Gfinity wins game tournament contract with Mondelez brand Cadbury

Esports company Gfinity has been appointed by Mondelez brand Cadbury to deliver a new gaming tournament, the ‘Cadbury Heroes Parents League’, it announced on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said the tournament would see players competing against one another in a knockout competition, using a “leading” games title.

It said the final would be hosted from the Gfinity Arena in Fulham in November.

The company said the league would involve twelve teams of two players, with each team consisting of one gaming influencer playing alongside a parent or guardian.

Gfinity would announce the influencers at the beginning of October, alongside the game, following which there would be a period of training for the teams before the tournament was live streamed in early November.

The league would conclude with a highlights film, scheduled to be aired at the end of November.

Gfinity said it would be paid a “six-figure fee” to deliver the tournament, which would contribute positively towards its target of moving into profitability in the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year.

As part of the agreement, Gfinity would be responsible and remunerated for sourcing gaming-based talent, facilitating the tournament play, production, and broadcasting the final from the Gfinity Arena.

The whole tournament, from the training to the highlights film, would be broadcast across Gfinity's owned channels including on Twitch and YouTube, and would be supported by an integrated campaign across Gfinity Digital Media group websites.

That would include bespoke written editorials telling the story of the influencers, and paid media advertising placements.

Gfinity said it was working in partnership with a “leading agency group” on the project, including D-game as sponsorship agency, Carat as media agency, and VCCP as creative agency.

“A key pillar of our strategy is building communities of gamers for brands,” said chief executive officer John Clarke.

“We are excited to be working with Cadbury in this way as it makes its first move into competitive gaming entertainment.”

Clarke said the tournament would provide an “exciting opportunity” to deliver an integrated campaign using all of the company’s services including Gfinity Digital Media, influencer management, gaming content production and tournament play.

“We are excited to be working with Cadbury to deliver this new tournament and to help connect them with the typically hard to reach audience of gamers.

“This new project will play a positive part contributing towards Gfinity's goal of being profitable in the first quarter of 2021.”

At 1243 BST, shares in Gfinity were up 2.88% at 3.74p.