Esports and gaming agency Unlocked is expanding its presence at IBC this year with a speaker programme spanning all four days of the show. Led by Co-Founder Steven Leunens, Unlocked aims to bridge the gap between traditional broadcasting media and the rapidly evolving world of esports.
Steven Leunens has been deeply involved in gaming and esports for nearly two decades. His journey began in 2004 when he founded his own gaming team, which quickly grew into one of the largest Call of Duty (CoD) communities in the world. After selling this venture in 2008, Leunens shifted his focus to the event business within the industry, laying the foundation for what would eventually become Unlocked. Today, Leunens serves as the Co-Founder of Unlocked, a company dedicated to connecting brands with the Gen Z and Millennial audiences through innovative marketing and event strategies in the gaming and esports industry.
“We create all kinds of experiences to make sure that the audience that loves esports gets the message and gets it in a way that is true to their nature as a gamer,” says Leunens. “We create virtual worlds where they can engage with the brands that they want to, that want to reach them, but in a very natural way. We try to make marketing about experiences and make it exciting for the audience - not just a plain ad being slapped in your face by the latest in a long line of competitors trying to grab your attention.”
An innovative approach to marketing and events
Unlocked specialises in crafting unique experiences that resonate with gaming and esports audiences. Its campaigns are designed to be immersive and interactive, leveraging both virtual and physical spaces to create meaningful connections between brands and consumers.
One notable example is a year-long campaign Unlocked executed for Pringles. This campaign revived an old gaming format in Rocket League, a popular game, and involved influencers hosting live-streamed competitions with audience participation. “We took a specific game mode in Rocket League and did a small competition,” says Leunens. “We invited an influencer, they made live-stream content, then invited their audience to participate in celebrating an undervalued element of the game they all love.”
The result was a highly successful campaign that engaged the community in a fun and innovative way. “Then in the LATAM region,” he continues, “We did a partnership for them with CoD and Activision Blizzard. We put CoD on 14 million cans in Latin America and made a really nice connection there between the brands of CoD and Pringles, to make sure that we show to the Pringles audience, ‘Look, we care about the same things that you guys care about, and here’s some cool prizes. Here’s a cool activation on the brand that you all love and the game that you all love.’”
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Another standout project was a collaboration with Philips OneBlade at Gamescom, the largest video game trade show in Europe. Unlocked designed an interactive booth that combined gaming competitions with a real-life barbershop experience, offering attendees the opportunity to play games and get groomed at the same time. This creative approach not only attracted attention but also effectively conveyed Philips OneBlade’s brand message in a memorable and engaging manner.
Expanding horizons: Unlocked at IBC 2024
As sponsor of the Esports Zone, Unlocked’s presence at IBC in 2023 marked its first foray into the world of broadcasting. The positive reception motivated the company to expand its presence at this year’s convention.
“Last year was the first time for us to be present at IBC and explore the world that was there in terms of content creation, hardware, software that is being developed in content production, live content, etc,” says Leunens. “And as a marketing agency that produces quite a lot of content, it’s an important world for us.”
This year, Unlocked aims to deepen the conversation around the convergence of esports and traditional broadcasting by presenting a more comprehensive program to showcase the growing intersection between traditional broadcasting and esports. As Leunens explains: “We looked at the target audience of the event and a lot of them are very involved in broadcasting things like the Olympics or the World Cup. There’s this digital variant of this in esports that’s becoming more and more important, with immense competitions and tournaments being broadcast live.” Even traditional sporting events like the Olympics are starting to integrate esports, signalling its emergence as a key component of the broader sports culture.
Leunens sees a clear opportunity at the intersection of these two worlds: “You have this fully digitalised environment where content creation is at the heart of everything that happens because the audience lives in a virtual digital world.” This digital-first approach creates a ‘data-driven environment’ where innovations in content creation are rapidly emerging.
Many companies at IBC, including those new to Unlocked, are exploring how to “take that innovation and use it in a different way.” Leunens sees this as “the very interesting intersection” between esports and traditional sports broadcasters: on one side, there is the traditional broadcasting model, characterised by “a very expensive broadcast in a big studio for a mainstream audience,” and on the other, the dynamic, diverse content landscape of esports, which includes “World Cup-like productions” alongside influencer-driven, social media-centric content.
By expanding its presence at IBC, Unlocked aims to highlight these “similarities and differences” in content creation and consumption between esports and traditional media. Leunens states: “What we want to achieve with Esports Zone is highlighting that and making sure there’s a forum for connecting the two, giving insights into how things are happening.” The goal is to foster a deeper understanding and collaboration between traditional broadcasters and the innovative, rapidly growing world of esports.
Participation this year will span four days, each with a different focus:
Day one: esports and audio
The first day will delve into the critical role of audio in gaming and esports. Featuring companies like AceZone and Glennsound, the sessions will explore how audio innovations specifically designed for esports can enhance both gameplay and viewer experience. “Not a lot of people realise that audio plays such a pivotal role, not just in how you produce your content, but how the game is perceived and how the game can be very immersive from an audio perspective,” Leunens notes. This session aims to highlight innovations that could also be applicable to other industries, illustrating the crossover potential between esports and traditional broadcasting.
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Day two: esports production – hardware and software innovations
The second day will focus on the hardware and software infrastructure that supports esports productions. With speakers from companies like Tinkerlist and Blackmagic Design, the discussion will revolve around the tools and technologies that are revolutionising esports broadcasting. This session will also cover how these innovations are not just enhancing esports broadcasts but are also finding applications in more traditional broadcasting environments.
Day three: bringing fans and content together
Day three will shift focus towards content creation strategies, with insights from leading esports teams such as Team Vitality and Team Liquid. These teams will share their approaches to engaging with a younger, digitally native audience and discuss how their content strategies differ from traditional sports and media. “They’re going to shed light on how they produce content, why they produce it differently, and why it resonates differently with a younger audience,” says Leunens. This session will be particularly valuable for broadcasters looking to adapt their content to the preferences of Gen Z and Millennial viewers.
Day Four: insights around data and monetisation
The final day will focus on data-driven strategies for monetising esports content. Speakers will include experts from companies like Loadout and Shikenso, who will present advanced analytics tools that measure audience engagement and brand impact in unprecedented detail. Leunens says the fourth day will focus on insights around data monetisation. “It’s a bit more data driven,” he says. “What are some of the key numbers? What are some options to monetise it? How big is this industry? How big is the content production and esports and viewership in that industry?”
Why should traditional broadcasters pay attention to esports?
For traditional broadcasters attending IBC2024, Unlocked’s sessions offer a unique opportunity to learn from an industry that has embraced digital transformation and audience engagement in ways that many traditional sectors are only beginning to explore. “If you’re into content production from a technical perspective or a mainstream content perspective, there’s a lot to learn from the innovation happening in esports,” says Leunens.
Esports represents a rapidly growing segment of the content production landscape, driven by a young, tech-savvy audience. For broadcasters, understanding this space is not just about entering a new market; it’s about adopting new strategies and technologies that can be applied across all areas of content production. Whether it’s leveraging data to better understand audience engagement or exploring new ways to create immersive, interactive experiences, the lessons from esports are increasingly relevant to broadcasters everywhere.
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