DreamHack VP explains refreshed branding and community approach DreamHackFounded 26 years ago, DreamHack is a major tournament organizer that has also provided dozens of gaming festivals on a global scale. For the first time, they\u2019ve decided to refresh their visual identity. Announcing the changes on DreamHack Day \u2014 an annual celebration of the company where they usually share what\u2019s up their sleeve \u2014 the next evolution of the company includes a \u201creinvigorated logo, dynamic color palette, bold typeface, and energized graphics.\u201d The new branding hopes to celebrate the first 25 years of DreamHack and sets them up for their next quarter of a century. This move follows a merger of the company with ESL under the banner of DreamHack, which took place in September 2020. Dexerto spoke with Shahin Zarrabi, vice president of brand and corporate marketing at ESL Gaming, to better understand the need for change, what this means for the future of DreamHack, and why now was the perfect time to roll it out. Defining what DreamHack stands for In his role at ESL Gaming, Zarrabi is in charge of overseeing the long-term strategy of DreamHack\u2019s communications, marketing, and merchandise \u2014 effectively, he takes care of how they\u2019re represented in multiple mediums. With that in mind, he explained that seeing ESL\u2019s rebrand a couple of years his team at DreamHack felt inspired. \u201cDreamHack has been around for 25 years now and, throughout that time, there\u2019s never been deliberate attempts to define what DreamHack is,\u201d he said. \u201cHow do DreamHack see themselves? After ESL went through their rebrand a couple of years back, we got inspired at DreamHack and we felt like \u2018We have this logo and that\u2019s basically all we\u2019ve had in terms of branding.\u2019 \u201cAlthough, branding is so much more than that so we set out to complement what we knew in our heads with an actual identity and positioning, with design elements but also internal championing of what DreamHack is supposed to be. It\u2019s long overdue but, thanks to some inspiration from a lot of other organizations within esports, we felt like now is the time.\u201d Having now clearly defined their position as a company in the ever-crowded esports market, DreamHack will be able to move forward with a set ethos and mission that helps them to further carve their own space. While ESL is strictly a competitive brand, DreamHack are well-known for having cosplay competitions and grassroots competitions that house a larger community. \u201cOur new brand positioning is where the gaming community comes to life,\u201d explained Zarrabi. \u201cThat in itself is fluffy, it doesn\u2019t necessarily reflect the amount of interviews, internally and with customers or consumers, that we did. Given DreamHack\u2019s history starting in school cafeterias, then being commercialized and growing exponentially, and then ultimately joining the bigger MTG family with ESL, those three perimeters guided what we wanted to be. \u201cWe asked ourselves \u2018Are we an esports organization or are we a gaming lifestyle organization? Are we a festival or are we a tournament organizer?\u201d Those questions went into the pot and we decided to not confine ourselves to saying we\u2019re an esports competition organizer. Instead, we are a platform for everything gaming, where cosplay, esports, indies, and big games come together.\u201d Standing the test of time Rebranding and changing visual identities is something we\u2019ve seen a lot in esports over the past few years; you\u2019d be remiss to not recall Evil Geniuses\u2019 botched attempt around a year ago. If you\u2019re going to change the emblem that fans have associated with your company for years, even decades in some instances, then you have to be confident that your new look will serve you better than what it\u2019s replacing. DreamHack\u2019s VP of brand is aware of that and despite not having a clear verdict on how their community would react to the changes, he and his team decided to pull the trigger anyway. \u201cYou can never really know if this is going to be timeproof, you can only look back after 10 or 20 years or 10 years to see if it was successful,\u201d he told Dexerto. \u201cInternally, we wanted to have a good gut feeling but we didn\u2019t have a quantitative method of seeing whether it be timeproof.\u201d \u201cInstead of focusing too much on the visual identity itself, we focused on why we got where we are and how we\u2019ll define the positioning of what DreamHack is. We hope that will guide any visual changes we make, whether it\u2019s in one month when everyone is angry about the new identity or in 10 years when there\u2019s a natural need for change.\u201d 2020 has been strange for the esports industry, either canceling events or at least moving them online. When you\u2019re in the business of hosting events then that can be worrisome, or it can provide you with a much-needed period to reflect and refine your operations and your overall strategy. While DreamHack were already looking to change their branding prior to travel and event restrictions, this year appears to have been a much-needed respite for them to finally sit down and get the wheels in motion. \u201cIn mid 2019 we said, \u2018Hey, we want to do this,’\u201d he explained. \u201cThere have always been talks of it, ESL did it and it went great, so let\u2019s look at it ourselves. The plan was to launch it at DreamHack Summer this year, that wasn\u2019t possible but we still wanted to do it. The brand refresh is a moment of celebration of DreamHack and so it fits very well into this year\u2019s timeline where we haven\u2019t been able to host any of our festivals. Now we get a chance, on December 9, to celebrate DreamHack \u2014 even in a year like this.\u201d All part of a larger plan? In September 2020, DreamHack and ESL were brought together under one banner \u2014 namely, ESL Gaming \u2014 to \u201cfurther accelerate their mission to shape the future of esports and gaming.\u201d What this means in simple terms is that fans can expect more collaboration between the two brands, which now have a more streamlined and integrated workforce behind them. \u201cThe changes we make now won\u2019t come overnight, but we will be able to have a framework that we can filter everything we want to do through,\u201d he said. \u201cThe events will become much more focused and more like a tour rather than 10 separate events throughout the year. They will each still have their unique flares but we now have a framework to actually work from. \u201cWith the merger, we\u2019re in a position where we can do that because our operations together, with the operations of the different ESL brands, is in a much better position to find synergy where, two years from now, you might see a big ESL One event inside a DreamHack festival. Regular visitors will still come to a DreamHack festival and recognize all of the components, it may just be that they are called different things than they are today.\u201d While bringing the brands under one roof may help the teams who are pulling the strings, it\u2019s imperative that they stand alone as to not compete against each other. Dexerto asked Zarrabi whether the top-tier competitive aspect of ESL would be the differentiator, and we weren\u2019t far off. \u201cIt\u2019s not the competitive element that is differentiating the brands, I would say the style and the level of play are the differences,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are serving different levels of esports.\u201d As he mentioned in our conversation, the jury is out on whether DreamHack\u2019s new identity and positioning will indeed be a hit with the fans and be a successful milestone in the company\u2019s history. One thing\u2019s for sure though, they are ready to get back on the road and deliver some much-needed fun to the gaming and esports communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DreamHack VP explains refreshed branding and community approach DreamHackFounded 26 years ago, DreamHack is a major tournament organizer that has also provided dozens of gaming festivals on a global scale. For the first time, they\u2019ve decided to refresh their visual identity. Announcing the changes on DreamHack Day \u2014 an annual celebration of the company where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}