Esports performance drink eNgage has entered the Chinese market after entering into a partnership with LGD Gaming.
The company already has offerings in Europe, with the aim of helping gamers focus when they’re playing competitively.
LGD Gaming is a professional organisation based in China that competes in Dota 2 and League Legends, and is named after the team’s main sponsor: Guizhou Laogandie Food.
Speaking to Esports Observer, Magnus Akesson, Co-founder, GG United – the company behind eNgage – explained what it has to offer as a partner: “The expansion into China has always been planned. We were almost planning to do the sales here in China first. I’m based in Shanghai, but it takes a long time to set up a business here in China. That’s why we started in Europe first.”
He then went on to explain why he believes the drink can do well in China, and how he plans to achieve success: “One thing in China is you have Weibo and WeChat, which are even more important in this market than Facebook and Twitter are in the European market. You can have pretty much a straight line—you can buy things directly with these platforms.”
eNgage already counts Unicorns of Love, Syrenia, BiberBros, APH Gaming, and a whole host of gamers as partners. It also entered a partnership with FC Nürnberg in December 2017. The drink’s branding and products will be visible at events and on streams that LGD Gaming is a part of – its League of Legend roster currently competes in the Tencent League of Legends Pro League.
“One of the reasons we sponsor a team, rather than a streaming platform, is that’s where the action is. We need people to see people drink, to have people try it,” Akesson concluded.
Esports Insider says: It’ll be interesting to see how eNgage is received in China, another nation with a high consumption of energy drinks. eNgage boasts a strong list of partners already and LGD is another string to its bow as well as an opening to a new market. With its focus on Weibo and WeChat, if it plays it smart and manages to crack this market then eNgage stands to do very well indeed.