UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports have seen their share price rise more than 40% after announcing a sponsorship deal with The Coca-Cola Company.
Guild, the David Beckham-backed esports organisation and lifestyle brand, this morning announced that they’ve become the first ever European esports team organisation to sign a global sponsorship deal with the popular soft drinks brand.
The one-year deal sees Coca-Cola become Guild’s official soft drinks and hydration partner, and is the sixth sponsor to be signed by Guild so far.
The announcement confirms a find made a week ago that a Coca-Cola page had been listed on the Guild website.
Guild’s share price rose 43.21% to 2.36p after the news was announced, as seen on Yahoo’s Guild Esports share price page. The sponsorship fee – payable in cash – was not disclosed.
The Coca-Cola Company’s package is based around ‘unique experiences and providing opportunities for gamers across the globe’. In addition, as part of the partnership Coca-Cola will showcase a range of drinks at the Guild HQ in Shoreditch, London.
Kal Hourd, chief executive of Guild Esports, said:
“Guild is signing up some of the world’s most respected brands and we are very proud to welcome Coca-Cola as a sponsor and partner.”
Kal Hourd, Guild Esports
“They want to collaborate with Guild because we deliver great entertainment and memorable experiences for a millennial, hard-to-reach audience in one of the fastest growing segments of the sports entertainment industry.”
The Coca-Cola Company has made other inroads into esports over the years. It’s worked with Riot Games for previous League of Legends World Championships, and earlier this year signed on as a worldwide founding partner of Wild Rift in a multi-year agreement.
And just this week, Coca-Cola also partnered with The Charlotte Phoenix, a North Carolina-based sports organisation that competes in Rocket League, Apex Legends and the eNascar Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
The Coca-Cola Company is a beverage company with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories and employs more than 700,000 people. Its portfolio of soft drink brands includes Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta, while its hydration, sports, coffee and tea brands include Dasani, Smartwater, Vitaminwater, Topo Chico, Bodyarmor, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak, Honest and Ayataka.
Its nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverage brands include Minute Maid, Simply, Innocent, Del Valle, fairlife and AdeS.
Oliver Weingarten, CEO at fellow UK-based esports organisation LDN UTD (who recently partnered with ARterra Labs), congratulated Guild on the deal:
The news comes after Guild Esports announced job cuts and a £5m loss in their latest financial update as staff moved into Guild’s new London office.
Guild added that ‘more than 30 prospective sponsorship deals are in various stages of development, of which several potential deals are in advanced discussions with a range of brand owners and advertisers from multiple sectors’.
Guild mentioned a beverage partner as one they were talking to, as well as brands in media and telecoms, consumer electronics and gaming/esports brands.
Other recent Guild news:
- Guild Esports come close to a monumental weekend after reaching the grand finals in two major tournaments
- Guild Esports appoint safeguarding and wellbeing lead
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
