Nike airs first major e-sports ad in China ahead of League of Legends World Championship

Nike’s aggressive push into Chinese e-sports reflects the enormous interest the competitions have generated in the world’s biggest gaming market

China’s e-sports revenue grew 54.69 per cent year on year to US$10.6 billion in the first six months of this year

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Nike has been actively courting e-sports fans in China. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00pm, 5 Oct 2020Updated: 8:15pm, 5 Oct 2020

American athletic apparel giant Nike aired a glitzy e-sports commercial in China ahead of the popular League of Legends World Championship that just kicked off in Shanghai in a move to further capitalise on the e-sports mania in the world’s second-largest economy.

Titled Next Level, the campaign was created by Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai and is Nike’s first e-sports commercial, according to trade publication Adweek. It depicts a legion of aspiring e-sports professionals joining a special training camp in which they have to endure a series of intense physical workouts to unlock their gaming potential.

The commercial comes across as deliberately over-the-top. E-sports players are flown to an island on a jet and train in a spotless hi-tech facility, a trope reminiscent of the training portrayed in the Hollywood blockbuster Hunger Games.

Nike has been actively courting e-sports fans in China. The company is an apparel sponsor for China’s most popular e-sports league, the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), sponsoring everything from jerseys to footwear worn by the teams. In 2018, Nike also signed a deal with Chinese e-sports superstar Uzi who appeared as part of the LeBron James’ Dribble & advertising campaign, also created by W+K Shanghai.

Uzi, who recently announced his retirement from LPL, was the first e-sports professional signed by Nike.

Nike’s aggressive push into Chinese e-sports reflects the enormous interest the competitions have generated in the world’s biggest gaming market. According to a government-backed report published earlier this year, e-sports revenue grew 54.69 per cent year on year to 71.9 billion yuan (US$10.6 billion) in the first six months of this year.