Bud Light is "looking to get into the battlegrounds inside" e-sports with its Bud Light All-Stars initiative, according to Tyler Erzberger of ESPN.com. The brand is "no stranger to the world of traditional sports" having experience with the NFL and NBA. However, Bud Light Digital Brand Manager Jesse Wofford "wanted to do something different" with the beer this time. Instead of simply backing a single team or league, the company "started the Bud Light All-Stars program, letting the fans of the competitive gaming world vote" for their favorite players throughout various titles "to become ambassadors" of specific games under the Bud Light banner. Wofford said, "The process (of sponsoring esports) started about a year ago. We kind of got into the space how a lot of brands first get into it: (we see) esports is a thing, let's look into it, it's big, what do we do?" What Bud Light sees from e-sports is similar to what they experience with their sponsorships of the NFL and NBA. While online games might not be taking place in a physical space, Wofford "explained how the difference in the crowds is marginal." One of the biggest roadblocks for Bud Light coming into e-sports is "the notion that competitive gaming is centered around the youth." However, with the expansion of competitive gaming in the west, the demographics "begin skewing towards an older audience as the original generation of esport fans grow into adulthood" (ESPN.com, 6/16).
