Interview: Culture Group’s Michael Patent On Globe’s New eSports Platform

The sprawling telco is making ambitious moves to build the gaming ecosystem, collaborating with the likes of Mineski, Riot Games and Garena.  ASN spoke to Culture Group’s founder Michael Patent—who played a pivotal role in ensuring Globe’s debut big-money gaming move took off smoothly—on the backstory of the deal.

ASN: What was it like collaborating with Globe to build the foundations of the Philippines eSports industry?

MP: Working with a visionary like Globe’s CEO Ernest Cu is a great joy, he is very hands-on and provides fearless leadership, often driving the team from the front. From the start, Globe was strongly aware they had to be in the eSports scene to provide the organisational muscle to beef up the operational, programming and content acquisition of the biz…Prior to them coming into the market, it was a fast-growing vibrant scene (bearing in mind, it has one of the largest youth populations in the Asean region), however, the operational end was rather chaotic and deterred the industry in fully reaching its commercial potential.

Globe CEO Ernest Cu

Globe has been aggressively building their cultural verticals in music and entertainment through their partnerships with Spotify and Netflix… And naturally eSports was the next content opportunity to dive into as telcos are so heavily involved in all facets of the industry, for example, players have to download and stream games and content. The myriad commercial opportunities eSports offers Globe including hosting events, creating compelling, original storytelling content and distribution, certainly makes it an exciting revenue driver for the company. It’s just Phase 1 of Globe’s eSports plan, however, in the near future, an eSports themed scripted drama series from Globe Studios is very well on the agenda.

ASN: Any tips for brands who want to invest in the region’s eSports landscape?

MP: Brands tend to be mostly reactive and that is generally a sign of bad behaviour in the market. You need to be engaged and there are so many different layers to create value in the chain and engage your audience. The challenge is the market always moves quickly, however, brands can significantly raise their success odds by investing in the long-haul and authentically engaging in building the eSports ecosystem. Understanding the cultural relevance and nuances of the games engaging the local audience is also very important too, more so when the future of sport will be heavily fueled by digital media content and distribution. You want to see brands putting their skins in the game, and building quality, long-term partnerships. A great example would be Filipino beverage giant San Miguel coming up with interesting collabs in the nation’s eSports landscape.

ASN: Any trends to look out for in the region?

MP: Well, it’s a global trend but mobile gaming will be a prevalent force in Asia too, as digital natives from the post-2000 generation head to the forefront of youth culture.

ASN: Lastly, could you give us a brief insight into Culture Group’s modus operandi in Asia?

Michael Patent: We are an independent, regional agency with a team of twelve people, very nimble and are essentially cultural provocateurs who provide holistic, 360-degree solutions for our clients. That means we build the cultural scene organically with a ground-up approach, let it be eSports or basketball or music…we want to engage our audience and stakeholders with authentic content as well as create an active community on multi-platforms (both online and offline). Be the driver of engaging conversation through our network of influencers and build sustainable and value-added commercial platforms for brands to invest in. We have been in Asia for almost two years and by nature, we are creative disruptors and clued-up cultural innovators who tend to be spot-on with trends.