The Esports World Cup Foundation announced that Unilever brands CLEAR MEN Shampoo and AXE Body Spray will serve as sponsors of the Esports World Cup, which officially begins this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and runs until Aug. 25.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Details were pretty thin on how this partnership will be played out during the eight-week esports competition, but one would assume that both brands will enjoy product and brand placement through competition venues, branding during broadcasts, and some sort of on-site physical presentation for attendees to check out products. Details on activations and special media content/sponsorship opportunities were not disclosed. Clearly, Unilever wants to expose its products to the 18-24 male demo in the region.
“CLEAR MEN’s mission is to empower men to #KeepAClearHead and perform at their peak, whether in gaming or everyday life,” said Tina Chikhani Nader Head of Digital Media and commerce for Unilever GCC. “Given the immense passion for gaming in Saudi Arabia, we are excited to partner with EWC. Through this alliance, we aim to demonstrate how CLEAR MEN can help gamers overcome challenges in-game and in real life, fostering meaningful connections within the gaming community.”
The Esports World Cup is a multi-week, multi-discipline esports competition running from July 3 – Aug. 25, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government, while competitions are being facilitated by ESL FACEIT Group, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group. Savvy is owned by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund and its Chairman of the board is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler HRH Crown Prince MBS. EFG is home to tournament organizer ESL, Esports Engine, competition platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.
This week’s schedule (Week 1) will feature the following games:
Call of Duty: Warzone Teams:
- AG Global
- Al Ula
- BSL
- Cloud9
- Fnatic
- Gaimin Gladiators
- Guild Esports
- Natus Vincere
- New Icons
- OMiT
- Onyx Ravens
- SGP Syndicate
- Team abWizz
- Team Destroy
- Team Falcons
- Team Heretics
- Team iZund
- Team Vision
- Team Vitality
- Team xizx7
- Twisted Minds
Dota 2 (Riyadh Masters) Teams:
- Aurora
- Azure Ray
- Beastcoast
- BetBoom Team
- Blacklist International
- Entity
- G2 x iG
- Gaimin Gladiators
- HEROIC
- LGD Gaming
- MOUZ
- Nouns
- OG Esports
- PSG Quest
- Team Falcons
- Team Liquid
- Team Spirit
- Tundra Esports
- Virtus.pro
- WBG.XG
League of Legends Teams:
- Bilibili Gaming
- FlyQuest
- Fnatic
- G2 Esports
- Gen.G
- T1
- Team Liquid Honda
- Top Esports
ML:BB Teams:
- Brute Force
- Cloud9
- Entity7
- EVOS Glory
- Falcon Esports
- Falcons
- AP.Bren
- Fire Flux Esports
- Fnatic ONIC
- HomeBois
- IHC Esports
- KeepBest Gaming
- Liquid Echo
- NIP Flash
- RRQ Akira
- S2G Esports
- See You Soon
- Selangor Red Giants
- Team Falcons
- Team Spirit
- Trained to Kill
- Twisted Minds
- Xianyou Gaming
- Zino Zenith