Why Anheuser-Busch is pouring beer and money into esports

Anheuser-Busch is one of the brands that isn’t shy about embracing esports. It is a non-endemic brand, meaning it isn’t born and bred with gamers the way that, say, esports headsets are. It’s a mainstream brand looking to break into the previously insular world of esports a with authentic experiential marketing.

Some brands have been wary of the unpredictability of esports. The games come and go. The athletes can blow big deals with their big mouths. And fans don’t always behave in a becoming way at esports events. But it’s the job of Joe Barnes, director of experiential marketing at Anheuser-Busch InBev, to make sure that his company is represented in the right way in front of the right consumers of esports as the “official beer of esports.”