Benefits of Using E-sport Games as a Marketing Tool for Foreign Luxury Brands on Different Asian Markets: the Case of Louis Vuitton

This paper describes the growing trend and popularity of eSports industry which is becoming a new digital platform that can be used for marketing purposes even for luxury brands. For luxury segment, eSports industry is full of opportunities because of the demographics that plays eSport games and their spending and demand for luxury products. The demographics that luxury brands are seeking are mostly present in Asia, and this researched focused on finding similarities and differences between Asian countries to help luxury brands to attract the right market. Chinese market is in the spotlight because of the rapidly growing number of players, the development of an eSporter lifestyle and the fact that eSport industry is significantly supported by the Chinese government. Other significant markets for luxury brands are Korea, Taiwan and Japan. This paper also focuses on the strategies that luxury brand can choose via eSports platform. These are sponsorships of an event, support of the game design or using eSports to reflect the eSport lifestyle even in the offline world. Based on the Louis Vuitton partnership with Riot Games developer, we assed the success of its marketing strategy via League of Legends Game. Measurements were based on sales revenue, number of game spectators, popularity of the LV game designs alongside with the real capsule collection and its presence on the Chinese and Japanese market. The important link between the eSports and Luxury is the experience delivered to an end user, which makes it an opportunity for luxury brands to reach unique demographics. Lastly, the paper discusses how luxury brand can persist its image of prestige and exclusivity, while sponsoring an eSport game and suggests further research focus on what type of games are relevant, how frequent should be the engagement and whether this trend will not face any unethical issues as gaming is linked with gambling and addictions.