Audi signs permanent deal with Danish CS: GO squad Astralis

If we go back in time to tell ourselves that a bunch of guys playing Counter-Strike would be sponsored by one of the most prestigious car companies out there, we wouldn’t believe it. Fast forward to 2017 and here we are, where this is the reality.

Audi Denmark and Danish CS:GO team Astralis announced a temporary $750,000 deal last January, the automobile manufacturer mentioned the partnership was a “pilot case”. The project proved to be highly successful and the two parties decided to reunite, with Audi’s four rings to feature on the new Astralis jersey.

A big fan event is being held in Copenhagen tomorrow, where the brand new Astralis jersey, with Audi as its main sponsor, will be presented. The Danish team hopes to be as successful as last time, when Astralis players managed to win the Atlanta Major.

The partnership proved to be a success for both parties. RFRSH CEO announced that the activation had resulted in “more than 25 million impressions across Astralis’ own social media channels,” and that “more than twelve million stream and TV viewers were exposed to the Audi brand.

Audi Denmark and Astralis partnered once again, this time signing a permanent contract. A recent valuation of the partnership conducted by Nielsen Esports found that Audi received more than ten times its return on sponsorship exposure during the ELEAGUE Finals and DreamHack Las Vegas earlier this year.

“Esports is an extremely rewarding field for brands that make an effort to understand the industry. Esport as a passion media is a gateway to a young hard-to-get audience that is getting more and more resistant to traditional media. Old-fashioned one-way communication does not work with this audience and if you want to engage with this target group, you need to mean something to them, you need to be true to who you are and at the same time embrace what they do.” said Jordi Roig, CCO of RFRSH Entertainment.