Kia connects fans at League of Legends Finals

&NewLine;<p>Kia Motors&NewLine;Corporation sponsors the League of Legends European Championship Summer Finals&NewLine;2019 in Athens for the first time&comma; showcasing its popular vehicles and&NewLine;unveiling commercials designed to win the hearts of millions of Europe&&num;8217&semi;s&NewLine;electronic sports fans&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;A statement from Kia Media Team&comma; made available to OpenLife&NewLine;states that as an official partner of the League of Legends European&NewLine;Championship &lpar;LEC&rpar; at the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens from Sept&period; 7-8&comma; Kia&NewLine;Motors displays the All-New Kia Ceed and New Sportage models&comma; and airs video&NewLine;commercials &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Driving Your Game &&num;8212&semi; Kia-LEC” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Perfect Intro&period;”<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Through our collaborative marketing with LEC&comma; which enjoys&NewLine;the most innovative competition among different leagues around the world&comma; Kia&NewLine;Motors has been able to approach the younger generations and get close to them&NewLine;naturally&comma;” said Artur Martins&comma; the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer&NewLine;at Kia Motors&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Kia Motors expresses its deep appreciation to the tournament&NewLine;organizer and video game developer Riot Games for its steady support throughout&NewLine;2019&period; We hope to continue our excellent partnership&period;”<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;The two commercials&comma; which are available on YouTube&comma; are&NewLine;aired from the stadium’s main screen&period; The Driving Your Game commercial features&NewLine;the Kia Stinger&comma; All-New e-Niro&comma; New Sportage&comma; All-New Kia Ceed and Kia Stonic&NewLine;models&semi; and The Perfect Intro commercial &&num;8212&semi; created as an official&NewLine;season-ending film for the LEC &&num;8212&semi; features the Kia Stinger&comma; and is distributed&NewLine;on various social media channels&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;The Ceed and Sportage models &&num;8212&semi; both emblazoned with official&NewLine;LEC graphics &&num;8212&semi; are displayed beside the broadcasting booth&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;The number of esports fans worldwide is estimated to reach&NewLine;422 million people in 2019 from 281 million in 2016&comma; and expected to top 600&NewLine;million by 2023&period; Although organized online and offline competitions have long&NewLine;been part of the video game industry&comma; they were not significant until live&NewLine;streaming became a dominant force around the world&period; By the 2010s&comma; eports has&NewLine;become a major driver of the industry&comma; with many game developers actively&NewLine;designing games tailored to the professional esports sector&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are privileged to have Kia Motors choose the LEC for its&NewLine;first partnership in esports&comma; and humbled by Kia’s support in activating our&NewLine;partnership&comma;” said Alban Dechelotte&comma; the Head of Business Development at Riot&NewLine;Games Europe&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;By offering various kinds of financial&comma; programmic and marketing&NewLine;support&comma; Kia Motors has enabled the creation of some of the most engaging&NewLine;contents this year&period; The overwhelmingly positive reception from players speaks&NewLine;volumes about the quality of our partnership&comma; and we look forward to the next&NewLine;chapter of our shared story&period;”<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;This year’s tournament marks Kia’s first sponsorship of the&NewLine;League of Legends European Championship&comma; where Europe’s finest teams lock horns&NewLine;to lift the LEC trophy and secure their regional spot at Worlds 2019&period; The&NewLine;finals also hosts the second LEC Fan Festival&comma; where visitors can take part in&NewLine;a variety of exciting activities&comma; such as cosplay and meetings with their&NewLine;favorite pros&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;At the LEC&comma; Kia Motors also operates a games zone&comma; where fans&NewLine;can play a digital game featuring the Sportage and Ceed models&comma; and a photo&NewLine;zone where they can take photos and win lottery prizes&period; Some 10&comma;000 people&NewLine;participated in the two-day finals as audiences&comma; and 600 thousand people&NewLine;watched the competition from around the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;