Between 2018 and 2019 we completed 3 identity projects for the esports market — a new category for our portfolio, coming from a "fresh" market growing exponentially.
Among the projects, we published the development of LOUD, Brazil's largest mobile esports team and current Copa América FreeFire champion. We're taking the opportunity to share some insights and learnings from working in this segment.
If it still sounds novel to talk about this market, keep in mind it's a segment with a far larger audience than you might imagine: It's a sports entertainment sector that has already surpassed 1 billion dollars in revenue. Here we have a universe of new customs and consumption habits. New products, new formats, and above all a pursuit of differentiation and authenticity within the fast-paced digital world.
Insights:
The brand is the main asset (really).
Developing Brand Identity for/with Generation Z (and beyond) gives us a comfort that other segments are still working toward — there's a genuine awareness that the brand and reputation being built are the primary assets. Not a product, professional, technology, or "perceived quality."
This is our thinking in any brand creation process, and in this case it was very well aligned: the brand is an asset that must represent its value regardless of the product/service it's attached to. That is: the brand must convey its meaning whether it's signing a product or being "just" an avatar on a social network. The brand's role here goes beyond identification — it's about showing how it does things, not just what it does.
Liquid modernity: consistent brands in generation-sized seconds.
The brand exists across many different, yet identical, platforms.
Here we have a drastic shift in how information is consumed: there is no pause, stop, or "time for contemplation." The new "multi-screen" generations are consuming multiple streams of information simultaneously across a diversity of formats — making brand management increasingly complex and difficult to keep consistent. At every brand touchpoint, it needs to be recognized and perceived in unison. Here Design is the key to teamwork: the project's duty is to think about this communication standard aligned with brand strategy, rather than treating it as mere style or graphic device. In the ephemeral digital world, where brand communication isn't stationery but at least 5 different social networks, the idea that only the logo has the duty to identify and represent something makes the work both more rewarding and more challenging. Because that's what brand design is — thinking about all possible uses.
"Content is King" (and always was)
That esports has reached unimaginable levels is a fact, but what makes this segment even more fertile is the growing audience interested not just in playing, but in watching live competitions and cheering for favorite teams and players.
A Newzoo study shows Brazil ranks third in the world on this front, with 15.4 million viewers in 2017 and a projected 18.3 million by the end of 2018.
Despite talking about new habits of new generations, the consumption and connection pattern of this kind of tribe is the same as any young generation that identifies with popular culture: Gaming (sports), Music, and Fashion. What changes is the format and mode of consumption — while the fundamental basis of brand engagement remains the same as ever: the story it's telling. Except now the story is in first person, the audience is part of it, interacts in real time, and wants to follow every second.
In this context, everything becomes relevant content, because the audience expects players' experiences to be part of their lives too. Here lies the central insight LOUD's team presented to us: content every day, constant closeness between the team and its audience.
LOUD's brilliant idea? Living together, running a mobile players reality show! The brand became seen as a bridge connecting everything the audience lives: Music, fashion, fun, leisure, and the relationships among them. The sense of proximity is real — and the chance for the brand to build other assets by signing its name or associating with other brands follows naturally.
Millions of people, diverse profiles, and the "hype"
As we noted about the enormous audience figures and their speed of consumption, it's worth mentioning the different subcategories of profiles within the esports subject. We have age profiles, backgrounds, and other complex classifications that are difficult to read in a persona diagnosis. But the fan profile has one thing in common: whether he plays CounterStrike as a "traditional" desktop gamer or plays Brawl Stars on mobile, everyone has a very close proximity to technology and popular entertainment. Everyone wants to stay updated and tuned in.
In this context, "hype" emerges: generating exaggerated buzz around something so it reaches the maximum number of people in a short time window.
Hype: a strategy to emphasize something — an idea or product. It's a topic that's making noise, something that's trendy and talked about by everyone.
Beyond the expression and hype culture of fashion, being talked about by everyone is also a primary strategy in gamer culture. At LOUD, we considered the "hype" dimension outlined by the brand's team a great tactic for approaching fashion consumption (taking LOUD into streetwear hype fashion) and distancing from the "badge" culture of sports teams.
In conclusion: LOUD and its originality
In LOUD's development, differentiation was evident on the brand's main communication platform (YouTube) relative to other gamers and teams. With a nature less infantile than what other teams in the segment had been practicing, LOUD emerged as a professional gamer brand, quickly achieving effective communication with its audience. Through a unified identity across its players, LOUD's communication rapidly took the brand to 1 million followers within its first 3 months.
Facing the concept of flow, dynamism, and above all the brand's name, we created a visual narrative that expresses Loud as a brand that "makes noise." We brought intensity to every identity element: we chose a very vivid shade of green with strong screen vibration; for typography, we used Labil Grotesk because its variable font has letters in motion/displacement, signaling some letters as "italic" among the regular ones. Considering the memorability of the name, we developed a logotype that wouldn't blend in or become overly thematic — unlike many gamers and teams in the segment who go excessively thematic or decorative. From this logotype, to produce a more "symbol-like" signature for avatars and small-scale use, we extracted the "D" from the logo, designed to resemble both the "Play" sign and a "forward arrow." We directed this toward motion, with the "D" animating the full logotype. Textures and patterns for the brand also followed the concept of flow, agitation, and transformation.
Conclusion: The brand's originality and content consistency as primary assets brought the ideal perception to its audience and segment — enabling the brand to carry forward its strategy, expanding and making possible its presence in any type of action or development.
In other words: – Have a consistent identity – Make your brand an influencer – Work toward a unique perception (amid the chaos)
