging up the phone.

This Mr. You, who is over forty years old, is really getting younger and younger. He can use all kinds of trendy words from young people on the phone. In order to catch up with the trend and further expand the group's business, Mr. You has really put in a lot of hard work.

Jiang Ming was not surprised by the other party's reaction.

While they were celebrating their championship victory and taking their players on a three-day relaxing trip to North America, Jiang Ming had already asked a friend in China to help him compile data on the increased exposure of his club's sponsoring brands during the finals. With the finals over, the transfer window and the new season were just around the corner, and the club would definitely need to discuss future commercial collaborations. The first few days were mainly to wait for the finals' popularity to build and boost the esports market, while also using his time in North America and his supposed vacation as an excuse to delay things for a while.

When dealing with capital, never overestimate the other party's bottom line. If you don't investigate the specific data thoroughly, you won't even know how you've been taken advantage of.

The first thing Jiang Ming got was the growth data of Youchen Foods. After all, the size of the fast-moving consumer goods snack industry is there, and he has been cooperating with Youchen meat floss cake for more than a year. They know each other very well, so it is not difficult to get their market data.

The data is clear: firstly, brand awareness and market penetration have seen explosive growth.

By simply listing a few sets of data, one can understand why Youchen and Panpan are so eager to continue their cooperation with NXG, even going so far as to bind several companies together.

In terms of basic exposure value:

Of the 7000 million viewers, based on normal proportions, assuming that the domestic youth group [18-34 years old accounts for 60% of this group (approximately 4200 million people)], and using the industry average advertising recall rate of 20% provided by domestic statistics, at least 840 million target people will form initial brand awareness.

You might not have a good grasp of this number, so to put it simply, compared to traditional advertising, this is equivalent to the reach of a 30-second ad broadcast more than ten times during prime time on CCTV (the cost of a single CCTV ad is about 50 yuan, totaling about 700 million yuan). Moreover, the exposure of e-sports events is more precise, and the data will only be higher, not lower.

It should be noted that the combined investment of Youchen Panpan and the other families was only a million.

This only represents the basic exposure value, not even including the surge in search and interaction during the finals.

Jiang Ming continued to flip through the data in his hand. During the finals, the search volume for Youchen alone increased by 30%-50%.

If I remember correctly, among similar companies, Hsu Fu Chi once promoted its new product, Milo Sports Power Biscuits, through marathon sponsorship and celebrity endorsement. In its first year on the market, search volume increased by 40%, driving sales of over 100 million yuan. Assuming that Youchen Pork Floss Biscuits saw a 40% increase in search volume after the event, that would be equivalent to hundreds of thousands of purchase conversions.

Even so, Jiang Ming didn't even calculate the hidden new growth in social media topics related to NXG during the regular season and playoffs. This kind of potential user coverage is not easy to statistically analyze, so it was represented by a question mark in the data.

Jiang Ming knew very well that the 70 million exposures from the finals were incredibly attractive to a new brand that desperately needed to expand its market. With such a trump card, plus Youchen Foods, which had achieved a 200% increase in brand awareness within a year, acting as the best spokesperson, and NXG holding three LPL league slots, they had absolute control over business partnerships.

The question has returned to its starting point: should they continue to cooperate with Youchen?
The answer is yes.

Of course we should continue our cooperation!
Not only can we continue our cooperation, but we can also explore it further. Esports itself is a passion for young people, and the more fast-moving consumer goods we have, the better.

Furthermore, he has never been the type to turn his back on someone. Even in a directly competitive field like esports, he always considers the bigger picture and continuously contributes his knowledge and resources to help expand the market. How much more so would he do this for the generous sponsor who offered him help in his early days?

In short, as long as NXG doesn't go bankrupt and as long as Youchen doesn't intend to withdraw his investment, the club's teams will always have an advertising slot reserved for them.

Finally, there's one last reason that's absolutely irresistible;
That means collaborating with snack brands like Youchen and Panpan is, in a sense, advertising the products in their own snack stores. NXG only needs to be responsible for exposure, and the sponsors have to provide an extra sponsorship fee. Why not?

……

Jiang Ming wasn't too worried about domestic matters. Old Mona had already spoken with the club's second team and the promising players in the youth training camp in private, frankly explaining the pros and cons and trying to prevent any rule-breakers from contacting the players privately.

Even if someone really wants to leave, they have to wait until the transfer window opens and go through the league's official platform. That way, the club can help review the contract.

To his satisfaction, the heart-to-heart talks were very effective. Apart from a few short-sighted individuals, the vast majority of players expressed their willingness to follow the club's arrangements. Players who couldn't compete for the first team or the black and white teams at most expressed their hope to the club that they could play in matches as soon as possible.

It's understandable that the players would react this way. They're not stupid; everyone can see the contents of their contracts in black and white and how the clubs usually treat them.

It's no exaggeration to say that there's currently only one club in the esports industry with such a conscientious attitude.

At NXG, you don't need to worry about dual contracts or the treatment of slaves; here you only need to focus on one thing.

Train hard and achieve good results.

Grades equal treatment!

Putting aside the distant past, the current treatment of NXG's first team players and the rewards they will receive after winning the World Championship are enough to make these young esports players blush with embarrassment.

(End of this chapter)