Great Eastern Seals Landmark ESports Deal With Singtel

Under the deal, Singapore based insurer Great Eastern will become the exclusive insurance partner for Singtel’s PVP Community Leagues to engage the Singaporean gaming community to develop their passion for e-sports.

Alongside the signing, Singtel unveiled PVP Community, which is composed of two leagues: PVP Campus, which is open to all tertiary students, and PVP Corporate, which targets working professionals. Both leagues will culminate in a finale event titled PVP Carnival at the end of the year.

While Great Eastern has been actively supporting traditional sports platforms, such as the annual Great Eastern Women’s Run and Singapore’s top-tier football league, this is the insurer’s first move into e-sports, which is fast emerging into the sporting mainstream.

“Great Eastern is very excited to team up with Singtel… to engage the local community and youths in their passion for e-sports,” said Ryan Cheong, managing director of strategy and transformation at Great Eastern. “Like traditional sports, e-sports champions values such as discipline, perseverance and hard work. We hope that with the engagement through e-sports, we would have a better appreciation of this emerging customer segment.”

“We’re pleased to have Great Eastern support PVP Community alongside their traditional sports initiatives,” said Arthur Lang (pictured left), CEO of Singtel’s International Group. “This is a strong acknowledgment of e-sports and gaming and what we aim to achieve with PVP Esports – building a vibrant gaming ecosystem at local and regional level. Partnerships are important to our ambitions and we hope to bring together more like-minded partners who are passionate about e-sports and developing the community.”

According to the ASN Index, Great Eastern is ranked tenth (~US$12.2m, 1.7% share) in its category for its contribution to the Asian sponsorship landscape, particularly towards its home markets in Singapore (87.1%) and Malaysia (12.9%). In the last two years, the life insurance company’s biggest deals have been a long-term venue sponsorship deal with the Singapore Sports Hub (~US$1.1m+) and reality TV show Asia’s Got Talent (US$1m).

Following an underwhelming Q418 for Great Eastern, the company’s Q119 sponsorship spend of US$657k has taken an almost 37.2% dip when compared to the previous quarter. It has also ceded its long-term title sponsorship deal with Singapore’s ailing top-tier professional football league to rival AIA.

Its latest play in the local esports landscape as well as investment in extreme sports events such as the Spartan Race Singapore and Viper Challenge Malaysia, signal a brand looking for a first-mover advantage in niche sporting communities.