BMW ‘Heroes of Rivalry’
SPONSORING
BMW entered esports and gaming by sponsoring six of the world’s best League of Legends teams. The work was designed to communicate with a young, hard-to-convince audience, which was part of a ‘future ready’ positioning strategy I had created prior to this project.
CLIENT
BMW
ROLE
YEAR
2021
THE CHALLENGE
Raising awareness for the BMW esports sponsorship among Gen Z, despite not being able to commence any in-person productions due to Covid — while seamlessly integrating the BMW i product range into the narrative.
THE APPROACH
Using the global trend of anime and manga as a vehicle for communication, bringing digital storytelling to a new level.
Drawing on my 20+ years of reading manga, I leveraged the Isekai a.k.a. ‘parallel world’ mechanic to place each sponsored team into a medium entirely independent of physical production constraints.
THE CAMPAIGN
Heroes of Rivalry rolled out across eight weekly digital manga issues, alongside a Xmas Holiday Special. The campaign drove substantial traffic to bmw.com, offering fans custom desktop wallpapers and a limited-edition coffee-table book.
Each team received a dedicated vehicle within the narrative, converging in a subterranean laboratory beneath the BMW Vierzylinder in Munich. Led by Dr. Eve Brenner, a BMW engineering mastermind, the storyline resonated deeply with fans and established BMW as a credible, core contributor to global esports culture.
CASE FILM