Summary of the situation
This case discusses the league of legends world championship campaign held in 2019. Hosted by the Riot games company, this campaign started in September and took place for 5 weeks, involving teams from 13 regions around the globe who competed for the title. After it was announced that Louis Vuitton would act as the sponsor of this tournament, it moved across different cities starting from Berlin and finally ending in Paris. The developers aimed at popularizing the league of legends and establishing it as a worldwide recognized game. Particularly the campaign was designed to promote this game to the non-video fans by bringing them together and having them celebrate the special talents of the players involved. By having the non-video fans participate in this campaign, the league of legends would become more popular and be in a position to re-establish itself as the leading esports property worldwide. This campaign contributed to several positive results including earning media placements around the globe as well as being the top trending topic in various social media platforms such as twitter. In addition, the finals which were finally held in Berlin attracted a large audience.
The Stakeholder Groups
One of the main stakeholder groups in this campaign were the shareholders of the Riot Game company. Shareholders of any company around the world are greatly interested in the performance of their company’s product given the fact they take a lot of risks especially in financing the process of production (Zu, 27). In regards to this, the shareholders made the decision to have the company participate in the tournament as a way of reaching out to their customers and hence raise the company’s revenue. By organizing this tournament, the company was able to reach out to the non-video fans and the results showed an increase in the number of the audience. Another group of stakeholders involved in this campaign was the customers. The company aimed at presenting league of legends in an attractive way to these fans and hence make them view it just like other worldwide accepted sports. The company also hoped to remove the stigmatization facing the esports as well as make fans understand more about esports. The next stakeholders’ group involved in these campaigns were the investors. These included the teams that participated in the tournament. These teams were comprised of players who were greatly talented, and their skills and experience were at the center of attraction of this campaign (Crecente). They hoped to win the title at the end. The other investor in this campaign was Weber Shandwick which acted as the agency partner of the company in this campaign. The next stakeholder group in this campaign were the sponsors. The Louis Vuitton acted as the sponsor of this tournament. Given that they specialized in developing trophy gear for supporting events, sponsoring league of legends would assist to publicize it. Another group of stakeholders was the media. This campaign greatly relied on the media to spread the information about the tournament.
Objectives of the campaign
One of the main objectives of this campaign was to reach out to the non-video game fans. The developers of this campaign note that the popularity of esports has been hindered by fans who do not see the need of watching other individuals play video games. By bringing these fans together to watch this game, the company hoped to attract these fans and make them understand more about video games. This would then make them develop an interest in the video game. The second objective was aimed at establishing the League of Legends as a worldwide recognized game just like other sports. It hoped to achieve this by removing the stigmatizations faced by esports as a result of traditional sports reporters and increasing the number of players involved (Crecente). The last objective involved restoring the League of Legends as the leading esports property around the globe. By fulfilling these objectives, this campaign would increase the fans of this game globally and contribute to its recognition as a worldwide sport.
Communication tactics used to achieve the objective.
One of the communication theories that can is reflected in this campaign is the agenda-setting theory. Based on this theory, the media play a huge role in shaping the agenda that people are discussing. In most cases, the information being discussed often comes from what they see or hear on the news even what they read in the articles, blogs, and newspapers. The headlines chosen by the media outlets greatly determine the perspective that the public develops about a given topic, activity, object, or someone. Therefore, mass media can give each of these a positive or negative attribute on the eyes of the targeted audience based on what is communicated. The communication tactics used in this media greatly relate to this theory. First, the company started the league of legends campaign by holding a press event to inform the public about it as well as how it will happen. The company also involved numerous media outlets during the tournament such as the Washington Post. Working together with these media platforms was accomplished through arranging interviews with the company officials and the teams involved in this tournament. Conducting press events and interviews saw the information about the company spread around the globe in different languages. This means that it was able to quickly reach many people.
The other communication theory that can be identified in this campaign was the framing theory. From the perspective of this theory, the way that information is shaped or framed by the media greatly determines how the audience understands what is being discussed. In regards to this, it is crucial for media platforms to ensure that the information communicated to the targeted audience attract the audience and appeals to their interests. The various media platforms used in this campaign presented the tournament as an exciting activity, greatly enjoyed by the players as well as the fans. It was also presented as a game that was allowed every individual to participate without considering the physical abilities which normally eliminate most people from other traditional games.
Evaluations measures
One of the major evaluation measures used for this campaign included setting objectives. The company set clear goals that guided it throughout the campaign. It was able to measure its performance by checking whether these goals were achieved. The second measure involved having clear time frames. The Riot games company planned for the tournament to take place for 5 weeks. It also planned for the duration that the games were to take place in every city. To a large extent, these measures were effective for the company. The tournament attracted a large audience and also earned numerous media placements that had the capacity to reach the whole world (Crecente). Other measures that can be used include defining the marketing metrics, creating a workflow chart to clarify how responsibilities are assigned as well as budget expenditures to estimate and track costs.