ESPORTS students at Wiltshire College & University Centre’s Trowbridge campus are facing a day-long test of their imagination and teamwork skills when they face off in a marketing competition.
The Tech Trowbridge Sustainability in Esports Competition on June 16 will pit three teams of five against one another as they compete to come up with the best ideas for rebranding an Esports team.
Esports is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with 1.2 million players and online spectators in the UK alone. It pits two teams against each other over a number of different online games, with the winners being decided by best of three or five. They take place via a secure server and are overseen by the British Esports Federation.
The industry is worth more than £1 billion worldwide and is set to double over the next ten years.
Quality and Innovation Lead Rhian Ramsden said the students will be given just over two hours to come up with a plan for a sustainable rebrand of a fictional Wiltshire Esports team.
“The students will be asked to design a rebrand for a team called Avalon, which, for this exercise, we will tell them has been given an investment of £100,000 from the Woodland Trust,” said Rhian. “The investment is on the condition that it rebrands to a sustainable team in conjunction with at least two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, one of which will be revealed on the day.
“They will have to write a mission statement that explains the use of the SDGs and the importance of sustainability in the Esports sector, select sponsors and design a new logo and jerseys.”
The teams will have the benefit of the cutting edge IT design and presentation resources in the Tech Trowbridge gaming arena.
The teams will then have to make a 15-minute presentation of their briefs to a panel of judges, including Esports journalist and educator Nik Turner and Cameron Vanloo, an Esports lecturer at Staffordshire University, who will then pick a winner.
“It is going to be a test of their understanding of how to brand a team, because marketing and promotion is a massive part of Esports,” said Rhian. “People might think it is only about gaming but the business side plays a big part in our courses.
“It’s going to be a very challenging day for them in terms of teamwork, communication and presentation skills – making eye contact with the judges, being fluent in their speech and using the correct terminology.”
She said the competition is designed to put the skills the students have learned over the last year to the test. “When Esports lecture Matt Sproston and I designed this competition we looked at the course specification to make sure that what we are asking the students to do reflects the most important part, which is working together, branding and running a team and managing an event,” she said.
“We think we’ve come up with a real challenge for them and we are looking forward to seeing how they get on.”
Find out more about Esports courses at WCUC: Games Development and eSport – Wiltshire College & University Centre
