Jacob Lundmark

ESL Rebrand

The rebirth of a Legend

Snapshot

Turning heritage into relevance for a new generation.

ESL was once the defining brand in esports. But over time, a series of short-term minded decisions and major competitors entering the scene started to chip away at that position. The brand became diluted, fragmented and increasingly disconnected from a new generation of fans. While some individual tournaments grew stronger, the ESL masterbrand was on a downward path. If the cycle wasn’t broken, ESL risked becoming irrelevant.

As Senior Brand Manager at EFG, I did the initial brand audit that surfaced these issues and helped get the project greenlit by leadership. I ran the day-to-day work, coordinated closely with our brand agency, aligned stakeholders and senior leaders, and led internal presentations and onboarding across the organisation ahead and post launch.

The result was a full reset of ESL’s brand and purpose. The rebrand reclaimed ESL’s legacy while repositioning it as a fan-first platform that unifies its ecosystem. ESL moved from being perceived as just a tournament organiser to being seen again as the driving force behind the world’s most iconic competitions.

Impact:
• +26.6% growth in the launch year
• +26.0% growth the following year
• +59% total growth over two years

The reset didn’t just modernise the brand. It restored relevance, rebuilt long-term brand equity and set a clear direction for ESL’s future.

Our Starting point

A strong legacy,
but weakened brand.

ESL still had high awareness inside long term esports fans. But the masterbrand had lost clarity and relevance with them. Short-term thinking had created fragmentation and frustration, and the individual tournaments and partners outshone ESL itself.

The starting point was clear. ESL didn’t need more campaigns or louder marketing. It needed a unified purpose, a stronger role in the ecosystem and a reason for fans to care about the brand again.

What we did

The Steps to Success.

Research

I ran with a full brand audit looking at everything. How the brand showed up in partnerships, at events, online and across the full marketing cycle. The work exposed a clear gap between ESL’s ambition and how the brand was actually being used.

Creative

The creative work, developed with our brand agency DBP, blended ESL’s heritage with references to classical sculpture and modern design. The focus shifted from events to fans and players, celebrating them as the core of the brand. The system was built to work consistently across broadcast, live events, digital and social.

Strategy

The strategy focused on reclaiming ESL’s role in esports. Moving from event operator to category-defining brand. A clear purpose, a unifying idea and a framework that could scale across regions, products and audiences, without fragmenting again.

Brand Playbook

To make the change stick, we built a comprehensive brand playbook and held loads of on-boarding sessions. It aligned teams, partners and agencies around one ESL voice, one system and one way of showing up. The playbook became the foundation for rolling out the brand across the entire ecosystem.